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I spent last week down in LA at a trade show. The LA convention center is a massive, multi-million dollar facility, right next to some of the cities largest skyscrapers and most expensive properties. Yet within a couple blocks of this is an area taken over by bums and derelicts. Block after block of bums living in tents. Garbage everywhere. A stench that would make a hog puke. Much of that in front of some very decent buildings.
I had seen these videos on here before but always figured it was just one concentrated area. IT'S NOT. This goes on for block after block. The derelicts have taken over much of downtown LA. It isn't just the bums, it's the massive piles of garbage allowed to collect. The trash in the streets.
I find it amazing that the residents of the city have allowed their city to be turned into a 3rd world cesspool. That they haven't demanded that the police tear out these encampments. That they allow people to live there year after year, on handouts rather than getting a job and producing. Housing cost IS an issue...but the concept of moving out of one of the most expensive cities in the country and finding somewhere that you can afford to live on a modest salary doesn't seem to be comprehensible to these people...or to the LA city council for that matter. Why go somewhere else when you're allowed to live for free and get handouts every single day? Not to mention do drugs with impunity. I find it amazing that the residents of LA are allowing their city to be destroyed.
On a more general note, outside of the weather, I found LA pretty unimpressive. Somewhat dirty and trashy (streets/sidewalks not clean, even in the nicer business areas in the downtown core). Given the reputation of the car culture, I was surprised at the poor condition of the area highways. I always figured that the place would be kept up really nice. Compared to say Tampa or Phoenix, downtown LA, even the business district, was a dump. This was my first trip to downtown-previous ones have been to business areas outside of the core.
Flip side, for the most part drivers were excellent, know how to actually merge onto a highway, keep out of the left lane when not passing and move at a decent speed (traffic permitting, with is rarely). Even more, they make room for people to switch lanes and cut in. Most of the people we met were nice (granted a lot were Uber drivers). And of course the weather was wonderful, and the occasional view of the mountains was nice.
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 03-10-2018 at 09:42 AM..
Skid Row is returning to its peak of squalor that it achieved in the early 1990s.
It may have already hit it and in fact...surpassed it. The last time I was down there in 2011/12 it was noticeably better than past years. Since then it has gotten much worse.
Haven't been downtown in years aside from a drive by/thru (the non-violent variety of course).
Skid row/downtown has always been assumed to have undesirables/homeless folks. The real development is the infiltration of homeless into areas that were verboten just a few short years ago (in general). In and around L.A. you have:
Malibu
Westwood
Marina Del Rey
Brentwood
West Hollywood/Beverly Hills border
This is just the beginning. You can't have the level of income disparity we do and have a normal society.
People lose their homes and turn to drugs and crime.
The LA region of 20,000,000 people has severely dilapidated areas?
Some country bumpkins think Skid Row represents wide swaths of LA and has allowed it to become a third world country? Want to see third world, go to some of America's rural areas.
LA has a GDP of over a $ 1 trillion dollars and its economy has been growing. The far right loves to blast liberal cities but they also like to point to how well the economy is.....
The LA region of 20,000,000 people has severely dilapidated areas?
Some country bumpkins think Skid Row represents wide swaths of LA and has allowed it to become a third world country? Want to see third world, go to some of America's rural areas.
Good story bro. Why not start a thread about it?
This area of LA isn't out in the "slums" somewhere, it's right in the middle of downtown, adjacent to the business/banking district. I'm not even getting into the dumps of East LA.
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 03-10-2018 at 11:00 AM..
LA has a GDP of over a $ 1 trillion dollars and its economy has been growing. The far right loves to blast liberal cities but they also like to point to how well the economy is.....
The city of LA does not-the entire LA metro area does. It also has a population in excess of 13 million. Your point?
And...with a Trillion Dollar GDP...why don't they fix the highways, clean up the streets and get rid of the bums?
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 03-10-2018 at 12:06 PM..
Skid Row is returning to its peak of squalor that it achieved in the early 1990s.
It may have already hit it and in fact...surpassed it. The last time I was down there in 2011/12 it was noticeably better than past years. Since then it has gotten much worse.
Haven't been downtown in years aside from a drive by/thru (the non-violent variety of course).
Skid row/downtown has always been assumed to have undesirables/homeless folks. The real development is the infiltration of homeless into areas that were verboten just a few short years ago (in general). In and around L.A. you have:
Malibu
Westwood
Marina Del Rey
Brentwood
West Hollywood/Beverly Hills border
That's from personal observation.
I didn't get into any of those areas, but did end up in Long Beach for a few hours. Same situation there, but from what I saw (and probably didn't see the really bad spots) on a smaller scale. People living in tents in front of some decent looking, what looks like middle class (though were probably million dollar homes, given that this was a block from the beach) houses.
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 03-10-2018 at 12:14 PM..
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