A Night of Giving Support to the Homeless

Father Scott Santarosa from Dolores Mission invited people to come spend a night with the homeless population Thursday and I was deeply moved by the stories of people made homeless by a weakened economy, as well as the 100 or so individuals who came out to support them. Dressed in pajamas and wrapped in blankets, men, women, boys and girls, listened to the testimonials given by people who lost their homes to rising mortgages and others who were having difficulty putting food on the table. Amongst a sea of lit candles, people prayed for one another and provided comfort to the homeless men that find shelter at Dolores Mission every night. The vigil concluded with celebratory songs and as the lights went out scores of people – homeless or not – slept on the church grounds in solidarity.

Making 4th Street Bridge Safer for All

I scheduled an on-site meeting with the Bureau of Engineers about the ongoing earthquake retrofitting of the 4th Street Bridge in Boyle Heights. BOE City Engineer Gary Lee Moore assured me that the project will be finished by November. And my office will continue to monitor the project and we’ll be working to getting it done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once the main work is done, we’re going to cleanup the bridge and add a graffiti-proof finish and then we’re going to get the residents opinion on what kind of pocket park they would like to see put under the bridge. It’s going to be a beautiful sight to behold once it’s finish. I want to thank the Boyle Heights community for their patience. I promise you, it will be well worth the wait.

Working to End Patient Dumping Downtown

I joined City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo at a press conference on the rooftop of the Union Rescue Mission on Wednesday to announce a settlement with a hospital that had been patient dumping mentally ill people along skid row. It’s quite unbelievable to think that an institution that is supposed to look after the well being of its patients would even think of doing that. It’s disgusting and despicable behavior. It angers me because we’re talking about an extremely vulnerable population. And let’s be honest: our mental health care in this country is not what it should be. But first and foremost, like everybody else, people with mental illness deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. In short, they need to be treated like human beings. I applaud the City Attorney for the work he and his office have been doing on this issue and I hope this settlement (which includes fines and restrictions) will finally serve notice to other institutions: Do not patient dump in downtown Los Angeles or we will come after you.

Every One Counts in Los Angeles

I attended two events recently to promote the 2010 U.S. Census and the importance for all Angelenos to participate in this vital process. In the last census in 2000, it’s estimated that Los Angeles was undercounted by nearly 77,000 people, costing our city more than $200 million in federal dollars over the decade since. The sad irony is the people who would have benefited the most from the lost funding in health, education and emergency services, are the ones who were the most undercounted: children from low-income families, people of color, immigrants and the homeless. But there’s hope. The Mayor’s office is taking a proactive role in ensuring that we are not undercounted this time around. On Monday, I joined with other City leaders and about 500 enthusiastic Census workers who were beginning their pre-Census preparation of address checking known residents. Please spread the word that the information gathered is solely for Census data, which helps get those much needed federal dollars and to establish congressional representation. In these lean economic times, we simply cannot afford to lose another $200 million.