The Grit of Urban Life

I would like to respond to Teresa Yunker’s community essay (“Oh, Give Me Home Where Bullets Don’t Roam,” Feb. 17). It is true, as Yunker pointed out, that Los Angeles’ parks will never offer the peaceful serenity of suburban parks. Everyone knows Los Angeles police have more serious problems to attend to than asking teenagers and large groups of Angelenos to turn down their portable radios and clean up after themselves.

However, I would like to make a suggestion to Yunker, a Chicago suburban transplant, and other soft-hearted Angelenos, to make our city a better place to live.

Do not give money to the people standing outside the grocery store, the pharmacy, the Laundromat, the car wash, the fast food restaurant window or the bank. Rarely does the money go to buy food. As coordinator of an outreach ministry to the homeless at my church, I have learned a lot about Los Angeles’ homeless in the last two years. And giving money will only prevent them from seeking the help they need to overcome their drug or alcohol addiction and face other deeper problems.

The Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles has a wide variety of rehabilitation programs that have proven successful. Why not write and ask the Union Rescue Mission to send you information about their programs? Along with a sandwich, give out the information the next time you are asked for money. I have found this approach helps me to not be annoyed by frequent requests for money when I stop for gas or food, and it just may lead someone to the place where they can turn their life around.

SCOTT BUTWELL

Hollywood