More Impressions

(more photos taken by Dora Na)
Photos taken August 2006








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Alpha Course at Skid Row | Retreat

On Oct. 7th, a group of about 35 people left L.A.'s concrete jungle to the nice serene and scenic sights of Rancho Capistrano to experience the work of the Holy Spirit.









The Alpha Course @ Skid Row
in collaboration with: Love LA, Central City Community Church of the Nazarene, and the Union Rescue Mission
Fall term in progress: Fridays 6:00-8:30 pm
@ Central City Community Church of the Nazarene (corner of 6th & San Pedro)

Thank You...

Some of us from Love LA participated in Central City Community Church's 18th Anniversary Celebration / Gospel Musical Fundraiser. A night of celebration with various voices from all different backgrounds and color singing praise to our Lord. A truly blessed night.
The night ended with the CitySound Singers (An Urban Ministry of Bel Air Presbyterian) leading us with the song "You Are Good".
Thank you Central City Community Church for letting us be part of this amazing event.
Praise God!

LA Times: Q & A on Skid Row

LAPD Says Streets Are No Place Like Home
October 10, 2006
(all images and text courtesy of LA Times)



Here is a look at some of the legal issues surrounding camping by the homeless on the streets and sidewalks of skid row.

Question: Why is the issue so controversial?

Answer: The city of Los Angeles has an ordinance that prohibits people from camping on streets and sidewalks. Such camps are a particular problem on skid row, which has the city's largest concentration ofhomeless people. In 2003, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the ordinance.

The suit was brought on behalf of six homeless people, including Robert Lee Purrie, who has lived in the skid row area for four decades and said he slept on the streets because he could not afford a hotel and there were not enough shelter beds. Purrie was cited for sleeping on the street twice before police arrested him in 2003. He spent a night in jail, was given a 12-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay $195 in restitution and attorney's fees. When he was released, all of his possessions — including his tent, blankets, cooking utensils and personal effects — were gone, according to the suit.



Q: What happened to the lawsuit?

A: In April, a federal appeals court invalidated the city's sleeping ordinance, saying the Los Angeles Police Department cannot arrest people for sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks on skid row. Because there are not enough shelter beds for the city's homeless, Judge Kim M. Wardlaw wrote in the majority opinion, prohibiting homeless people from sleeping on the streets was a violation of the 8th Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.

"The city … apparently believes that [the plaintiffs] can avoid sitting, lying and sleeping for days, weeks or months at a time to comply with the city's ordinance, as if human beings could remain in perpetual motion. That being an impossibility, by criminalizing sitting, lying and sleeping, the city is in fact criminalizing [the plaintiffs'] status as homeless individuals," Wardlaw wrote. In dissent, Judge Pamela A. Rymer wrote that the LAPD "does not punish people simply because they are homeless. It targets conduct — sitting, lying or sleeping on city sidewalks — that can be committed by those with homes as well as those without."




Q: What was the city's response to the ruling?

A: At first, some city officials said they wanted to appeal the ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But eventually, the mayor, Police Chief William J. Bratton and other leaders signed off on a proposed settlement of the lawsuit. The compromise would allow police to arrest people camping, sleeping or lying on sidewalks between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. on skid row but allow the homeless to have the camps at night. The settlement would also prohibit encampments at any time within 10 feet of a business or residential entrance.

Q: What happened?

A: The City Council rejected the settlement, saying it would set a bad precedent. Council members said they worried that the deal would allow the ACLU to make the same argument in other parts of the city, possibly resulting in people sleeping on sidewalks in Hollywood, Venice and elsewhere. Some also thought the city might prevail if it took the case to the Supreme Court.




Q: But a week ago, the LAPD began arresting people camping on the street, right?

A: Yes. Bratton authorized arrests on skid row during the day after the city attorney's office issued an opinion saying that would be legal. The office concluded that the court ruling applied only to camping at night, so the LAPD could enforce the ordinance during the day.

The LAPD also said there were more than 100 shelter beds available this week. An ACLU spokesman questioned whether the arrests complied with the April ruling.

Read the full article over here.

LAPD Arrests Skid Row Campers

By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers
October 4, 2006
(all photos courtesy of LA Times)




The LAPD on Tuesday escalated its crackdown on skid row's homeless encampments, for the first time in months arresting transients for sleeping on the streets.

Police Chief William J. Bratton said he authorized the arrests after the L.A. city attorney's office issued a legal opinion saying that officers could arrest homeless people who slept on skid row's streets during the day.



But the new tactics were met with concern from some L.A. council members as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, which has aggressively challenged the city's efforts to remove the homeless camps.

Catherine Lhamon, racial justice director of the ACLU of Southern California, questioned whether the arrests made Tuesday are allowed under an April federal appeals court ruling that struck down the city's ban on people sleeping on streets and sidewalks.

The court, siding with the ACLU, ruled it was cruel and usual punishment to arrest homeless people for sleeping when the city could not provide enough shelter beds for them.

"It would be unwise social policy to be making arrests pursuant to that ordinance," Lhamon said.

The chief said he felt comfortable making arrests on the sleeping ordinance in part because there are more than 100 shelter beds available on skid row this week. The city attorney's office gave the go-ahead, concluding that the appeals court ruling applied only to camping at night, not during the day.

Read the full article over here.

Complete LA Times Coverage: The Fight For Skid Row

More Police Patrol as part of Safer City Initiative

September 25, 2006
Associated Press
(All photos courtesy of LA Times)



LOS ANGELES - Specially trained police officers have started patrolling Skid Row, in a new and much touted city initiative to fight crime in the impoverished, drug plagued downtown area.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was on hand Sunday as 50 police officers fanned out in pairs, on foot and riding bicycles. The mayor looked to reassure a skeptic public that the campaign will create a safer community for the people and businesses in the area.



"We are not going to give up on Skid Row," Villaraigosa said at a news conference.

An estimated 1,800 homeless people live on Skid Row. The area is home to cheap hotels and charity shelters, but it's also gentrifying - with fancy lofts and new businesses coming in. They have been pressuring the city to clean it up.

But some homeless activists worry that the city isn't dealing sensitively with the homeless population, and Skid Row residents have complained about harassment and nuisance arrests from certain officers.



"It's about real estate," said Alice Callaghan of Las Familias del Pueblo, an advocacy group for the homeless. "It's about purifying the public sidewalks so the people moving into these lofts downtown won't feel afraid."

Caroline Phillips, a prosecutor with the city attorney's office who will be specializing in Skid Row cases, acknowledged that the police will have to work to gain the people's trust.

"They see the police as a paramilitary presence here to bust heads," Phillips said.

The reassigned officers received 30 hours of specialized training, including how to deal with people suffering from mental disorders, police said.

The initiative also seeks greater follow-through by the city attorney's office, particularly for drug-related offenses, more street lighting and increased sidewalk cleaning.

Also read:
LA TImes: Police Expand Presence on Skid Row as Part of New Campaign.


KTLA: Toy Company: Skid Row Problem Getting Worse



Watch KTLA News Report on Strike Force Moves Onto Skid Row
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