Coexistence in Downtown Los Angeles?

The Los Angeles Business Journal published an article today on downtown Los Angeles. The first sentence is this: “A head-on collision is drawing closer on L.A.’s Skid Row.” Here's the article.

They quote Alice Callaghan, the downtown advocate for the poor and the homeless, along with Carol Schatz, the CEO of Central City Association. They use their quotes from a KPCC radio show called, “Air Talk.” KPCC had actually asked if I would also join Alice and Carol for the show. I respectfully declined, not wanting to get in the middle of this debate.

The fact of the matter is, however, that we are all involved in this debate. Do we support the construction of high-end residential units in downtown Los Angeles, or do we think this gentrification is pushing the poor out?

“When a gentrified neighborhood comes in they always want to get rid of the poor,” Callaghan is quoted.

Schatz responds on the show, “That is absolutely untrue.”

Obviously, the 1976 redevelopment plan that was referred to as a “policy of containment” has not worked. Designating one area for homeless services and housing has not stopped the problem of homelessness in downtown.

It is said there are 11,000 homeless in downtown. The estimated population of downtown is 25,000.

The article states: “Downtown’s more enlightened leaders know they have a problem—and the thing is, they haven’t really figured out what to do about it.”

The article ends by agreeing with Alice Callaghan: coexistence doesn’t work. So are we headed toward a head-on collision?

I don’t think so. Clearly, if things go the same, the problem of homelessness in downtown will remain the same. We clearly need to provide some new, creative solutions. Redevelopment, in itself, is not evil. We just have to make sure that we take care of the poor and homeless as part of this redevelopment.