Downtown L.A. Loft Invasion Is Ethnic Cleansing? Occupy Targets Force Behind Gentrification, Central City Association

Ummm - not defecting and urinating on the sidewalk for one... And Wayne Henderson Douchebag Ali and his entire "movement" of one is the biggest joke on Main Street. This guy is a public nuisance and a complete malcontent. He is an advocate for himself and no one else. Most folks join non profits to help others less fortunate than themselves which does not include them. Wayne Henderson is a broken wasted shell and no amount of attention - money or resources can fix him and others like him. Focus on the children so they don't end up sleeping on the streets and by the time you help one 5 year old child  - Wayne will have passed anonymously into an unmarked grave like so many other troubled individuals who could not help themselves due to mental incapacities and drug use. I live on the street where Wayne camped out and passed him almost every day/night for months  - drinking alcohol, smoking pot and being totally wasted with his cronies - funny how no one ever calls attention to that.   I'm speaking to you David Dang - - what do you have to say for this behavior in public where I live with my children??? This is a very sad man who stands for nothing but incompetence and lies. No one cares about you Wayne - didn't you get that when you ended up sleeping on the streets of Skid Row?? Read through the comments - and you will understand - you are the throwaway one percent that every society has had to deal with by not dealing with - you are unfixable and better off rotting under a bridge somewhere. Lastly - I didn't know Wayne Henderson aka Bikal Ali was a Sex Offender but I am not surprised he looks and acts like a complete creep.  But now I know and will alert everyone else in my building. Wonder if he has to register his tent??

"ethnic cleansing"Get real and stop playing the race card.This entire "occupy campaign" is orchestrated by homeless drug addicts who only parrot grand generalizations that they have heard but don't even understand.Where are the academics and civic leaders??  Why are they not standing beside them??  Obviously do not want to be associated with this small group of felons and low lives.

You know what wasteful spending they protest? The prison-industrial complex and the militarization of the police. The unions haven't tried to stop them from protesting, and most of them don't have cars to care about parking tickets. Maybe they should protest for free public transportation - that's a pretty good idea Jay.

Mike,

1) The security teams you refer to are hired by the local Business Improvement Districts which are in turn approved and funded by all property owners within a given district. They have nothing to do with "corporations" unless a corporation happens to own property within the district in question.

2) The money spent on homeless services city-wide by the city, county, state, feds, and non-profits is WAY above $4.7M.

3) Gensler is NOT the developer of the stadium, that would be AEG. Gensler is the architectural firm hired to design the stadium.

4) The federally-funded community block grants you speak of were not specifically earmarked for the homeless. These grants, while meant to go towards alleviating poverty and eliminating blight, allow states and municipalities wide latitude in how they are spent. Categorical grants on the other hand must be spent specifically on programs they were approved for.

test

I've written about the shirts before (feel free to Google it). That's not what this piece was about.

The BIDs are supported by both residents and local businesses.  Get your facts straight.  In addition, these are not policing squads, the BID security teams do not have rights equivalent to the police.  Your depiction of the BID representatives as "corporate-enforcer children" cements your  biased viewpoint.  Extremists whether on the right or left are nothing more than extremists.

The addition of police to Skid Row is a necessary act.  The amount of crime that takes place in Skid Row has been on an uptick since the reshuffling of prisons and jails in the county.  That is crime that most frequently takes place against residents of Skid Row, and includes a great deal of violent crime.  If you believe that someone who lives on Skid Row because that is where they can afford to live would prefer to live in fear then your opinion is without value.  If you believe that someone who lives on Skid Row because they have no where else to go want to be beset by outside criminal, then your opinion is without value.  Finally, if you believe that anyone who is struggling with addiction wants to be surrounded by people pushing drugs, then your opinion is without value. 

 "Bilal Ali, chair of the Occupy The Hood Los Angeles Action Assembly and one of the organizers of the CCA action"Oh so now Bilal Ali (aka Wayne Henderson) is a community activist?The LA  Sheriff's Department have know him over the past ten years..."  Written by someone named Linda Cuesta.

"...less than one mile from Skid Row is a Home Depot.  The majority of people looking for work in the parking lot are hispanic not black (actually not one black person at all).

"Why is that??  Is Home Depot racist or are all the Blacks on skid row just lazy sitting on the sidewalks drinking - taking drugs and complaining while they cash government checks instead of looking for work?"--written by somebody named Sam C.

Both at http://blogs.laweekly.com/info...

in the "Commentary" section.

