Just shovel 'em out the door, 'cause we don't want to see them

[serai]

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Recently I made some remarks about Elijah's choice of residence, and how disappointed I am in him for it. I would not have expected him to be so insular and uninformed that he wouldn't know why downtown L.A. is such an ugly choice.

For those of you who don't know what's going on down there, here's a link that lays a lot of it out:


Skid Row, the homeless in L.A., and how the influx of Pretty And Rich is making life so much worse


This is not a new thing, but it's been accelerating over the last few years. I avoid the glitzy playground because, to be frank, I couldn't trust myself not to lay into those entitled richies and their assumption that no one else's life matters when it comes to their little whims.

How many cities have seen this happen? The rich decide to "clean up" a neighborhood by taking over the living accommodations that - however humble - give the poor a place to be. And with those dwellings go all the services that helped those poor people, because who needs 'em now, right? Then after a few years, the richies get bored and decide to move somewhere else, because they FUCKING CAN. And the area falls back again, but now the community that was there is gone, the services are gone, and the equilibrium that was established over decades is kaput. And of course, the people who used to live and work there are now doubly poor, the homeless are persecuted by the cops and by draconian laws enacted to make life NICE AND CLEAN for the fucking richies, who don't want to admit that their asshattery ruins lives. Rinse, repeat, endlessly.

Why the FUCK can't rich people just stay in their own fucking neighborhoods and stop with this egocentric OMG WE GON MAKE IT BETTER bullshit, I don't know. They really do think the world belongs to them, is exclusively their playground, and that no one else matters.

And yeah, I'm kind of pissed at Elijah for jumping into that. I mean seriously - DUDE. *glares*

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Comments

[shirebound]

Thank you for the link. I'm glad to have read that.

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

My sister is seeing the same trend of gentrification in the section of Brooklyn where she's lived for years. She HATES it. These a**holes name the trees with cutesy names and other cringeworthy stuff.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I can understand why you're kind of pissed with Elijah for this choice.