When the City of Los Angeles evacuated the Echo Park Lake homeless camp in March 2021, a mob of police arrived to arrest the last of the exhibits on display. I was one of those protesting this decision. The situation in Echo Park Lake was unsustainable for a long time, but the cleanup seemed typical of major policy failures, with the city pushing the homeless around like toys while ignoring the underlying issues that caused the situation.
When the park reopened two months later, it was behind a fence. I hated it. I thought the fence was a disgrace, a constant reminder of our overall inability to deal with the homelessness crisis.
If you had told me then that two years later I would have greeted the removal of the fence with ambivalence and fear, I would have been appalled – but that’s exactly how I feel about newly elected alderman Hugo Soto-Martinez’s plan to remove it. The alderman announced the decision, saying, “For many in the community… the fence symbolizes the division and the biggest failure of homelessness in Los Angeles. … We’re going to tear down the fence and do it right, with more transparency, so that the city can see once and for all that criminalization and segregation will not solve homelessness.
Echo Park Lake looks very different today than it did two years ago. The lawn is healthy, the trails are clean and manicured, and new exercise equipment has recently been installed. It’s busy most of the day and night, and aside from the ubiquitous swan boats, you can paint, play sports, chat, read, fish, and enjoy great views of downtown LA. People of different races and backgrounds, whether housed or not, benefit from the space and view that the park offers.
But what you see outside the gates is very different. Tents along the perimeter. Passages are lined with camps. Campers race through the streets. It is a daily occurrence to see a tortured soul in the midst of a break from reality, screaming into the air or otherwise acting psychotic. Public nudity, urination and defecation are also common. These issues aren’t just about quality of life – last summer a warehouse on a nearby public stairway caught fire and burned down just a few feet from my house.
As a longtime advocate for the homeless, I know there is no quick or easy solution to the tragic reality of homelessness in our city. The problem is the result of systemic errors going back generations. There are currently about 36,000 more homeless people in LA County than there are beds in public housing and shelters. The number of people living on the street has been growing steadily in recent years and seems unstoppable.
Soto-Martinez assures us that the removal of the fence will be accompanied by strong assistance to the homeless in the area. I really appreciate the city council and its team, but they cannot make up for our fundamental lack of housing and infrastructure. Allocating resources to specific areas or camps means ignoring others with the same need. It seems arbitrary and unfair to prioritize support for the homeless who happen to live near Echo Park Lake, about half a mile away.
Removing the fence will likely result in a return of people camping in Echo Park. This reduces its value to the rest of the public without providing any significant benefit to the new residents. The fundamental problems facing homeless people – not just a lack of shelter, but also a lack of access to medical care and an increased risk of theft and violence – remain the same whether sleeping inside or outside a park. Those who oppose the fence, as I did when it was first installed, may be doing so for aesthetic or philosophical reasons, but they can’t argue that the distance will help the lives of the people in better neighborhoods affected by homelessness improve.
Addressing the homelessness crisis requires a massive overhaul of our housing, employment and mental health systems. Serious efforts in each of these areas should be encouraged. Meanwhile, we must recognize that we cannot guarantee Angelenos housing or psychiatric care at this time. I’m ashamed of that. Maybe you are too. But taking solace in symbolic efforts is not the way to escape that embarrassment or deal with the bigger problem.
I hope that in a few months time Echo Park Lake will continue to be the vibrant community space it is today. But I fear that removing the fence is tantamount to pointless penance that robs the neighborhood of a small bastion of comfort.
Daniel Polansky is a baker and writer based in Los Angeles.
Source: LA Times
Roger Stone is an author and opinion journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He is known for his controversial and thought-provoking views on a variety of topics, and has a talent for engaging readers with his writing.
