Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
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Skid Row is a Los Angeles, California neighborhood in the downtown area. The area is rife with homeless people, discharged mental patients, low-quality, inexpensive housing, violence, prostitution and illegal drugs. In recent years, the media has shined much light on the area, leading to massive city planning to clean it up.
As of December 2005, the total number of homeless in the Greater Los Angeles area was by far the greatest in the nation, at 91,000 [1] This number includes an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 children [2]. In 2004 the count was 80,000 total [3]. The next closest city currently is New York City, at 48,155.
Los Angeles's Skid Row is in an area of downtown Los Angeles. The area is also known as Central City East, is home to one of the largest stable populations of transient persons (homeless) in the United States. Informal population estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000. First-time visitors to this area are often shocked by the sight of the cardboard box and camping tents lining the sidewalks; the juxtaposition with the gleaming glass-sheathed skyscrapers on nearby Bunker Hill is quite striking. A common joke about the high prices of houses and taxes in Los Angeles city and county is that "you can't even buy a cardboard box for that price" (with "that price" being a budget that would pay for housing in many other parts of the country). L.A.'s Skid Row is sometimes called "the Nickel," because it is centered on Fifth Street. Most of the city's homeless and social service providers (such as Frontline Foundation, Midnight Mission, Union Rescue Mission and Downtown Women's Center) are based on Skid Row. While downtown Los Angeles has gone through a revitalization in recent years, development has mostly skipped over the Skid Row neighborhood. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, several local hospitals and suburban law enforcement agencies were accused by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other officials of transporting those homeless people in their care to Skid Row. [4] [5] According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official boundaries of skid row are Third and Seventh Streets to the north and south and Alameda and Main Streets to the east and west, respectively. [1]
One way being tried to combat the problem is Mixed-Income Housing, which combines market-rate and subsidized housing [6].
The name is official enough that fire engines and ambulances serving the neighborhood have historically had "Skid Row" emblazoned on their sides. On 1 June 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported[7] that fire officials plan to change the legend on the vehicles to read "Central City East". Many residents support the change, but it is opposed by firefighters and some residents who take pride in the sense that they live in a tough place.
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