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"The measure of any society is how they treat their weakest element. The widows, the orphans, the strangers on the land. How we do anything is how we do everything. We're not doing so well on Skid Row." ~ Sam Slovick
For many people living in Los Angeles, Skid Row truly embodies the phrase "out of sight, out of mind". The homelessness, drug abuse, prostitution, violence and mental illness that continue to thrive on Skid Row has successfully been tucked away within this 50-block concentration of shelters, missions and other social services. As a result, it has remained out of the eyes, ears and minds of the majority of Los Angeles residents. Estela Lopez, Executive Director of the Central City East Association, describes it as a real-life Dante's Inferno. And this is after the area has seen improvements in the past few years; the number of people on the street has dropped from 2,000 to 600 and most of the tents are gone. Most recently, however, blogdowntown reports that the numbers are again on the rise.
Three years ago, with the support of Councilwoman Jan Perry and the Midnight Mission, Estela began the Skid Row Neighborhood Walk (mentioned last month in LAist). The walk aims to raise awareness while putting (and keeping) the focus on and commitment to Skid Row. Their partnership demonstrates that the business community and the missions are working together to bring attention and peace to the streets.
Estela is truly a remarkable woman who brings an enormous amount of energy, heart, and compassion with her every time she walks - be it in the cold, rain or amongst only a handful of other walkers. She extends this genuine care and concern to each individual on the street that she takes the time to talk to and offer help. Another purpose of the walk is to give those individuals in need of aid an easy means of obtaining it. Members of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority accompany each walk and provide on-the-spot assistance. This past walk, Estela stopped after noticing a woman who appeared to have overdosed. She was curled up next to a man in a wheelchair. Estela reached out her hand and introduced herself to the gentleman, asking if they needed help and would like to go somewhere for the evening. The man explained that he was a Veteran and unable to obtain housing since he did not have an ID card. He then confessed that he was an addict and at the beginning of every month his benefit checks go straight to the drug dealers that populate the area, lurking outside of the missions and recovery centers.
Many times, Estela says, people refuse the help. However, sometimes they will embrace the offer. Such was the case with this Veteran. Estela’s heart went out for this couple; his appreciation and candid honesty touched and moved her. While these encounters are no rare occurrence, they never get ‘old’ or easier to see, especially when it comes to her interactions with the women struggling on the streets. She recounts the time she met a woman who had just given birth to a baby on Skid Row, and the baby was born addicted.
It is situations like these, with the Veteran and women that provide her with the balance and ability to come back day after day, despite knowing that after she goes home each night, it is likely that an individual she saw that day won't be there tomorrow. Each month, she opens and closes the walks with a few remarks, and reminds walkers that "People don't live on Skid Row, they die on Skid Row". It is this statement that really highlights the core purpose of the walk. Thanks to the heavy concentration of social services coupled with a lack of appropriate infrastructure, Skid Row, according to Estela, has turned into something comparable to an insane asylum, where drug dealers, drug abuse, prostitution, mental illness and violence run rampant, all in the shadows of City Hall just a few blocks away. Sam Slovick, in his excellent five-part Good Magazine documentary series on Skid Row (although, some may disagree), explains that Los Angeles is the first 3rd world city in the United States, all within one of the richest economies in the country. That's a big problem that demands action and awareness. This is what the walk strives to achieve in addition to reminding people that the focus needs to remain on Skid Row, beyond the 15-minutes of fame it may get around each holiday season. The walk provides individuals a safe means of gaining a perspective of Skid Row beyond hearing about it in the news or from inside the confines of a car window. Any walker, including Estela, will tell you that each walk leaves a profound impact on each individual. The hope is that this impact will linger and people will tell and bring their friends and neighbors, write their Congress men and women, volunteer at the Missions - anything to make a big deal and shed more light on Skid Row.
The problem is complex and there is no simple or quick solution, but it is crucial that residents of Los Angeles remember not to put this area on the back burner. One can not hope for change without action, so when enough people start to express care and concern and realize that the area known as Skid Row must be treated like every other community, then one can start to look for improvement on the horizon.
Estela, Councilwoman Jan Perry and many other community members walk the first Wednesday of every month, warmly welcoming newcomers.
Walks begin at 6pm at the Midnight Mission at the corner of 6th Street and San Pedro. Police Officers and BID security accompany each walk, providing safe passage for anyone who wants to join but may feel a bit of concern.
Top photo by Tom Andrews/LAist
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what this city needs is a cop who's willing to bend the law and fabricate a homeless serial killer.
EXACTLY, Colfax. Don't forget the bite marks and red ribbon around the wrist!
It's nice to see that the homeless support Obama (pic #9)
Truly a city of Lost Dreams...
Great coverage, Tom! As I rarely (never) make it down there, this really puts Skid Row into perspective.
Thanks Matt
I took the photos and Emily Lerman wrote the article.
Well done, both on story and pics. It's nice to see something so weighty covered. The photo of the man with the scarf on his had should be in Time Magazine.
I once told my parents I was dropping out of high school. The next day instead of taking me to school, my dad drove me down to Skid Row and said, "OK, Get out." I was like, "You're kidding, right?" He said, "This is where you're going to end up, so you might as well save us all some time."
