Lack of Respect for Homeless
* In your article about the fire that destroyed the Sea Castle apartments in Santa Monica (“Flames Conquer a Castle,” Feb. 2) you included a sentence that I read with great sadness. Your reporter explained that Santa Monica officials blamed the owner of the building for allowing it to be “overrun by birds, rodents and transients.”
It’s horrible to realize that our society has come to a place where we can so glibly include living, breathing, human beings in the same category as vermin simply because they do not have a home.
Ironically, the closing quote of the piece, a moving account of the loss of a landmark, was given to your reporter by one of the homeless men who had taken shelter there. Who knew a rodent could be so eloquent!
CLARA STURAK
Venice
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