Skid Row Residents Hit the Streets With Brooms and Rakes : Litter: Residents take part in a cleanup of the area. For some, it’s a way to show they care about their neighborhood.

The Skid Row corner of Towne Avenue and 7th Street, home to drug deals, soup kitchens and run-down hotels, brimmed with litter Friday morning--broken glass, a plastic meal plate, a faded Coca-Cola cup and other debris. A group of five men ignored the mess and huddled on the corner to gamble.

But a block away, others were busy cleaning.

About 200 homeless people, recovering addicts and residents of low-income housing who live on Skid Row were trying Friday to change the seedy image of the area. They grabbed brooms and rakes to rid the streets of litter as part of a program sponsored by the SRO Housing Corp., which upgrades residential hotels in the area.

Some said they were required to work as part of their “morning chores” with area drug-rehabilitation centers, but others said they simply wanted to help their neighborhood.

Skid Row’s streets are always fouled by garbage. But, the workers argued, it never hurts to clean up--even if the clean streets would only last a few hours.

“It’s filthy down here,” said John Townsel, 42, who lives in Skid Row’s La Jolla Hotel for low-income residents. Townsel, who has a heart condition, said Friday’s cleanup, besides giving him a chance to exercise, was a way to show that he cares how his neighborhood looks.

“We’re human. We’re not animals,” he said, leaning on his push broom before sweeping a pile of broken glass into a trash bag.

“You got a lot of people out here who don’t have jobs,” he said. “You got to have something for these people to do.”

The area, police say, contains a mix of people. “You’ve got hardened criminals, dope dealers, and 70 or so percent who need mental help,” said Capt. Jerry W. Conner, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division. And there’s another group, the people who see Skid Row as a temporary home until they can get back on their feet, Conner said.

“They’re not bad people,” he said, adding that it is good to see residents concerned about their neighborhood. “Tomorrow, any of us could be here.”

Local businesses were not sure how to take Friday’s cleanup, some of the workers said: “They’re locking their gates. We’re not here to steal anything,” complained Cheryl Garden, gesturing toward an iron gate fixed with a padlock. She and others said owners probably misunderstood her group’s reasons for gathering on the street.

Garden said local businesses should be happy--she and her friends were doing work that owners should do themselves.

Andy Raubeson, executive director of SRO Housing Corp., said his group informed owners of the cleanup before Friday’s activities began. “Sometimes they’re a little skeptical of us,” he said. “They say, ‘What’s the catch?’ ”

Operation Clean Sweep of the city’s Department of Public Works provided rakes, gloves and other cleaning supplies. Workers received a free sandwich after two hours of work.

“Many think of Skid Row in a negative way. And this is positive,” said Jerry Lafayette, a recovering drug addict and self-proclaimed “boss of Skid Row.” Lafayette said residents care just as much about their neighborhood as anyone else. “That’s why we’re here.”