skid marks

i spent the day today on skidrow. thankfully it was for work and i didn't just end up there. though sometimes i am not so sure how far away from skidrow any of us are.

if you turn your head to the side you can see the L.A. Mission Health Center

elizabeth and mike and i are here to see more community health centers and get a feel for what we can do to increase american's access to health care. (i don't know why this photo is sideways like this)

this is the view from the roof of the the LA mission's roof to the east

this is what it looks like to the west
little tokyo lofts are on sell
they advertise that:
it's 12 miles from beverly hills
it's a million miles from beverly hills
they don't advertise that:
its 3 blocks from skidrow
but ignoring it like it is a million miles from skid row
with prices starting in the $300,000s.

here is the crew
the usual and herb and susan

mike is directing

he is looking down at this
the skidrow
please note the photos on the wall.

this doesn't capture all the activity that is buzzing around this center.
they provide overnight beds to 180 men each night
and about 50 beds for women
then they have residential programs that help get people out of poverty
about 200 men at anyone time
and about 80 women
and they are only scatching the surface

here are the people on skidrow
today i saw men smoking crack and shooting heron
one of the guys in this photo did it right in front of me
apparently there aren't as many people on "heroine road"
as there was a couple of weeks ago
the police were hanging out for a good long time and people left
but the professionals say, they are on their way back
the federal funded health center provides all sorts of primary care
they find tb, syphilis, and aids at 2 and 4xs the national average
people like to think it is a totally different world
but it is not
we are in the same world
blocks apart
they are americans
skidrow feels different than a thirdworld shantytown
because it isn't so distant.

we are at a VOA site where they are doing primary health care visits
this guy was once a "student" in the la mission
he is clean and now a health outreach worker

after work i hooked up with robin of the cheryl and diane family
we ate at this awesome japanese place that just opened called takami

this is the view from where we sat
it was even cooler because we got to see the sun set.
or at least the affects of the sun setting

here is robin on our way back to my hotel so she could hurry and get packed for some
crazy travel and work
thanks for hanging out tonight robin!
also, check out that moon!!!!