Central City East : Downtown Los Angeles

SKid Row Photography Club meets today at 4pm

2008-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dave Bullock , Photographer and writer for Wired.com at the skid row photography club uploading photos for other members

Now that our esteemed founder of the skid row photography club ,Blaze, is out of the hospital , the club has taken on a new sense of urgency to get things accomplished. News is that the Skid Row photography club has gotten a donation of computers.

What is needed now are some gift flickr memberships , pro memberships for these new photogs.

Just finished a CMS

2008-07-08T05:31:00.001-07:00

Yep, it is 5:30 am . I just finished a cms. Rough for the client , but they have a cms. I started at 12 am and finished . A total of 5 1/2 hours.

Pretty quick . Depending on what they want.

They can pretty much start uploading their content once they wake up, of course I will have to teach them how to use it. One of the services I will provide is to train them how to us it . I will train at no cost to the clients. They will be very surprised to know, once they wake up that they have a website. And not just any website , a website which they can inventory their product and upload that inventory themselves.

WOW!!!

Green Apple Market coming to Downtown in skid row

2008-07-07T19:34:00.001-07:00

Listen up everybody!!! I have good news for those who do not want the people in skid row spending money in their establishments across downtown. You know who you are. The establishments that teach their employees how to make a mentally ill person get all wound up. Who hire people who will discourage the ugly by not providing service to those people because other customers don't like the way they look or what they wear , or where they come from.

We have a Green Apple Market on the Corner of Wall Street and 5th street opening up. That's right, skid row has a market opening up that will sell better produce than Grand Central Market. It also means that, we , living in skid row, will be able to have a choice of items that are comparable to the items found at Trader Joes without the alcohol.

How ironic that skid row gets the first Trader Joe type market that opens up downtown. We will lose weight now because we will be in produce heaven . We will eat healthy now and I might just buy fruits and vegetables that are fresh and pass them out esp. during heat waves. Plenty of bananas.

There will be a deli inside that will serve the best Kosher Pastrami . My goodness! We will finally get healthy.

SKid Row sees history made

2008-07-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

Skid row 3on3 had their first games of the season. The teams for the first time included the women as well as a team of men who do not live in skid row who are not poor. To put aside the political correctness; people from outside of skid row participated in an even that was not a fund raiser. It is good to see that Skid Row is now not isolated and the people here are networking with those outside of the skid row community. This is important. It begins the process of turning skid row from an isolated ghetto into a part of Downtown Los Angeles like it should be. It also begins the process of degrading the negative environment that has held skid row together as a the mardi gras on crack and other drugs, including crime ,for so many years.

Tired

2008-07-07T02:57:00.000-07:00

I am so exhausted. I will continue to write about this since fatigue and stiffness always remind me of the continuous chronic illness I have to deal with. Thus , it just becomes a part of the narrative of the story.

SO, yes, I am exhausted and stiff.

Death is never far from our minds

2008-07-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Oh , Death where is thy sting? Oh, where is thy victory?

It is summertime and the death count continues. Summer is always the worst part of the year in skid row. This is when people begin to die. The person being rolled out below was only 43 years old , a youngster. No one knows why she died. It is just one of those things.

Watching as another neighbor, dying to get off skid row, rides into the sunset

2008-07-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

Another Breakthrough with the web designing.

It took all day and all night, but I found a way to make the site the way the client wanted it. It is great to build on top of CMS's but every client is unique and they want something different. This client wanted something simple. I found a way to do this.

NOW he doesn't have to pay bozos thousands of dollars to upload his art work on his personal site. HE can do it himself and his personal assistant. With javascript already installed for them. They can even re size the thumbnails themselves and even determine how many megs of information they can upload.

Ah!! What a life. Working is a lot of work. Actually my prices are very low right now, esp if it is a challenge only because I want to learn more. I would charge 20 dollars right now and feel fine with it.

Eventually I will be charging a flat fee a lot greater than I am charging right now I will never charge by the hour.. Where someone will charge 10,000 dollars I will charge flat rate of 300 dollars to 400 dollars.

It also will depend on what types of graphics and front page the client wants, so every now and then I might charge over 10,000 dollars. But since the modules are already ready to use on the regular brochure websites. 300- 400 dollar flat will work. That is how Macdonald's did it ;Volume.

Liberty!!

2008-07-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

The work of liberty is never over. You can not stop struggling for the assurance of liberty. IF we falter it will be because we have lost that liberty that we have fought to secure. IF only we could all know what the cost is. The securing of it is sweet beyond belief . There are no other reasons to live but to live free.

HIgh School Conservatory at NEW LATC starting August- no one will be turned away for lack of fund

2008-07-04T04:09:00.001-07:00

August 4th - 16th, 2008
Mon - Fri 10am - 3pm
Performance Saturday, August 16, 2008
at THE NEW LATC

The Summer Conservatory at THE NEW LATC has been developed under the leadership of UCLA Professor Jose Luis Valenzuela, to create an opportunity for high school students to experience and train in a conservatory setting. This program will integrate acting classes with rigorous physical training in Voice, Speech, Movement, writing, improvisation and culminate in a final performance on THE NEW LATC stage. THE NEW LATC Summer Conservatory is recommended for teens ready to delve into the art of theater performance. This 10-day intensive program promises to be exciting and fun!

All chosen participants who are in need of financial aid
will receive a full scholarship to attend the conservatory.
No chosen participant will be turned away for lack of funds.

For applications contact:Linda Chavez, Programming Coordinator
Linda@thenewlatc.comor (213) 489-0994 Ext. 109
Or check online at: www.thenewlatc.com

Application Deadline: July 16, 2008

Thinking about my HIgh School Sweetheart

2008-07-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

This song reminds me of my high school sweetheart. She was so beautiful and lovely. Her name was cynthia. She was my first love. The school we went to was in a very conservative part of Texas and it was the bible belt . We were all Southern Baptists and the Baptist Church had the largest youth group in the area. SO many of us went to it.

I had stopped seeing her because she disappeared for a while. No one could find her. Her parents wouldn't answer the phone calls I made.

No one knew what had happened to her. After lunch one day at school, I went to sit in the hallway where there were glass doors that were locked until lunch was over, which was the entrance to the part of the high school where the class rooms were. I looked up, and in the distance I saw her walking towards me. She hadn't seen me yet. As she approached I got up and looked at her. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at me with the saddest eyes I think I could ever see. I ran to embrace her. She trembled. Then she began to cry. I held her. And said things would be alright and that I loved her. We sat down together on the floor up against the wall with her head against my chest and we said nothing. The bell rang and we separated for class .It was our senior year.

After that day I never saw her again. A couple of months later I found out that she had shot herself in the stomach with her father's pistol. She died. Everyone told me that I was the last person that they saw her with at School. She didn't speak to any one of her friends when she had gotten back to school. Many of them would not speak to her. She had been ostracized. It turned out that she had had an abortion and others found out and they just ostracized her. It wasn't mine. I know that for a fact. But the guy that she got pregnant with rejected her even after she got the abortion to please him.. I guess I wasn't the only love in her life. She shot herself after the rejection. He didn't finish school at our high school. He became a pariah.

I will never forget this . That was when I threw away my scholarships and joined the corps. The cruel irony in all of this was that her parents would not pay for her funeral and she was buried in a cemetery that was across the street from the football field of the high school.
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Council chambers and hate- can't sleep

2008-07-02T02:20:00.001-07:00

It has now been 2 days and I have not slept. I witnessed something in the Rotunda at City hall that tore my heart out yesterday morning.

I was having a good time with Zuma Dogg and Matt Dowd ,during council session, in the Rotunda, as they asked me to take photos of them with a life size cardboard display of Hannah Montana. Councilmember Jack Weiss walked around the Rotunda and every time that Matt Dowd saw him appear from behind a column he began to shout at him or talked loud tome and said things that I didn't like.

Matt Dowd explained to me that one day at a a city council meeting he stated that""if he wasn't anti-semitic, Jack Weiss makes you want to be" then he laughed. My heart fell three feet into my stomach. It was like a piercing arrow entering my heart. I did not know what to say. I did everything I could to calm them down when the Council member who had a cellphone in his hand would walk by circling the rotunda and I would hear Matt Dowd say horrible things about the councilman. I observed this and then knew that my relationship with Matt Dowd would now be different.

My doctor is an orthodox Jewish man. He was born with many neurological deficits, yet he went to medical school. This man took on an issue at the time the DOD would not acknowledge, low level exposure to Sarin Nerve Gas in PErsina Gulf Vets. When the insurance would not pay for a treatment that was expensive , he would get on the phone with friends of the Israeli Government and get them to pay for the treatments. HE did this for many soldiers , sailors and Marines who had been exposed to nerve agent. I, like many others at the time, were referred to him by the American Legion in Washington D.C.

This Doctor was a neurologist, neurophysiologist , neuropsychiatrist and a child psychiatrist. He was awesome. When I heard about what Matt Dowd said , about Jack Weiss, in council chambers , I could not help but become extremely depressed. I thought about my doctor and how the Jewish people helped me in my time of need, when my country would not acknowledge low level exposure to organophosphates , they used their resources to reduce the swelling in my brain, and alleviate the sensory neuropathy I was dealing with, using expensive intravenous immuneoglobulin treatments .