Thanks Elise
Elise it sounds like you have a smart dad, more parents should do that.
Colfax: Hold up your thumb and forefinger. Look at the distance between them. Like it or not you are that close all the time.
Stara: That's one of the walkers; not a denizen.
Tom: When are we going to see some more stylists?
FWIW. In my teens I was homeless a number of times. To look down on these people would be to look down on people I knew then who helped me and made sure I didn't end up dead or damaged beyond repair.
To those of you who consider these people a nuisance, better dead or forgotten, or in need of an imaginary serial killer, chances are your current circumstances are a matter of luck and someone elses loving kindness.
BingosDingo
I agree with with what you said.
It's easy for people to judge these people but it's also easy to end up like these people.
I think it's hard to say anything about skid row until you have walked the streets and seen the many faces that make up the community.
The lady in the Obama shirt (pic #9) was homeless.
I will do a STYLEist post soon.
I think Brady and others Disagree with one thing. When you get statistics from the Missions , you really have to question a lot of those statistics.
Another problem for people like me ,who actually live in skid row and walk the streets day and nignt is what we truly see what is out there. I went on a late night walk with a documentary crew last night , we were out at midnignt until 3 am. We didn't have police with us , or politicians , or any security guards. I can attest that just because someone who doesn't live in skid row claims that there are more homeless on the streets because he shows up to take pictures of the flags at the Midnight Mission and now and then goes on Neighborhood Watch walks you also need to question that person and their journalistic integrity. I am talking about blogdowntown and Ed Fuentes. It is ridiculous that the people quoted are people who are just doing press release reporting. You won't see Ed Fuentes down here at 3 am with a full film crew because he would be attacked along with that film crew. We were out and about last night and early morning hours and we had carte blanche of skid row because I and the other persons on that walk live here.
To come down to skid row when it is safe and then say you know what is really happening is erroneous. Come down here during those hours and without hiding the film equipment.
I was on that walk and I can tell you that those two in that picture are not homeless. The one with the OBAMA t-shirt. Just because they live in skid row and in an sro does not make them homeless.
These are the hours you need to be here. You would have got to see the aotomated public toilets out of service and myself like a JACK ASS in front of a video camera explaining how great they were and then to see it out of order and then open the door and someone is inside laying there high on drugs.
Again these warm and fuzzy stories , yeah, give props to Estella and Orlando Ward from the MIdnignt Mission, but come down to my blog to learn where many of these missions social servie providers are failing , watch and listen to the people down there who know the real reasons these multimillion dollar operations haven't solved the homeless problem , as always the cop out words are it is a complex issue , we all know the solutions , but is there anyone willing to implement them?
I am not waiting . I have fathers who have approached me to teach them how to build computers and websites. This weekend I will have some at Drupal Camp learning and I will be teaching here in skid row. These people want out. I am bringing the schooling and the training here. School is a far away option for folks in skid row who also work at these non-profits. The residents and those living here are now saying enough is enough and if these social service providers can't do it with their millions and their exorbitant salaries we will have to do it ourselves.
It is hard to understand this concept when the only things that people see in even articles, like this post, are the people strung out, it is hard to believe that there are thousands more who are not strung out who live in skid row. And so one questions my reasons for doing what I do because they don't see the bigger picture , just the little snippets of those willing to venture onto the streets when the police are around. Come spend a day and night with actual residents who are succeeding in skid row. It might change your mind. And watch how the residents are changing the streets and pushing the powers that be to make the difference and hold them accountable instead of doing the stories they like so much so a journalist can have access.
dgarzila,
My mistake about the woman in the Obama shirt.
I should have simply wrote that they were not part of the walk.
dgarzila,
Please understand that just because I spent sometime down there, I don't claim to have an idea of how things really are on Skid Row. Because I don't know what it's really like. My objective is to raise awareness. I realize there are many people who don't know and don't care about the problems on Skid Row. However, I have also quickly learned there are many people who don't know but DO care, and that's all I am hoping to do - get those people involved who do care and who are willing to work toward "implementing" solutions. I do read your blog and blogdowntown and many others, and thanks to them, I read and learned more about Skid Row, and that led me to the walk and this post. I am an accoutant, not a journalist, and I wrote about it not because "I like the story so much" but because I believe more people need to know about what is happening in their city, especially young people such as myself.
I am grateful for the awareness. But that is what is always said when I say that it is time to start doing things about the problem. How many non-profits are out there dedicated to raising awareness? How many emmy's and accolades for journalists when the problem still hasn't been solved.
What we need is action and the community members themselves are doing things to begin to solve the problem, where the many huge non-profits have failed to do solve these problems.
These non profits have been here for over 25 years without accountability some as long as 75 or more , yet, the problem got worse under their watch. There is a slow revolution brewing here where the residents are out providing the solutions because the days of calling them out has not accomplished much. People don't listen to us , they prefer to listen to the so called experts who haven't solved the problem.
Just saying. Let's stop just throwing money at these not-profits and expect them to solve these problems and let's ask them why they have failed to solve this problem? They are the experts. Right? And awareness is great , but action is what is needed.