LA Needs GIl Cedillo

It is very simple. We can cite many sources of what Gil Cedillo did to stabilize Skid Row and the surrounding areas of Downtown Los Angeles. But , it is so simple that we don't really have to go into detail. Why does Los Angeles need Gil Cedillo? Gil Cedillo is like Bat Man. Seriously. He fights evil. How can one not support a man who introduced legislation in the state that would have ended the most evil practice ever created: Patient Dumping? Gil Cedillo stood along side the skid row community and said it would not be tolerated. The outcome was that the City of Los Angeles passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to just dump patients into the streets of skid row to die. Another miracle that Gil made happen was Senate Bill 2, called fair share zoning. What did fair share zoning do? Fair share zoning made

Fair Share Zoning SB -2 Homeless Housing Requirement
GOVERNOR SIGNS CEDILLO’S FAIR SHARE ZONING (SB 2) ADDRESSING ZONING FOR EMERGENCY SHELTERS
Monday, October 15, 2007 at 7:05 AM
(SACRAMENTO) – Senator Gilbert Cedillo’s Fair Share Zoning (SB 2) was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger late Saturday. Under SB 2 every city and county in California will be required to assess the number of homeless persons in their community and to identify zones where emergency shelters are allowed to locate without conditional use or discretionary permits.
The zoning information would be included in the housing element of the general plans submitted by municipalities to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The bill clarifies that transitional and supportive housing are a residential use of property and are subject only to those restrictions that apply to similar dwellings in the same zone. SB 2 also adds emergency shelters to the “Anti-NIMBY” law and clarifies that transitional and supportive housing are also covered by this law.

Why is this important? Well, Gil Cedillo understood that from a planning perspective  homeless people in skid row and Los Angeles did not just miraculosly appear, he understood that Los Angeles was taking and, continues to take the brunt of caring for the homeless and those who need permanent supportive housing situations from other areas in California and the Country.

 “People are better served in their home communities where they have support from family and friends,” Cedillo said. “It is time for every community in our state to plan for zoning emergency shelter services without unreasonable conditions and SB 2 ensures that will occur.” Lynn Jacobs, HCD Director, added, “The Schwarzenegger Administration and the Department of Housing and Community Development look forward to working in partnership with local governments to implement these new requirements.”

 Instead of pushing the homeless of skid row into the surrounding communities, esp the CD1 communities, he also sent money and supported the efforts of the creation of Permanent Supportive Housing through  state tax credits and making sure he put his influence towards those efforts. SO, while he promoted the idea other jurisdictions and municipalities take care of their fair share, he helped to bring those folks who were chronically homeless off of the streets into permanent supportive housing who were in his jurisdiction instead of making it someone else's problem.. Today , the LA Chamber of Commerce and the City and the County are promoting permanent supportive housing as a solution.. This effort has taken the pressure off of places such as Westlake Macarthur Park from becoming the release valve for the only place for the homeless to flee as Downtown Los Angeles becomes a tourist and entertainment destination. The fact is that one of the most heinous and evil policies ever created was called unofficially for years the policy of containment:

"Skid Row ‘Containment’

In what is perhaps the most ill-conceived unofficial land-use policy in Los Angeles, city operatives for decades have treated Skid Row as a “containment” zone for the homeless and the social services that support them. While the area has a long history of serving transient laborers, the city’s moves to concentrate shelters and other services for the poor in an urban hideaway has proven costly. As the homeless capital of the country, Skid Row is a black eye on Los Angeles, all the more visible today since it abuts a thriving residential and commercial community in Downtown. The concentration of shelters, food banks, clinics and supportive housing in one small area has also reduced pressure on other communities in the region to provide their own resources. And no matter how much lip service politicians in far-flung districts give to being open to taking on more of these facilities, they rarely come through, worried about constituent blowback. The situation continues to give Skid Row a concentration of the types of vices that go hand-in-hand with poverty, from drug use to petty crime."

