Editor’s Note: No institution in Los Angeles bears more responsibility for the city we have become than the LA Times — escept for the political, business, labor and civic leadership which it has cultivated and supported for its own purposes. Columnist Hector Tobar expiates some of its institutional guilt with a great article in Friday’s newspaper acknowledging the grotesque disparity in wealth in the artificial opulence of LA Live and the poverty around it — a focus chosen because AEG’s proposed NFL stadium only adds to the disturbing contradiction with its minimum wage jobs, luxury boxes and $300 price tag for an average seat.
About a five-minute walk separates the Ritz-Carlton Hotel
in downtown L.A. from the old brick tenements on West 10th Place.
At the Ritz-Carlton, $449 plus tax will get you a room with a king-size bed and
a bathroom with Italian marble vanities. Pleasant clerks at the front desk
promise “beautiful views” of the L.A. cityscape from a room on the
22nd floor or higher.
On West 10th Place, $550 will get you a one-room
apartment for a month. The view includes rusty fire escapes on the building
across the street, discarded mattresses and the back door of a garment factory.
Approaching one of the residents, I informed him of the room rates over at the
nearby Ritz-Carlton, which loomed over us in blue and gray glass.
“Well, I guess it really is cheap here,” said Oscar Montiel, a
50-year-old scrap-metal collector and native of the Mexican state of Guerrero.
Talking to Montiel there on 10th Place, amid the still-occupied relics of
low-cost housing built in the first half of the last century, I arrived at the
sad realization that L.A. is indeed becoming a Third World city.
But it’s not the presence of so many people from tropical climes that makes
L.A. resemble the underdeveloped regions to the south. It’s our increasingly
brazen contrasts between wealth and poverty.
In L.A., as in Caracas or Rio de Janeiro, the rich can enjoy views of the poor,
puttering safely in the distance.
And we have our elected officials to thank for it.
Somehow I escaped ever seeing “Blade Runner,” so I can’t say L.A. reminds me of a Runneresque city, but it does remind me of all the corpratocracy cities depicted in films, such as “Freejack.”
The “great divide” is more apparent than ever. Now would seem to be a good time to emulate “Escape From L.A.”
The fact that the LA Times is just now reporting the 3rd world conditions in the City, is remarkable. The occupancy rate at he Ritz-Carlton could drop once the wealthy visitors learn the truth about L.A. Why would the Times expose these deplorable conditions now? There is a concerted effort to get the homeless off the mean streets of Skid Row a few blocks away in order to “clean up” the area in readiness for a NFL Football team and stadium. So what is the purpose in pointing out the shabby 3rd world conditions on 10th Street? Could it be there is a new redevelopment project in the works that would remove the tenement housing to be taken by eminent domain and replaced with a beautiful new hotel for the all the football fans coming to LA? Stay tuned, sooner or later we will find out.
Leslie, that is usually the way they do it around here. We are never consulted are we?
If I were Sandy, I would leave, but you know
I probably should not. And age has everything
to do with it. t
I saw the writing on the wall last year – the valley started looking more and more like Tijuana. So I left. It is very nice where I’m now.
Does leaving really solve the problem? It is like the people fleeing to the second floor of their homes even as the Tsunami waves rise & get them anyway.
What a great topic!!! You want more Latino politicians to make your communities worse keep voting them in. The Latino communities of MacArthur Park, South LA, Downtown LA near the toy district, Eastside, Pacoima, Slymar, Echo Park, etc. and they all look like Bangladesh. Jan Perry’s area on Central and 8th is the worst. You think you are in Mexico with all the illegal vending and loud music in the streets. Before you call me racist I am Latino but raised with pride to be clean and pride for our American flag. Someone should do a study of all the businesses in LA that have been closed because of the illegal vendors. It would shock people to know the truth
“Isn’t it funny how we can bend the laws, and issue public debt, for billionaires but not for street vendors? In that way too, L.A. is starting to resemble those countries to the south where the wealthy can buy a government favor or an exemption from the rules that apply to everyone else”.