_______________________________________________________________________

Its actually good to see racism naked,blatant and confrontational. Suppositions and categoriztions --keptin the back of one's mind—need be brought to the surface, examined,challenged and negated leaving the mouther of the words devoid ofpurpose or explanations, left only with and facing the fact thatthere is a flaw in their own personality. Somewhere along the linethis former fair open minded child metastasized into an open sore ofplain old hatred pandering to stereotypes without rhyme or reason intheir own fucked up minds.

That's racism.

But the story is of capitalism and howit chews up children and spits out detritus. At best the racistpasses the unfortunate without thinking about it. Like a piece ofshit on the sidewalk. Background radiation. 'At usual' which isthe worst there is a picture conjured up in the racist's mind of aseparation having been wrought between “Them” and “Us”. With“Them” being an easy target for the innate disdain waiting toexplode at the slightest imagined provocation. This is what happensin a very sick mind. This is the portrait of a homeless conjured upin the twist that passes for the racist's mind.

Yeah the story is of capitalism for itregurgitates and expels, repels and denies the opportunity to work tothe workers broken—as soon after they're born—condemned tofailure because, to put it honestly and open because the systemrequires failures as much as it produces captains of industry thatmuch more must it produce those to be commanded—and usedup—expelled from the workforce when no longer needed.

I taught in the LAUSD system. I sawfirst hand the channeling into failure of a good proportion of thestudents attending. A casual yet deadly subtext, for example, theidea of 'grading on a curve' where 20% are doomed to complete failureand another 20 or so to sub-standard sub-human existence.

Face it. There has been a depressionin the black community since the 1970's. The workers of today losingtheir jobs, home, credit and means to live are only beginning tocatch up with us. This what-passes-for-a-person who looks out atHome Depot and categories them as separate from those on skid rowwhere even hope of such indentured servitude--and categorizes itracially-- thiswhat-passes-for-a-person doesn't think about why the manpower wastedat Home Depot--and as much and more on Skid Row--must stoopand bow their way into day-labor with no promises of tomorrows, nohopes even of todays as they must many time go home with nothing butwasted time in their pockets and weighing on their backs. Thiswhat-passes-for-a-person doesn't think of the waste of humanityengineered when capitalism no longer needs us; doesn't think of thewonders we could build if there were jobs for all; thiswhat-passes-for-a-person really—at bottom line—this doesn'treally think. Naw, the bigot responds to the surface phenomena andspits at it.

Bilal Ali is a tireless advocate forthe right of humans to their humanity. His scrapes with the lawparallel those of many of us. I'm not gonna get religious with theusage of the tired parable of “casting the first stone” for theallegory was aimed at those still in possession of their humaneness. It is an appeal to each of us all of us to work and help ourselvestogether. But the racist has no humanity; has no soul. Has only adeeply ingrained burning sensation of hate that could just as easilybe turned on stray dogs and cats. Or in this case on workersexpelled from the productive process, without means and many withouthope. This is the mind of the racist and of it we must be aware andbeware. For in this case the invasion and 'gentrification' ofdowntown led as it is by those with an over-blown sense of themselvesare backed by the armed force of the Los Angeles Police Departmentand four sets of paid vigilantes.To get rid of this awful dichotomy ofthose who do and those who cannot we must get rid of this awfuleconomic system. Until then, the racists will have their way.

But there will come a day...

John A Imani, LA, CA

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 2:38 PM, Bilal Ali <mafundi421@gmail.com> wrote:The following article is from the LA Weekly, it talks about our CCAaction. If check out Romero's blog you'll see the smear compaign hasbecome....don't believe the hype.

Downtown L.A. Loft Invasion Is Ethnic Cleansing? Occupy Targets ForceBehind Gentrification, Central City Association

By Dennis RomeroThu., May 31 2012 at 7:02 AM

The Central City Association is an influential downtown business groupthat has certainly supported the kind of loft development andgentrification that has transformed L.A.'s core in the last 10 years.

While some of you celebrate at Art Walk, happy hour and in the club,there are folks downtown who feel that all the new people, businessesand dwellings have come at the expense of Skid Row's massive homelesspopulation, which they say has been pushed out and targeted by cops.

Now they're doing something about it:A collection of Occupyorganizations is occupying the Central City Association this week.Rather, they're occupying the sidewalk outside the business group'sheadquarters downtown overnight.

The "Occupy the CCA" action started Tuesday night and will last sevendays (info).

Bilal Ali, chair of the Occupy The Hood Los Angeles Action Assemblyand one of the organizers of the CCA action, told the Weeklyyesterday:

This is not occupation, this a siege that will last six more days. Iguess you can say because of the pattern practices and policies thatthe Central City Association continues to push on the residents ofSkid Row to their detriment to benefit developers and their clientele.

