About mrmattsterv900

mrmattsterv900

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Joined on:

04/12/08

Contact:

gramyko69@hotmail.com

• not yet rated

  Living

  response to  Lindsay Utz, Sam Slovick, and Stefan Nadelman's post On Skid Row: Afterword

  excellent series

  Sam Slovick has produced an excellent series about Skid Row. The statistics are staggering. The humanity we have left to fend for themselves, as if this were Survivor, presents a truly tragic scene.

  I must also give him kudos for venturing into this untamed land armed only with a camera. Working with this population, not on Skid Row, I not only hear about the horrors of that section of L.A. but I hear about the brutality of homelessness in general. Some of the hard core homeless, those folks who don't try to get off the street, have little understanding of or respect for "ordinary" people (those with 9 to 5 jobs and homes).

  These are often the first to complain about the injustice of being made to wait in a line to eat. Some, not all, but some of these same people are the first to intimidate or brutalize another homeless person to get what they want. This is another aspect of homelessness of which I think the public at large is unaware.

  I can't help but remember one child in the series saying, "take me with you." What has he seen? What has his mother done to feed her addiction? What has the child done to survive? Is he continuing the cycle?

  Is it any wonder many residents of Skid Row are drug vendors or users?

  As another viewer said; I would also like to see a follow up or update to this series. It would be interesting to see how much, if anything has changed and in what way. What about the children?

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  Commented on April 12, 2008 by - mrmattsterv900

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  Living

  response to  kpowel's post Now what?

  re: now what?

  I have never lived in the projects or low income housing so it is good to hear someone sharing that experience. Only someone with that background can know if it works or not or know what's like to live in that situation. That said, affordable housing doesn't have to be a housing block or "project". There has been some success with condo style affordable housing. This makes more sense to me, especially if the residents are expected to accept some ownership of the place they live. There is also a movement called "housing first". It is directed as much at substance abusers as those homeless for other reasons. The idea is to house people first and work on their issues second. Experiments with this have met with mixed success. It does fly in the face of the model that has been practiced for so long.

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  Commented on April 12, 2008 by - mrmattsterv900

• a tear

  Authored by prose - 1 vote