This is the most pertinent excerpt from the article by Tobar. For those who’d try to blame the Third World conditions to street vendors or LA starting to looking like Somalia or whatever, get a grip on your thoughts. What you are looking at are the end results of corruption at the top & special privileges, for well, the privileged. The bending of rules to help the wealthy and punish the poor is Third World where the few connecteds control the public realm. LA is controlled by a cartel of about 100 or so where the firms like Latham & Watkins, AEG, Eli Broad, and politicians like the Mayor & 15 Councilmembers control the fate of 4 million peasants. This is Third World, no different from the handful of families that control wealth in so many countries elsewhere. I would say it is worse, cause here we have the power of a free vote, rarely exercised, unlike many other countries where people lose their lives to exercise that freedom.
So, Third World conditions which most of us at their most overt levels understand to be as physical squalid conditions that have little quality of life, is a misunderstanding. They are a result of corrupt politicians who squander public moneys to benefit themselves and their cronies leaving little for the public and caring even less about their lives. How else do you explain an AEG stadium that few want and is forced upon us at the behest of a developer who gets all the benefits & the citizens all the losses. How do you explain $400,000 spent this year alone by the Billboard companies to pay off our Councilmembers to stick a dozen Sign Districts with their bright lights to ruin our peace of mind, while they sleep cushy in their distant homes away from the mess. How does AEG & the politicians get away with 50 billboards on the proposed stadium to slow our freeway traffic and cause accidents by startled motorists. How do you explain our politicians who fight to keep alive that parasite CRA even as it sucks the life out of our city?
So when your leaders don’t give a damn, how can you blame a freefall of corruption at the lower levels like the building Inspectors taking bribes of a few thousand beacuse they are following their corrupt leaders who accept hell of a lot more. Who is being punished? Our Mayor?, our Councilmembers?–hell no, of course the peons at the bottom.
So before you start to say that LA is turning into a Third World, understand the underlying causes. It is the Third World mentality– a CORRUPT Mayor & Councilmembers who belong there, not our city. Get rid of them and we restore our luster to a First World city.
7:00PM:
Precisely. Corruption using ignorance to
achieve power and feed their greed.
Okay, this might not be a well received comment; but here goes. I think to make the claim that all wealthy people in LA get breaks from the politicians is a stretch. Yes, there are a few billionaires that do get the favors. Then, there are others who pay alot in taxes and fees because of their wealth. They don’t ask for pity because, well, they are wealthy. They just consider leaving and going where they aren’t penalized for earning their wealth.
The sad consideration is the reasons why one can make it and one cannot. It seems like poverty begets poverty; but that may be due to education and socio-economic factors. Even housing in areas where the poor cannot transport themselves to where the good jobs are could be a factor.
I don’t portend to know all the ins and outs. In these economic times, that might be enabled by corruption, it’s tempting to point such fingers, especially with such disparity that’s in our face due to city planners (the ones who vote for these deals, that is). It sets the stage for such prejudice. My point here is, I hope people don’t point fingers at every financially well off person just because they made money. They’re not the bad guys.
The issue here was not about people making money honestly, but about those who use government and public resources to earn their wealth. Let’s not confuse the entrepreuners from the leeches.
Precisely. Look at Bill Gates. His ingenuity not
only made him very wealthy, but opened up opportunity for people all over the globe. He did it in his garage. His company Microsoft.
Apple is another compamy that opened up the world. Look at our conversation. Impossible witho0ut our pcs or whatever new technology you
are using.
You do not have to be a scumbag to be a success.
These fools think they have made fools of the rest of us. I don’t want to hear their screams
on judgement day. They will not get away with this.