Gil Cedillo began the move towards ending this EVIL policy and only in the past couple of years has the City and County begin to come to terms now with this and no longer call it an unspoken or paranoid delusional idea. The policy of containment is real,. Gil faced this head on. We have built thousands of Units of Permanent Supportive Housing in Skid Row and the Historic Core  and  in South Park and this because people like Gil Cedillo laid the ground work.  Gil proved not to be a hypocrite and took care of his fair share and more instead of making it someone elses problem. Los Angeles needs this man who looked evil in the face, fought it and won.  In the article in the LA Downtown news above: "And no matter how much lip service politicians in far-flung districts give to being open to taking on more of these facilities, they rarely come through, worried about constituent blowback."   Yes, they rarely come through, but they are coming through. Although , he may not be the real bat man, we feel that all of the lives saved and all of the people not dying on the streets of Los Angeles and in other communties  tonight due to his willingness to highlight patient dumping  and SB2, which was a miracle bill ,that we feel he can make sure that CD1 does not become the new skid row or dumping ground for LA's problems , but sane approaches to these problems can be made and resolved. He has proven this. Even his economic development policies such as Downtown Rebound brought investment to downtown Los Angeles  and as a result these loft , condo, and entertainment venue developers,  investing here they have contributed to the  building of  permanent supportive housing and supported the efforts of the service providers to the east , west, North, and South of their investments. It is a wonderful cycle. And Gil,,, our Bat Man ,, or maybe just a farsighted politician, knew the consequences. It is because of  these actions, not intent, but actions , that we say we need Gil in Los Angeles working on behalf of all of us. He is willing to take on evil.  We also say,as people who watched hundreds,  and through the years  as a result of no one willing to tackle this idea for fear of political "blowback", thousands of people die from this policy of containment, we feel  that Gil Cedillo is the person who can fight evil that would turn parts of CD1 into another area of containment.  We feel he can work with all groups, all council districts,  and all involved to work for amicable solutions. He has already proven that he did not want to make the skid row problems  turn into the problems  for other areas of LA by trying to stabilize skid row. He has proven he  is not just one to push his problems onto others but tackle them head on and implement solutions to solve them..

Andy Bales is not a multimillionaire,,, but with all of his friends he sure is rich.

Andy Bales being falsly highlighted at Rip Off Website Andy BAles is not a multimillionaire, nor does he make a 7 figure salary and could barely pay for his kidney transplant... wow! Andy the devil is on the war path.

Downtown Clergy Council to hold Press Conference ending feedings in skid row

The Downtown Clergy Council was kind enough to send an e-mail to this blog, maybe it was because all of the issues sited in their white paper are issue that this blog highlighted almost ten years ago in relation to feeding the people of skid row... I re-read the post about Herbal Life and sure enough the issue is raised at the end of the post. I cried like a baby when herbal life partnered with URM .   You can go to this blog to read the white paper by the Downtown Clergy Council  HELP SKIDROW.org. I will post more about this as it happens and I may change the name of this blog since I do not live in the heart of skid row anymore. Some of you will get a kick out of the name but the focus will still be skid row.

Skid Row Gearing up for Holidays after hard summer

Skid Row Missions and other non-profits will once again steer into high fundraising and giveaway mode . This blog will begin to make the rounds all fall and winter as the stories present themselves from the big not for profits to the small givers we will see what is happening in the skid row community.

Herbalife Partners with Union Rescue Mission to become a dragonslayer

Don Garza - Downtown Los Angeles

CEO  Michael O Johnson of Herbalife and Andy Bales CEO of Union Rescue Mission

Skid Row can be compared to a huge dragon that has many faces. These faces can manifest themselves in many ways. One of these ways is no easy access to healthy foods. Each Corner market is filled with nothing but processed sugary foods, well intentioned people bring doughnuts , cookies , and all types of sugary items to feed the people on the streets. In a community that is filled with sick and ail residents, this can add to the quick demise of those residents through the proliferation of malnourishment , which can translate into Diabetes and exacerbation of symptoms of other physical illnesses.

Today, the Union Rescue Mission announced a partnership with Herbalife to bring healthy Formula 1 shakes every breakfast, for a year. The question from one of the reporters was how much in cost to Herbalife is the product? The only answer that this writer can state with certainty to answer that question  is that, although the answer translates into 10,000s of dollars , you can not put a price on people's health. The Missions in skid row do their best to provide healthy meals , yet they can only provide meals that are donated from their donors , for the most part. Today was the death of having to do without augmenting the nutritional value of the meals that are already served. This actually translates into saving lives. It also will add to the arrest of people falling into more poverty as a result of illnesses that can be prevented or the worsening of conditions that skid row community residents already have. Translated this  gives these folks a chance to recover from whatever their disease may be , even those such as substance abuse. Good nutrition is a part of any form of recovery.

From a personal perspective of having had type 2 diabetes and not having ease of access to healthy food in skid row it can certainly be said that this partnership will save lives. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand this. Nor to realize that this is not conjecture, but for a population that relies on the Union Rescue Mission for sustenance , this is fact. Illness can cause a spiraling effect and a redundancy in the ability for people to pull themselves out of the skid row situation. If people are eating right, they are thinking right. I said it to many people at the press conference today that I am jealous that the people in skid row have access to a high protein shake filled with nutritional value, something that was not available before. I also said that no one has come to my house and offered me free protein shakes filled with calcium,, protein , Vitamin A , and Vitamin C. Today this was offered by Herbalife as a commitment to those who eat breakfast at URM ;the choice of a shake is now available.

