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Creating the central City East Resident Seat on the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council pays off

LAist did a story on skid row in which they touch on the subject of General Jeff and his position on the Neighborhood Council. It is good to see that all of my hard work many years ago proposing that a resident seat be placed on the then forming Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council is paying off. Yes, It was I. And no matter how much General Jeff tries to shoot me down when I say I was instrumental in making sure we had a place on the neighborhood council, again, I will say I. I never ran for the seat because no matter what, I would always be involved in the politics of downtown. At the time, I was the first person ever to be a resident of skid row and on a Community Redevelopment Agency PAC and was one of the only actual residents as a part of the forming committees of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. And of course as a veteran of the USMC and actually enduring a combat situation, if you think I was going to shut up, well, think again. So I wanted the people of skid row, those who suffer with alcohol abuse and substance abuse to be able to have their voices heard. I wanted the people who never have a chance to be a part of the political process to be a part of that process. Never having had these problems, I knew that I could never represent a community that would soon be under siege by the Safe Cities Initiative. I also knew that it was important for a community to have it's autonomy, and different voices should be heard other than my own or no changes would ever take effect.

I am now the Official Town Crier of Los Angeles , I have skills that will bring me close to a million dollars next year and I am always ill. The always ill part is where I knew I could not represent consistently this community. But for all of the accolades and trust we have placed in General Jeff , there is a group in the community that still does not have an empathetic leader who will speak for those of us who have chronic illness not associated with any sort of drug use or alcohol use. The question is: who will speak for us? The chronically ill.

Skid row has it's people , residents etc. working on it's behalf , but many have no idea that once they get theirs, those who depend on the system , due to illness , will still be in the same situation as before.

I have my faith in general Jeff. But if you have followed me on this blog for a while you will see that it is the chronically ill who are abused by the so called housing providers. Who will speak for us?

I had to whine and gripe, after getting this bad bronchitis that I have, to get the heat turned on in this room. I suffered. SRO and it's employees do not care if we suffer. We are not their priority. If one looks at what they are you will see they are a management corporation. Managing those with section 8 in their buildings. This may be their definition , but they don't see it that way. They just don't give a damn!!!

Do we have fearless leaders willing to take them on? I don't know... But we shall see. I got an e-mail the other day with General Jeff taking them to task on a matter that has been on the minds of residents. The big question is when will people like general jeff raise the questions of Heating , ventilation, and air conditioning in these buildings.?

I think I will, all next year. Will General Jeff?

Comments

Unknown said…
General Jeff and ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS has already voiced its opinion on the topics in question. We forwarded correspondence to you in regards to our feelings about Global Warming as well as the extreme heat in the buildings in Skid Row during the summertime, which would require serious attention by the City of Los Angeles and building management in order to prevent massive community suffering if in fact a heatwave were to occur.

To question whether or not General Jeff will address this issue may seem to some as though you question the desire of someone that you yourself earlier stated that you put your faith in.

Since day one, which goes back further than the Neighborhood Council, General Jeff along with ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS vowed to address every issue that prevents Skid Row from becoming the positive opportunistic community that it should be. We are collectively doing just that. Understand that with so many issues that need to be addressed, we cannot possibly address each and every issue at the same time. Therefore while some topics may be on top of your list, we may not be able to get to it immediately. But in order for us to properly address each issue thoroughly, patience must be utilized at all times because there is no time to readdress any situation in Skid Row. Once we focus on one issue, we see that solution through to completion.

So even though we already addressed your concerns, understand that we will go further in this direction after we complete other projects that we are currently working on.

Without any funding and being severely understaffed, we can only move as fast as thoroughness allows us to.

Thank you.

General Jeff
ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
December 28, 2008 3:59 PM
dgarzila said…
the heat wave occurred las tyear and people died?

This is an ongoing issue and concern...
December 28, 2008 9:38 PM
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