Central City East and Skid Row

As a business owner in the Central City East area of downtown Los Angeles, I find Jeff Dietrich’s theory on Skid Row (Opinion, May 26) quite interesting but inadequate in addressing the homeless problem in our community. Dietrich is correct in pointing out that a large number of poor people end up on the streets in the light-industrial district of downtown as a result of redevelopment in the financial district. His idea to turn seedy Skid Row hotels over to nonprofit control is quite admirable. However, he is off base with his concept of creating an “enclave of the poor” by building “a strong enough dike to withstand the growing tides of downtown development.”

Central City East is not just Skid Row with no economic function, as Dietrich argued. It is the major light-industrial/wholesale distribution center of Los Angeles. It is the home of Southern California’s seafood, produce, flower, garment and toy industries. These are the industries that provide most of the blue-collar and entry-level jobs, jobs that are hard to come by in our city. Dietrich recognized the working poor among the residents in this neighborhood, and yet his anti-economic development proposal would certainly reduce them to out-of-work poor, not to mention damage the multibillion-dollar tax base of Los Angeles.

The street population of Central City East is a mixture of many troubled elements in our society, not just victims of development and shifts in economic trends. A large number are drug addicts and alcoholics, many are mentally ill, some are criminals who mingle and prey on these vulnerable populations. Many farsighted homeless service agencies provide, in addition to shelters and meals, diverse programs to help deal with various elements of this population so that opportunities exist for those who wish to mainstream back to society. Like most businesses in this community, the survival of these agencies and the welfare of their clients depend on a safe, secure and economically viable Central City East. Unlike most businesses, the success of their efforts will not be judged on their ability to attract or maintain a client base, but rather their ability to reduce and mainstream the population through various rehabilitation and transition programs.

With the recession and huge budgetary crisis that are facing our government, helping the homeless is not an easy task, and it would not get any easier if the public were to buy into Dietrich’s concept of a ghetto for the poor and the social deviant.

CHARLES WOO, Chairman

Central City East Assn.