DT News Hammers Pershing Square Issue
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — This will be short, since I'm on my honeymoon and have a [broken keyboard], but I just got a chance to read the article on Pershing Square that ran in last week's Downtown News and the followup editorial that runs this week. I think Kathleen really nailed the heart of the issue: this is public space, it needs to be treated in a public way. The editorial recognizes the same thing:
Additionally, we're troubled by the communication shortfall. It's a stretch, but we'll accept the good intentions behind not informing the public about a reopening date (though we doubt heroin users would be eagerly counting the days until they could return to Pershing Square). But the lack of conversation with the interested, active neighbors who reached out is wrong. We expect that regular users of the park would have done whatever they could to help if they knew the situation. This could have been a partnership between the residents, Rec and Parks and the police.
Good work, Downtown News.
Much more coverage of the tape issue can be found in this original Tape Watch post.
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David Kennedy on August 06, 2006, at 04:29PM – #1
There are a couple of things going on here worth commenting on.
1) The idea that closing the park to the public is the best way to reduce crime is a remarkably bone-headed idea. That it would actually be implemented tells us a lot about how disengaged the authorities are and dysfunctional their decision making process is. Can you imagine such a policy be proposed anywhere else without the idea be derided as complete foolishness?
2) Again, the elephant in the room is skid row. The impact of concentrating various social services and encouraging large numbers of street people to congregate around them without enforcing rudimentary law and order, all in the name of "compassion for the homeless", has numerous ripple effects. This is one of them. Until the city accepts the abject failure of its policies vis a vis skid row and the street people it encourages there, these kinds of problems will continue to plague downtown.
Koltanne on August 06, 2006, at 05:01PM – #2
What could be more "disengaged" and "dysfunctional" than the way public spaces, including Pershing Square, already have been in downtown Los Angeles for the past several decades? Where homeless people have been running wild and the scent (or sight) of human feces and urine is a greeting card to all? Where police are sued or made to feel heartless for even thinking of prodding homeless people to move along, much less arresting them? Where drug dealing in the open is seen by some as a form of free expression?
In the meantime, talk is cheap.
Joel C on August 07, 2006, at 04:17PM – #3
The problem is not the presence of a park. You do not fix the problem by closing down the park.
The problems are (1) too many homeless, drug-addicted, street people in too small an area; and (2) too little enforcement of laws, including public urination/defecation, drug usage/selling, prostitution, etc.
The point is: nobody is working on fixing the problem. And there are too many groups that actively fight change if they think it will hurt their interests.
big dog on August 08, 2006, at 04:20PM – #4
I think Kathleen did a great job articulating the problem - but I also think she gave more credit to the Police than they deserve - that is, if it's even the Police that was at the root of the dialogue problem. I just don't perceive good intentions in closing a park from those they want in it; it speaks more of laziness and apathy than any sound solution. Iâd really like to hear from the authorities, how well they think their plan worked.