Some may say that all of the above statements are an exaggeration , but I can't see where there is an exaggeration. Today , Herbalife became a dragonslayer. That hideous dragon we call malnourishment and lack of access to healthy foods  in skid row had a stake thrust through it's heart. Once again, the dragon we call skid row is slowly counting it 's days away when it could just destroy people physically. And I hope that many partnerships such as the one we see with URM and Herbalife continue to happen. I also hope that those who choose to go to skid row to help , realize, that if you are going to feed people , you must do it right. If anything comes from witnessing this  partnership  , I hope that is what many come away with.

Easter in Gladys Park

Who doesn't like to spend time in the park with their family and friends? There was no exception at Gladys Park in skid row . For the very first time the residents of skid row held their very own Easter Celebration at Gladys Park.

This event was sponsored by a city and community-wide collaboration including ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS, OG's-N-Service Association, Skid Row Artist's Collective, Metropolitan Community Church of the Valley and Operation Bunny Luv( providing eggs, easter baskets and more), "Life Is...Crushow", Fun Zone Reading Club, UCEPP, Skid Row Advocates, Garments of Praise, Roses and Bloom, Jonah Project, and many more.

The day began with prayers and blessings from three pastors in skid row.  Rev. Jeff Thomas of Community Church of the Nazarene,  Pastor Ron Thomas of Set Free Ministries and Outreach , and  Rev. Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission all gave their blessings to the event as well as for the whole skid row community.

The difference between this event and others in the area was that this event was put on by the residents and resident grassroots organizations that are headed by actual residents living in skid row. General Jeff was out there , well , when you could find him , because he was all over the area bringing the things to the park that were already supposed to have been there such as the Easter Baskets.  I was heading to the blessing of the Animals and then was going to head over to the Pillow Fight at Pershing square to cover those stories , but the event was so full of a  great spirit and so full of people I had not spent time with since I moved to the other side of Main Street in downtown, I had to stay and, I was glad I did because people whom I had not seen in such a long time made their presence known.

Jan Perry and Jose Huizar both graced us with their presence and as usual OG gave Jose Huizar and Jan Perry a piece of his mind. You can't stop OG Manuel Compito from expressing himself. He is consistent in his passion for the  skid row community. The new Skid Row Boxing club was being shown off and the entertainment of the residents living in skid row was also to be had and on the new Nike basketball court games were being held. The people just came and came and came to enjoy Easter at Gladys Park!

Ryan Vaillancourt who reports for the Downtown News was also there playing  hoops with the people in skid row. So , as you can see this day was miraculous and  so wonderful that I could not leave. The Easter egg hunt began and the children had to pick up as many of the plastic eggs they could find in the grass before being given prizes for their efforts. Again , it was nice to see the children enjoying themselves in the heart of skid row.

Our dear friend , Thomas Knapper showed up with Daytona and her baby! So , surprise , surprise , as the event turned into one huge 10 year skid row resident and long time advocates reunion! 

There was a dancer , musicians , and rappers. Uncle Bean  even showed up and rained money down on those who listened to his act. I wondered if a riot would ensue , but that never happened. The Skid Row Playaz musical group played their numbers and we were all enthralled with those notes. AH! if only I could listen to those guys every night.

There were no problems and LAPD stayed close by in their mobile station to makes sure no one sabotaged the event and sure enough no one did . Thanks to LAPD for their efforts to stay close to the people of skid row who are doing positive things in the community.

According to Sources an injunction against gangmembers selling drugs in skid row will happen shortly

Protester Targets Reverend Andy Bales CEO of Union Rescue Mission at press Conference

A press conference was held in skid row today at Gladys Park that basically marks the beginning of preparations to enforce an injuction against 80 gang members who are selling drugs in skid row. For years gangmembers across the city have had an understanding that they would not be rivals in the lucrative drug bazaar which is skid row in Downtown Los Angeles. The LA Times does the story this morning about the press conference and quotes many service providers and residents who like the idea of this injunction. The ACLU has also stepped in to challenge the injunction , claiming that the LAPD will have carte blanche to search and stop anyone without probable cause because they might resemble the 80 people on the list who are selling drugs in skid row. Over 300 gangmembers might be added to the list. Commander Blake Chow of the LAPD’s Central Division called drugs “probably the biggest threat to the community right now.”

The injunction, Chow said, would help police “protect the homeless from the predators coming from other parts of the city.” Of the dealers, he said, “we can arrest them and arrest them and arrest them, but what we need to do is keep them away.”
The injunction won't go into effect for a couple of months.