Posted on 08/08/2018 5:30:31 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
ANGELINO HEIGHTS (CBSLA) — A method of deterring homeless people from sleeping in a part of Los Angeles dealing with the crisis is drawing mixed reactions from neighbors.
A homeless encampment once stood on a section of Custer Avenue in Angelino Heights near where the 101 and 110 freeways connect. The cul-de-sac right off Sunset Boulevard now has several large boulders strewn about the sidewalks and patches of dirt, ostensibly to prevent people from sleeping there.
Joe Illeng used to be homeless and now has a home and a family. However, he told CBS2 News this in no way to deal with the issue.
“If that was my brother or my stepdad or let’s say whoever — or somebody I loved and they were down and out — is this how I would want them to be treated? No,” said Illeng. “It is cruel.”
There are no homes along the short street, but neighbors from nearby businesses told CBS2 off-camera said they understand why this last-ditch effort was used.
L.A. is not the first city to see this type of deterrent. San Francisco’s public works agency placed large rocks in section of the city where encampments were a common sight.
Despite the disagreement, neighbors seem to think this is not a permanent solution.
“I think it’s a bigger issue and a problem for the City of Los Angeles,” said resident Courtney Aldridge, who was shopping at the adjacent CVS. “The problems are much deeper, deeply rooted than that.”
L.A. City Councilman Gil Cedillo represents the area. A spokesman told CBS2 News they were made aware of the boulders Monday and that the sanitation department would be removing them soon.
You are so correct. My wife deals with them every day at a mental healthcare facility.
A couple weeks ago, she ask if I had any shoes/boots that I no longer wanted since they had homeless people out on the streets walking around in 115 degree weather-ON THE CEMENT!
I gave her every dang shoe/boot I could find that I had not worn in a long time.
And yet I work part time for a guy who is going to Africa for a Christian Outreach org to do things like that. I blow up at him. WTH? We got mentally challenged homeless here in the USA and he is going over to Africa to help those?
That’s indubitable...
Parents are like fascists, man...
Many churches do step up.
But it is not the job of churches to feed and house the dangerously mentally disturbed.
Our church works closely with the Gospel Rescue Mission, and U-Turn for Christ. But both of these organizations have strict rules. In order to save the ones who will abide by the rules, they must turn away those who will not.
The homeless problem is not what most people think it is. There is almost no place in the US where a person who is willing to not drink or drug in a facility and is willing to not smoke in that facility ever has to sleep outdoors. OTOH, there are many who insist on using drugs, drinking and smoking. These people actually choose to live on the street, and keep their drugs.
And, in many cases their mental illnesses are greatly exacerbated by their self-medication with street drugs.
I certainly have great sympathy for the homeless, and our church does step up and help. BUT, when a man spurns the advice that will get him well, and instead chooses to wallow in the same destructive behavior that caused his problems he really does not want the help we can offer. And, we have no obligation to contribute our limited resources to his self destruction.
the saddest part of this article is the people who think that people on mattresses on roads and couches next to offices are acceptable.
The rocks just traded one eyesore for another, but people can’t just set up where they feel like it.
I absolutely get what you’re saying.
God bless you and your church for the “dedicated love” and knowledge of human nature which you bring into the picture. It would be easy for the carers to fall victim to burnout. But you carry the cross.
You got that right.
Well said. Even their own family members do not feel it would be safe to take them in.
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