Central City East : Downtown Los Angeles

Skid Row Housing trust didn't attack this blog after I posted that it was a bad idea to place the administrative offices of project 50 in the storefront at the Pershing Hotel. My argument was that if they can not keep the mardi gras on crack party from happening on the North side of the Pershing Hotel on 5Th street, it would not be conducive for those "most vulnerable" to have to walk a gauntlet to get to those services. As a result ,Skid Row Housing trust installed video cameras facing East along that path. Good For them!! I have also witnessed how they are now working to keep that area clear of the party.

Here we are... faced with a dilemma. Knowing the pattern of the County and understanding that we are now facing a Mayor's race next year , skid row and all of Downtown should be trembling. It looks like Zev Yaroslavsky may be running against Mayor Villaraigosa next year. Those are the rumors anyway.

Why should we be trembling? We should be trembling because ZEV has put project 50 offices in the Pershing Hotel. Expediency has caused this to happen along with lack of funding. Lack of funding for what? On site supportive service housing. Facts are that Skid Row Housing Trust can not pay for their psychiatrists. The psychiatrists want more money because they feel that it is dangerous working in skid row.

We have seen what happens. We all know that once something is in place , no matter if it is a band aid to fix an immediate problem , that is where it stays. What we need from Zev is to know if there will be a steady stream of funding for project 50 and of course what has been missing in skid row for years , on site supportive housing. We know it works. The question remains why have they centralized the services in that one building.


Accountability
I live in skid row and there are many people who live in skid row who know that these not for profit programs have existed more than 20 years without accountability. I have been to these SCI meetings and when I have raised the issue that we need to focus on on-site services instead of placing all of the administrative offices on Main Street. I was not invited back . And It was in a convivial manner, I might add, in which I spoke.

Well, it boils down to the this truth ; I want to see Downtown succeed in becoming the economic engine it should become, there are those who want to continue to see Downtown Los Angeles as the dumping ground for those in society nobody wants. So let us continue to do things half way, Right? Wrong. It is abut budget priorities. When it comes to skid row there is never enough money to go around , simply because that is the way it has been for years, and why complain if you are a non profit receiving the money, nobody is watching. Wrong.... With the age of communication , such as we have now , accountability can only be brought forth by those utilizing the services and it is now happening, take this blog for example. This is why residents in skid row were always intimidated into speaking up or if they did , only those who had anything positive to say were allowed to speak or presented to those who were giving the money. This is one reason skid row failed as a policy. IN the real world we know that things are not perfect , yet ,when presented with questions , these providers will answer with only good. IF I was to see everything in black and white, whether all good or all bad, I would be diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder , yet this is how these providers have always tried to present themselves. IF all you hear is that everything is hunky dory then one has the right to be suspicious. The world is not black and white. This is why people living in skid row are discouraged from participating. We catch these people in lies so many times it is ridiculous. Don't worry, the revolution has begun and, we , as the people living in skid row , will make the necessary changes that were lacking.

Why it is important that we attack the placement of the project 50 office where it is? It is important not to set a precedent. We know that having the services off site from these hotels in skid row did not work , yet we have gone the route of using the same failed policy. Always being presented with successes. If I knew that being paranoid wasn't a necessity I wouldn't also make this supposition: If I was running for mayor and I knew that the majority of my campaign donors and those who will vote for me are afraid of the changes happening downtown , esp when it comes to homelessness and the push for reginonalizing the problem , wouldn't I positively focus on how I was able to bring a program to skid row and downtown and show how successful it was in keeping the homeless downtown? While I am killing two birds with one stone by also showing how I was able to take the most intransigent off of the streets , even if that was not the case., to show that I truly care about the quality of life of those who are living downtown and those who are trying to bring businesses and sell lofts downtown. It isn't about bringing people inside , it is also about keeping them inside. Having the services off site will not help in that endeavor. IT HASN'T IN THE PAST AND IT WON'T NOW.

I had said in a previous post and at blogdowntown that the reason for placing project 50 offices on main street was because there were many new types of social service providers , psychiatrists , as an example, that would not want to work in the hotels in the heart of skid row. How do you attract the most qualified people if they are afraid of coming down to the heart of skid row? To answer those who think I am stupid and and ignorant ;I will not back down from that opinion. IN my opinion, Project 50 offices are on Main Street because it has been gentrified and it is conducive for their recruitment and retention of case managers , psychiatrists, and other professionals who otherwise would be too fearful to come into the heart of skid row and have the administrative offices on Main Street. Also it is good for keeping those working there close to where the money is flowing so as to network. And from my past research on the subject it is blackmail to get those developers to kick capital funding their way.

If we do not change this mistake, after we have secured a steady funding stream for on site supportive services or make no attempt at bringing that agenda forward , then we will have lost the gains we have made in controlling the inherent errors in why skid row became what it was and to a lesser extent what it is now.

We have to put these offices on-site, in the hotels. Bottom line. There is room, if not, make room.

As a resident who utilizes services, be it mental health or otherwise, it behooves me as a taxpayer and voting citizens to unite with others to seek after the funding sources or find ways to change the rules so that these providers can provide the service, which have been missing for a long time.