The turning point for me how really corrupt and bad Los Angeles has gotten is when our own Police Chief who is suppose to enforce the law of the land ignored it to help DUI immigrants. There’s a trend in LA to do everything to help immigrants even if it means disobeying the laws. Friends have been stopped on those DUI task force stops and didn’t receive the prefential treatment immigrants do. His car was towed. So now we have a corrupt Mayor, Chief, council members and the the people who pay taxes to keep this City running are the ones getting screwed. How do we get Controller John Chiang to audit LA like he did Bell? Forget the Wendy Greusome doing anything that makes sense, she’s too busy campaigning.
I agree with you on every point. These people belong in jail for the rest of their lives. I hate to feed them, They are not worth it. But
they do not deserve to be put to death. That would be an easy out. Thank you.
7:18- illegals NOT immigrants. Legal immigrants get drivers licenses and don’t need preferential treatment.
How about voting against any politician who supports and gives preferences to law breakers? Or is it too PC for you?
7:18- we have fewer rights than the illegal aliens. We have had “a corrupt Mayor, Chief,& council members” for quite a while! Review the latest election.
9:10- You’ve got that right! The proper term is illegal aliens. The media has to be accurate and call the crime what it is. A CRIME and illegal!
The illegal aliens are in the US illegally, everything they do afterward is cumulative on that crime and more reason for deportation. Whether stealing valuable resources from our kids in the educational system, the health system, the judicial system, the penal system, the welfare programs or causing accidents, they should not be in the US to take the money or to hurt the citizens & legal immigrants of the US.
“But it’s not the presence of so many people from tropical climes that makes L.A. resemble the underdeveloped regions to the south. It’s our increasingly brazen contrasts between wealth and poverty.”
So many added low income people “from tropical climes” or from elsewhere put too much of a load on our economy. It also makes the contrast look worse and overwhelming a picture for any of us.
The biggest issue in LA is we don’t have any credible journalists anymore but our own dear Ron Kaye. He gets slammed for putting out the truth yet not one damn newspaper, tv station, radio station in this City has the balls to report the truth to the people. Residents in LA are naive because they don’t read or hear what many of us do at community meetings and reading blogs like this. So to add to the corrupt politicians, Unions, commissioners we now have corrupt media who spin in favor of all the above. PEOPLE WE ARE SCREWED IN THIS CITY
The total lack of understanding of the proposed Stadium deal demonstrated by Mr. Tobar in his article “ In LA it pays to be rich” is shocking, and it is hard to understand how the editors of the Times would publish such socialistic nonsense. The so-called government give-away described by Mr. Tobar does not reflect the fact that none of the proposed financing issued by the City, or the debt service on the bonds, would come from the City’s general fund, but instead represents bond financing that would be paid back from proceeds generated from the project itself. In addition, the project is expected to generate millions of dollars in benefits to the City, not only in additional taxes, but in general economic activity and thousands of new jobs. If Mr. Tobar was so concerned with the poor man on the street, he would reconsider his opposition to a project that would employee hundreds if not thousands of them.
His socialistic ramblings complaining about the improvements that have been made to downtown by AEG is just ridiculous. He apparently believes that our City would be better off if downtown was left in its former rundown state. AEG has almost single handily made downtown a vibrant area, that has attracted thousands of visitors and provided income to hundreds of downtown businesses. It seems that Mr. Tobar primarily objects to the juxtaposition between the new improvements to Downtown and the former old run down area . What would Mr. Tobar prefer?
I was born in LA.
I prefer NFL to soccer.
I am a law-abiding US citizen married to a legal US resident.
I have no tolerance for illegals. Unfortunately the government is complicit.
I see that as the root of our problem in LA turning into what it is now.
Let legal immigrants have input in the solution.
True the laws should be updated, but not defied. As for the rich, others have covered that better than I.
Dear August 12, 2011 7:00
You know LA very well and your analysis hits the bulls eye.
Dear August 12, 2011 7:00
You know LA very well and your analysis hits the bulls eye.