GE Cluster & Social Science

I love my LA class very much! So today, Professor Gary Blasi (or however you spell his name) came and talked about homelessness. Very good lecture. I loved the subject. He was brilliant. I want to be like him one day; and also Steve Lopez from the LA Times. Be one of those guys who talk to the Mayor and know what's happening at City Hall--and then go out into the public and criticize them when they're doing stupid. I want to be somebody to make them accountable and wake up the punch-drunk (drunk on ignorance) public. Be all sardonic. Sardine-ic. Heehee.

Oh, that's nice.


From the LA Times:
"State law bars more than six registered sex offenders on parole from living together in a residential care facility, unless they are legally related by blood, marriage or adoption. Only one sex offender is allowed to live in a single-family dwelling. The law, however, does not address the number of sex offenders allowed to live in an apartment building, authorities said."
------NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY!
Why are we all such NIMBYs. No one wants a sex offender to live anywhere near them! So why is it single-family dwellings that get the special protection! Lower-income people seemingly don't deserve the protection? Is that it?
And then they admit to containment of homeless people. "Is it really safer to have these homeless guys spread out one or two to a block, or have 10 or 12 in one place where we can keep an eye on them?" Switching topics, Gary Blasi blasted the Safer City Initiative. "Cleaning up" Skid Row by throwing people heavy policing and throwing people into jail. Citing people who can't pay. Citing people for littering when their cigarette ash falls to the floor. Not even attempting to target "so-called-crime" rates, since there are no trash receptacles in Skid Row. And its been shown the a night in jail costs much more than a night in a shelter, costs much more than permanent housing... But in the end, indigents come back out, back to--you guessed it, Skid Row. Worst thing is, they come back quick because jails are overcrowded. And also, since they've now been prosecuted, they will no longer be eligible for services in the future. And more offenses, they get thrown into the prison. The prison that is currently under federal watch, because of the budget crisis that turned the state prison system into "Cruel and unusual punishment," with its lack of health care, blah blah blah.

In short, Los Angeles, you suck. How much money are you spending on this homeless problem? Well, $12 million goes to hiring inefficient cops specifically for the .85 square mile Skid Row and only $5.6 million goes to homeless services throughout the city. The city that includes the Port of LA, San Fernando Valley, East LA, Central City, South LA...that MEGAMAN of a city and you only spend half of what you spend on cops for .85 square miles of the city.

Los Angeles, although I love you dearly, your inefficiency drives me crazy.

Good thing Blasi said that the problems are finally being recognized and assessed. They're trying out the "Housing First" thing that has worked for the country's other big cities. It's called Project 50. Look it up!