He argues that a reduction in the downtown homeless population inrecent years, even in this post-recession environment, has been theresult of CCA-backed loft development and a crackdown on transients bythe LAPD:

Homeless people have been targeted to remove them. It's ethniccleansing because a majority of them are African American.

Ali says protesters want to see "equitable development" that benefitsthe homeless population.

He says Tuesday night's Occupy action drew about 60 people; CCAspokesman Fred Muir told us it was more like 20.

In response to the occupation, Muir sent us this statement from theCCA touting its achievements downtown and claiming that it -- and notTom Gilmore's Old Bank District rejuvenation, as our reporting led usto believe -- sparked downtown's transformation:

Since CCA sparked the Downtown Renaissance a decade ago, the businesscommunity here has created 93,000 jobs, turned empty office buildingsinto thousands of housing units and produced more than $41 million innew tax revenue for the City of Los Angeles and $140 million for theCounty that support critical public services. We've created acommunity in which hundreds of thousands of Angelinos come every dayto work and enjoy entertainment and cultural activities. Our membershave donated many millions of dollars to local charities, includingthose that provide job training and other services for the homeless.We continue to invest in community organizations that make our diverseDowntown community work, and we are supporting the kinds ofdevelopment that will help to ensure that we create still more jobsand housing and funding of social services. That's our record: jobs,housing, funding critical services and investing in our community.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]</mafundi421@gmail.com>

 "Bilal Ali, chair of the Occupy The Hood Los Angeles Action Assembly and one of the organizers of the CCA action"Oh so now Bilal Ali (aka Wayne Henderson) is a community activist?The LA  Sheriff's Department have know him over the past ten years..."  Written by someone named Linda Cuesta.

"...less than one mile from Skid Row is a Home Depot.  The majority of people looking for work in the parking lot are hispanic not black (actually not one black person at all).

"Why is that??  Is Home Depot racist or are all the Blacks on skid row just lazy sitting on the sidewalks drinking - taking drugs and complaining while they cash government checks instead of looking for work?"--written by somebody named Sam C.

Both at http://blogs.laweekly.com/info...

in the "Commentary" section.

_______________________________________________________________________

Its actually good to see racism naked,blatant and confrontational. Suppositions and categoriztions --keptin the back of one's mind—need be brought to the surface, examined,challenged and negated leaving the mouther of the words devoid ofpurpose or explanations, left only with and facing the fact thatthere is a flaw in their own personality. Somewhere along the linethis former fair open minded child metastasized into an open sore ofplain old hatred pandering to stereotypes without rhyme or reason intheir own fucked up minds.

That's racism.

But the story is of capitalism and howit chews up children and spits out detritus. At best the racistpasses the unfortunate without thinking about it. Like a piece ofshit on the sidewalk. Background radiation. 'At usual' which isthe worst there is a picture conjured up in the racist's mind of aseparation having been wrought between “Them” and “Us”. With“Them” being an easy target for the innate disdain waiting toexplode at the slightest imagined provocation. This is what happensin a very sick mind. This is the portrait of a homeless conjured upin the twist that passes for the racist's mind.

Yeah the story is of capitalism for itregurgitates and expels, repels and denies the opportunity to work tothe workers broken—as soon after they're born—condemned tofailure because, to put it honestly and open because the systemrequires failures as much as it produces captains of industry thatmuch more must it produce those to be commanded—and usedup—expelled from the workforce when no longer needed.

I taught in the LAUSD system. I sawfirst hand the channeling into failure of a good proportion of thestudents attending. A casual yet deadly subtext, for example, theidea of 'grading on a curve' where 20% are doomed to complete failureand another 20 or so to sub-standard sub-human existence.

Face it. There has been a depressionin the black community since the 1970's. The workers of today losingtheir jobs, home, credit and means to live are only beginning tocatch up with us. This what-passes-for-a-person who looks out atHome Depot and categories them as separate from those on skid rowwhere even hope of such indentured servitude--and categorizes itracially-- thiswhat-passes-for-a-person doesn't think about why the manpower wastedat Home Depot--and as much and more on Skid Row--must stoopand bow their way into day-labor with no promises of tomorrows, nohopes even of todays as they must many time go home with nothing butwasted time in their pockets and weighing on their backs. Thiswhat-passes-for-a-person doesn't think of the waste of humanityengineered when capitalism no longer needs us; doesn't think of thewonders we could build if there were jobs for all; thiswhat-passes-for-a-person really—at bottom line—this doesn'treally think. Naw, the bigot responds to the surface phenomena andspits at it.

