Another thread about Compton in L.A. referenced Skid Row, which I’ve always wondered about…Why doesn’t the city do something about it? And I mean long term, not just a situation of the cops clearing off the homeless people during the day.
Or is homelessness in L.A. too big a problem to be solved by the city?
If you ever been there at night, you know what I’m talking about. Homeless people all over several blocks, standing about, or sleeping in cardboard boxes in what seems like miles’ worth of sidewalks.
What must it be like for women or children to have to walk through or sleep there at night?
I guess it’s not an easy solution or else the city would have solved it by now?
I agree. Many if not most of them have problems with mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse. Where would you put them? It isn’t responsible to just warehouse them off to the side somewhere. What if they don’t want to go? Real treatment would involve inpatient psychiatric or rehabilitation facilities but by the time someone gets to that point, the prognosis may be really, really bad and most areas don’t have the beds for even people less dire situations. You could bus them somewhere but that is a little irresponsible and they may just find a way back. Even large homeless shelters would have to let them out now and then and that area may be just where they want to be.
What, exactly, is the problem with Skid Row? It seems like this is a solution looking for a problem, except there isn’t a solution in mind either. To me this question sounds like “if we had extra money in the budget, how could we spend it?”
It’s just a poor, tough neighborhood with a lot of transients. If you don’t like it, don’t go there. :dubious: