the other day someone took this picture of two young ladies taking a picture in front of dangerbird records

next to, what appears to be a homeless guy, sleeping on the street.

ive lived near this very spot for over 15 years and theres a few things about this picture

1. even though there has been an influx of homeless encampments in East Hollywood / Silver Lake / Los Feliz over the last few years I have not seen many homeless ppl sleeping on Sunset in the middle of the day like this, which doesnt mean it doesn’t happen, i just havent seen it.
2. i see people posing in front of that stupid sign all the time even though it doesnt make sense – it doesnt say pose for pictures it says think about them.
3. yoga pants are amazing, thanks obama
4. hats off to anyone who doesnt buy Nikes

LA has a bizarre relationship with homelessness. Santa Monica and DTLA pretty much let homeless people set up camp anywhere they want. Hollywood is doing the same. every now and then some muckity muck will raise an eyebrow and make a phone call and the people are shown the way out but theres an underpass on Alvarado beneath the 101, theres an underpass in Frog Town and there are overpasses overlooking the 110 where you see tents after tents after tents.

and yet when kind-hearted souls built little houses for the homeless to sleep in, the city took them away citing safety issues as a tent on top of a damn freeway isn’t unsafe.

i dont have any answers for homelessness in LA other than to put these people in abandoned buildings in downtown and provide job training, mental health support, food and love. if we can build billion dollar sports palaces we can buy unused buildings for americans who have fallen on hard times – many of whom are veterans.

but we can’t just shuffle our feet and hope someone else comes up with a better plan because they never do.