I am very sad and the tears come and I can't help it. It hurt me. I was angry but I could not express that anger because of where I was.

There is a difference between free speech and outright hate speech. These council people are fair game . But when it turns into harassment it becomes another issue altogether.

Matt Dowd is an immigrant who may well not understand the history of this country. Very Brave men gave their lives to liberate the Jews in Europe from death camps and concentration camps and experimental camps. Bayer pharmaceutical was one of those that participated in the atrocities , or rather IG Farben. At one point during my treatment, I found out about the parent company of Bayer having had been a Nazi collaborator during World War II. I told the doctor, I would no longer take the most important medication he was treating me with, which was produced by Bayer.

He looked across his desk at me and said "my ancestors gave their lives in those German concentration camps for these antidotes. Soldiers helped my ancestors to be liberated and you also defended us against a tyrant who had his eyes set on my family in Israel, it would be an insult to my ancestors who gave their lives in those concentration camps for you not to take the antidote. We owe this to you." This was the first I had ever heard him use the term antidote. He said antidote.

New Pershing Square Venue shares barbecue with Skid Row Vets

2008-07-01T04:26:00.001-07:00

I attended the Parks and Recreation Committee yesterday evening of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, at Pershing Square. When I arrived, I spied the meeting in an alcove where a food establishment is located. Apparently , the food was provided for free by this establishment. What to my surprise was the menu item? Tri tip barbecue beef. The name of the caterers are bbqexpress Yep!! Folks, we now have an establishment in Downtown Los Angeles that has the ability to cater from the center of Downtown Los Angeles. They have only been there a whole month.

The barbecue was great. Today, July 1st , they will have a huge pit on wheels and will be cooking for their establishment in Pershing Square, of course you have to pay today , but I will be there to get my grub on.

Since there was plenty left over I was asked if I could take the food home to my neighborhood. Of course, yesterday being the end of the month, and many of the veterans in my hotel are not able to get store bought choice food , I jumped on this prospect. Today many have been paid.

So I brought it home with me and as soon as I walked in the door and walked to the kitchen I yelled out " Barbecue , bring your own plates."My neighbors hear me and had plates in hand and we got the job done of finishing off this great barbecue.

Yesterday in the afternoon

2008-07-01T03:40:00.000-07:00

I wore myself out this past weekend, actually Friday, So for some reason I have been sleeping all day and working all night. I had to take my videos back to Old Bank DVD on Main Street and I also had to cash a cashiers check at the bank to get another one. The person I owe the money to has been wanting me to send it in the mail. I purchased it over 90 days ago , which means it is now invalid. I am afraid of mailing anything.

As I left my house this is what I saw behind the fence in front of the new building SRO Housing Corporation is putting together next to my hotel. As you can see, there are no windows facing the outside of that brick building in the background, there is no insulation between us and the bricks inside the rooms behind those walls , which translates into this building turning into a brick oven in the summer time.

As soon as I step outside of the building I live in, and only walk a couple of feet ,the people begin to want to speak with me. I ran into a member of the Skid Row 3on3 Basketball league first and had a conversation about photos , then Wendell Blassinggame, who won his election bid on the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, ran into me three feet from that conversation. As I got closer to the OLD Bank DVD store on 4th and Main I ran into these main street gilville mafia members. Can you tell which one is the godfather or mother?

Previous to this photo there was an altercation happening. I took photos of the incident. It seems that one of those sitting at that table had some problems in regards to the incident in the photo below. Can you guess which person?

As we discussed the incident that happened earlier, Stelle Dotier invited me into her store to take photos of her cat. As you can see, Stelles cat, Freyj, is sleeping curled up with a cat that looks like it is made of some kind of stone or plaster. It makes for a cute photo.

God Bless America- The War of 1812- and the press

2008-07-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823. ME 15:491

Another client

2008-06-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Just today, walking to a neighborhood council committee meeting ,someone asked me to build them a website. This is no ordinary request. This person owns a bicycle shop. Thus , we are making a trade. They get a website. I get a bike.

Well, the lord has been good to me.

What is next?

2008-06-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

The new blog. The events calendar is up an running. Well , I have to add events. The neat thing is I can create different categories for the event calendar and you can filter your searches by type of event.
So now I will add event types to the calendar and invite folks to add their events to the event calendars I will create. The next step will be the map.

I can create a map with photos and then make it query like so you can choose each building etc.. It will be cool.

And the final step ,So I don't have to pay the 6.99 a month for hosting: drum roll please, building a linux server. Still, I will have to get a one link DSL LIne, but that will pay for itself in the long run.

