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In the 1990's,
Las Vegas began building storm-drainage tunnels to protect the tourist destination from raging flood waters.
In 2014, the Sacremento Bee reported that over the past previous FIVE YEARS
Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital had dumped 1,500 homeless patients
over state lines so that the poor wretches could wander the glamorous locale of Los Angeles Skid Row.
In the summer,
temperatures can reach 115 degrees, but it is 15 degrees cooler in the tunnels.
When it rains,
the tunnels can be flooded with water at the rate of a foot per minute, making them deadly.
The scorpions, the addicts, and the borderline personalities make them a mockery of a haven.
They sleep by day, prowl the casino slots by night,
a practice called "Credit Hustling."
Sometimes you can make as much as $50 a night by
finding money on the carpet or still in the slot machines left by drunk customers.
It's all about survival, keeping the darkness at bay one sunset at a time.
So?
How is your home compared to this?
I think I'll stay right where I am.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie:
ReplyDeleteMe, too! Scorpions. Addicts. Rats. Flooding. 100 degree heat. But free rent! :-)
Sometimes (quite often) my species leads me to despair. Washing our hands of people with mental illness and leaving them to fend for themselves seem to be a world-wide phenomena.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child:
ReplyDeleteIt sometimes seems it is within our nature to destroy ourselves. But as long as you and I help where and when we can, life still has hope. :-)
Many of our mental institutions have closed their doors here too, leaving inadequate facilities for those in need. Most are government run and their funding cut by politicians who care little for the populace. I recently wrote about my observations of some homeless ( in Paris, Vancouver, and Key West) on my 21st century blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Roland - me too ..I'll stay where I am. How ghastly - sounds like a return to 18th century .. appalling - not quite sure what to make of it ... desperate peoples: so very sad. Not fair at all .. Hilary
ReplyDeleteWow. I might have seen something on 60 Minutes about this a while back. Can't believe they're still living down there. But seriously, where else do they have to go?
ReplyDeleteD.G.:
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me I have to visit your other blog more often! Politicians care about power -- that is it. Sigh.
Hilary:
It does seem like a return to the times of Charles Dickens, doesn't it? :-(
Milo:
Today's world seems much like the start of TALE OF TWO CITIES: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."