Bilal Ali is a tireless advocate forthe right of humans to their humanity. His scrapes with the lawparallel those of many of us. I'm not gonna get religious with theusage of the tired parable of “casting the first stone” for theallegory was aimed at those still in possession of their humaneness. It is an appeal to each of us all of us to work and help ourselvestogether. But the racist has no humanity; has no soul. Has only adeeply ingrained burning sensation of hate that could just as easilybe turned on stray dogs and cats. Or in this case on workersexpelled from the productive process, without means and many withouthope. This is the mind of the racist and of it we must be aware andbeware. For in this case the invasion and 'gentrification' ofdowntown led as it is by those with an over-blown sense of themselvesare backed by the armed force of the Los Angeles Police Departmentand four sets of paid vigilantes.To get rid of this awful dichotomy ofthose who do and those who cannot we must get rid of this awfuleconomic system. Until then, the racists will have their way.

But there will come a day...

John A Imani, LA, CA

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 2:38 PM, Bilal Ali <mafundi421@gmail.com> wrote:The following article is from the LA Weekly, it talks about our CCAaction. If check out Romero's blog you'll see the smear compaign hasbecome....don't believe the hype.

Downtown L.A. Loft Invasion Is Ethnic Cleansing? Occupy Targets ForceBehind Gentrification, Central City Association

By Dennis RomeroThu., May 31 2012 at 7:02 AM

The Central City Association is an influential downtown business groupthat has certainly supported the kind of loft development andgentrification that has transformed L.A.'s core in the last 10 years.

While some of you celebrate at Art Walk, happy hour and in the club,there are folks downtown who feel that all the new people, businessesand dwellings have come at the expense of Skid Row's massive homelesspopulation, which they say has been pushed out and targeted by cops.

Now they're doing something about it:A collection of Occupyorganizations is occupying the Central City Association this week.Rather, they're occupying the sidewalk outside the business group'sheadquarters downtown overnight.

The "Occupy the CCA" action started Tuesday night and will last sevendays (info).

Bilal Ali, chair of the Occupy The Hood Los Angeles Action Assemblyand one of the organizers of the CCA action, told the Weeklyyesterday:

This is not occupation, this a siege that will last six more days. Iguess you can say because of the pattern practices and policies thatthe Central City Association continues to push on the residents ofSkid Row to their detriment to benefit developers and their clientele.

He argues that a reduction in the downtown homeless population inrecent years, even in this post-recession environment, has been theresult of CCA-backed loft development and a crackdown on transients bythe LAPD:

Homeless people have been targeted to remove them. It's ethniccleansing because a majority of them are African American.

Ali says protesters want to see "equitable development" that benefitsthe homeless population.

He says Tuesday night's Occupy action drew about 60 people; CCAspokesman Fred Muir told us it was more like 20.

In response to the occupation, Muir sent us this statement from theCCA touting its achievements downtown and claiming that it -- and notTom Gilmore's Old Bank District rejuvenation, as our reporting led usto believe -- sparked downtown's transformation:

Since CCA sparked the Downtown Renaissance a decade ago, the businesscommunity here has created 93,000 jobs, turned empty office buildingsinto thousands of housing units and produced more than $41 million innew tax revenue for the City of Los Angeles and $140 million for theCounty that support critical public services. We've created acommunity in which hundreds of thousands of Angelinos come every dayto work and enjoy entertainment and cultural activities. Our membershave donated many millions of dollars to local charities, includingthose that provide job training and other services for the homeless.We continue to invest in community organizations that make our diverseDowntown community work, and we are supporting the kinds ofdevelopment that will help to ensure that we create still more jobsand housing and funding of social services. That's our record: jobs,housing, funding critical services and investing in our community.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]</mafundi421@gmail.com>

Thank you Lucie for the smear job...anyone who can check my "criminal record" will find that I have never been convicted are charged with being a drug dealer or user...but thats okay...because your reactionist triade and smearing has placed me in the company of many humane freedom fighters and social justice champions throughout history who were also smeared for telling and speaking the truth.....after all they talked sh@ef16c4ce83320c54619b84a0199e3321:disqus t about Jesus...didn't they...thanx again Lucie for attention...even though you're full of...well you know.

I've known Mr Ali for many years, I dont know that person you are talking about,  Yes, he is a very good community activist.  The person that is without sin, cass the first stone.

The race thing is ridiculous. One drive through skid row is enough to see that homelessness and drug addiction knows no color.

Stan:

Don't blame the messenger. Whatever his background is, there are folks occupying CCA, and he's leading the charge. Doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to have a voice. That's an ad homenim argument.

 I'm not sure being intimidated and criminalized on various occasions, count as "outreach", to be honest.

how exactly does "equitable development" translate to the preserving of the status quo of "homelessness, transient-living, and the preservation of drug-addled or mentally-ill individuals living on the street" in your eyes? methinks you're missing the point.