Central City East : Downtown Los Angeles

Don Garza - Downtown Los Angeles

It is about time. Most people are saying that it is great to see that grassroots efforts in skid row are being recognized . This past week  saw the  Los Angeles Downtown News recognizing the skid row 3on3 Basketball League with a Downtowner of Distinction Award. They are so excited about their accolade that they have worn their winner badges since. Congratulations to General Jeff and Manuel Compito and others.

You can check out the Downtown News to see all  of the other winners.

After 10 years of residing at the Southern Hotel , operated and managed by the largest property management company on the east side of Downtown Los Angeles , Single Room Occupancy Housing Corporation , a resident dr was arrested... after 10 years ... this man had been living at the Southern Hotel for 10 years and finally was raided...

KPCC wire services

A man arrested after police raided his Skid Row hotel room and allegedly found drugs and several weapons remains in custody today, pending a court hearing next week, authorities said.

Jimmy Joe Dukes, 55, was arrested at the Southern Hotel on East Fifth Street, said Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon.

Detectives seized five firearms, including two shotguns and a stolen handgun; a set of brass knuckles; and more than 300 grams of cocaine and marijuana, Vernon said.
Dukes was booked Friday on suspicion of five felonies, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine for sale and possession of a deadly weapon — the brass knuckles, Vernon said.
He was being held in lieu of $105,000 bail pending a March 5 court appearance in downtown Los Angeles, the lieutenant said.
"Every gun police take off the street is a potential murder averted," Vernon said.
According to police, Dukes, a longtime resident of Skid Row, has a criminal history dating back to the 1970s, with a number of arrests but only one felony conviction — in 2004 for welfare fraud.

It seems that if you prey on the homeless and low income residents in skid row there are consequences. This man was a hospital owner who defrauded medical and medicare by recruiting residents in skid row . The US Attonreys office has fined

Contra Costa Times

The U.S. attorney's office says 75-year-old Robert Bourseau was sentenced Monday and must pay $4.1 million in restitution for defrauding Medicare and Medi-Cal.
Bourseau and Dr. Rudra Sabaratnum co-owned the now-defunct City of Angels Medical Center. Authorities say they paid a recruiter $500,000 between 2004 and 2007 to find homeless people, who received a small fee to undergo unnecessary hospital stays.
The hospital then charged the government millions for services.
Both men pleaded guilty to fraud and Sabaratnum is awaiting sentencing. Last month, they also agreed to pay $10 million to settle a government lawsuit.

The Union Rescue Mission had their Friday Barbecue today. WOW! I didn't head out there because I assumed that since it was raining that no one would be barbecuing. Boy! Was I wrong!!! At Facebook a photo was posted to showcase these barbecue grilling crazies... gotta love it..I guess feeding the homeless and their families doesn't end with the rain..

 I honestly believe in the singularity. The reason is a personal one. AS someone who has seen his type II diabetes cured by the Gastric Bypass Surgery it occurrs to me that many cures are out there to be found for many illnesses that affect the human condition.

The philosophical considerations have always played a role in how we think about these things. If there was a cure for alcoholism and drug abuse , if there was a cure for schizophrenia or bipolar illness , wouldn't someone try and get that cure to alleviate the suffering from pain? There are so many issues when it comes to philosophy as to what constitutes illness because of our sense of self-determination vs. genetic causation..

It is my firm belief that homosapien was gifted with the white matter in the brain as a part of the overall immune system. It basically is a part of the immune system that allows us to think ways to preserve ourselves instead of just counting on genetic immunity , we find ways to manipulate those things around us to preserve ourselves by even having learned the differences between , humoral and genetic immunity...

We have been gifted as one huge immune system cell and I wonder sometimes why we see the brain and body amd al systems of the body as separate  We even have the ability to override the brain-stem to actually curtail it's effects that would not help us to preserve ourselves in situations we can gauge with our white matter. We can put aside instinctual and primitive responses :  an ability which in many instance can help us to preserve ourselves.