LAPD

Making the Case for Skid Row Culture: Findings from a Collaborative Inquiry by the Los Angeles Poverty Department and the Urban Institute

by Maria Rosario Jackson and John Malpede

The concept of the LAPD is to create an arts center and “safe-space” in an area that is otherwise ignored when it comes to arts and culture. According to the case study, “If a homeless person applies to the county welfare department or if someone is just out of jail, most likely he or she will be given a voucher to a hotel on Skid Row.” It was interesting for me to learn that those just out of prison are encouraged to live it Skid Row. I also found in interesting that the area is “a ‘high-tolerance’ zone-one in which public safety and sanitation laws are poorly enforced if they are enforced at all.” And found it backwards and almost satirical that laws that are usually ignored or not given a high priority for enforcement, like jay walking, are strictly enforced in the Skid Row area. I wonder if creating an arts and cultural center in an area that in design is “determined …to isolate it’s….residients” actually makes an impact, and if it really does help to un-alienate it’s residents.