Readers React: With El Niño storms looming, L.A. City Council fails homeless people

To the editor: Last week, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center announced this year’s El Niño is still on track to be one of the strongest on record. Its effects are projected to be felt in Southern California, starting in January. (“L.A. allocates $12.4 million to aid homeless people ahead of El Niño storms,” Dec. 9)

Of the money the Los Angeles City Council approved to help the homeless before El Niño, part will be for emergency rent subsidies and a small sum will be for emergency shelter beds. The total beds available will now be 1,300. But we have 18,000 adults and children who need shelter.

I decry the lack of a comprehensive, humane and practical plan from the mayor and members of the City Council to deal with this emergency. Such a plan must be adopted immediately. Otherwise, they don’t deserve to hold their elected offices.

Mary E. Davis, Westchester

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To the editor: As a chaplain in the county jail system, I come across so many homeless and fragile men who deliberately get themselves arrested for shelter purposes: clean clothes, a place to sleep and some warmth and security.

I have also watched the rise of so many exotic hotels downtown. Imagine if each hotel were obligated to section off a street-level area with its own entrance and with simple overnight accommodations for the poor — nothing fancy, but just a touch of respect and concern.

The way a country treats its fragile is a sign of its greatness or shame.

Catherine Marie Bazar, Los Angeles

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