Skip Party, Spend Money on Homeless
Rushing through downtown to change buses, I saw a homeless man sleeping, wrapped in blankets next to an abandoned building. It caused me to remember the remarks recently made by Tipper Gore, wife of the vice president of the United States and presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Mrs. Gore, at the opening of an exhibit on the homeless at the L.A. Central Library, said there would not be any “displacement” of homeless people in the downtown area due to the convention next mouth. With all due respect to Mrs. Gore she missed the point.
The problems of homelessness in this country were not addressed during her husband’s tenure in Washington. The Clinton administration has done nothing to eradicate the encampments on the sidewalks of towns and cities throughout this country. If the president and vice president had devoted as much time to addressing the homeless issue in the country as they have in raising campaign money, would we have people sleeping on damp and dirty concrete?
There are thousands homeless people on the streets in L.A. every night. Some of these are single women, others are drug users, some are children, and many are veterans of the armed services of the United States. The demand for aid for them outstrips supply. Waiting lists are long and transitional housing nonexistent for some because of past criminal and drug offenses. The urine-fouled and greasy cement sidewalks of downtown are their homes.
Just think what could have been accomplished for the homeless throughout L.A. if the $35 million raised for the convention had been spent on them.
What if all of the expected convention protesters parlayed their energies, talents and money to spend one week dealing with the homeless in this city? Imagine what the result would be. It would be like when we were in high school and everyone agreed to have the prom in the gym instead a fancy hotel, so the less fortunate of our peers could participate equally in festivities.
Can you imagine a future president and his supporters forgoing a lavish spectacle to have a dignified, simple meeting because they wanted to use the money to help the less fortunate? Can you visualize him or her scrubbing dirty sidewalks and really cleaning debris off the streets?
In the meantime, it would behoove all those in power not to arrogantly grant others the right to live in misery while they live in luxury. Who do these people think they are? There, but for the grace of God, go all of us.