NEW GI BILL best ever - Developers in Downtown Need to pay attention

2008-06-27T04:49:00.000-07:00

We are all worried that newly discharged veterans would find themselves on the streets of SKID ROW or anywhere for that matter. Well, the new GI BILL looks like it might alleviate some of that that problem.

The new Webb GI Bill for post /911 Veterans has been extended to include Guard and Reserve personnel who have deployed for 36 months the advantage of 100% of tuition as well as other percentages as the time of active duty goes down. But what is even more awesome is the fact that there will be a housing allowance for those who are attending full time , as well as a stipend.

Those who have been on active duty for 36 months will qualify for 100% tuition and those who have 30 days as medically discharged.

It breaks down like this:

You qualify for 100% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 36 months on active duty in the Armed Forces. This includes service on active duty for entry level and skill training.
You qualify for 100% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 30 continuous days on active duty in the Armed Forces; and after completion of service were discharged or released from active duty in the Armed Forces for a service-connected disability.
You qualify for 90% of the benefit if you have a total of at least30 months, but less than 36 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(including service on active duty in entry level and skill training).
You qualify for 80% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 24 months, but less than 30 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(including service on active duty in entry level and skill training).
You qualify for 70% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 18 months, but less than 24 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(excluding service on active duty in entry level and skill training).
You qualify for 60% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 12 months, but less than 18 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(excluding service on active duty in entry level and skill training)
You qualify for 50% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 6 months, but less than 12 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(excluding service on active duty in entry level and skill training)
You qualify for 40% of the benefit if you have a total of at least 90 days, but less than 6 months, on active duty in the Armed Forces.
(excluding service on active duty in entry level and skill training)

IN the past, after troops are brought home from foreign areas, there is usually a downsizing. There has also been a reduction in the use of National Guard and Reserve Units as of late for deployment in places such as IRAQ and Afghanistan. Thus,next year, after the new GI Bill takes effect, the supposition is that many will be going to USC. That's right folks, USC, and why should those developers downtown , who are renting be watching this closely: because not only will they have their tuition paid for , but they will also be receiving a housing allowance of up to:

Monthly Housing Stipend

If you are enrolled in a traditional college program as a full time or three-quarter time student, you will be paid a monthly housing stipend equal to the monthly amount of the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for an E-5 with dependents. The average housing stipend will be approximately $1,400 a month. However if you attend distance learning programs such as correspondence courses and online you will not qualify for this stipend.

It is 4:38 in the AM , Still working. The final touch , now I can work on the SKid Row Websites.

2008-06-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

I have created the Events calendar for my blog. The Other one.

The calendar is a trip , I am still putting that one together. But the event calendar has it's own Calendar view and the neat thing about it, is I can clone as many as I want , with different types of events for each one.

WOW!!!!

Life is great.............

My Landlord finds true love

2008-06-27T00:41:00.001-07:00

I am happy to hear and see this. Steven Van Zile is my landlord. I have a photo that was taken with him a couple of months ago. Steven van zile Comforting me at the Homeless Memorial for those who passed away

He gave me a peck on the cheek that day and gave me a hug to comfort me . It was last year at the James Woods Center at the homeless memorial of those who passed away . I had been taking the memorial very hard. For some reason, another employee at SRO wanted to take photos. So I have a very interesting photo with my landlord. I wrote about it.

Steven Van Zile married his partner of 14 years . I am very happy for him and his partner. I am to the point of joyful tears knowing he and his partner were able to marry. Well, now I am weeping with tears of joy. I can't believe that the issue of gay marriage has been an issue that was even this close to me until I saw the video and read the blog post at the Los Angeles Times. I did not know he had a partner of 14 years. Congratulations to you both.

Life is good

2008-06-26T23:51:00.001-07:00

Life continues to treat me well. I know I have friends who care about me , family that love me and people who look out for me. Many restaurant owners around downtown are inviting me to their establishments after reading this blog. Many of them know me personally and have sent welcome letters and e-mails.

I have been there to support them in their endeavors and , of course, they just want me to come and enjoy their businesses. Gotta love the support from Downtown and across the Los Angeles region.

Anyway, life has been good . A little tired and rested all day today , I have some websites to create this weekend. I will be busy.

Los Angeles Theater Center Family Member killed in fatal accident

2008-06-26T15:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, according to witnesses, a truck crashed into a tree in front of the NEW LATC. killing it. Witnesses said that as soon as the tree was hit, it collapsed into the front courtyard of the NEW LATC. Although the tree was later removed by the city, witnesses said that they were grateful that no one was on the sidewalk when the tree collapsed onto the sidewalk or the accident could have been much worse. The family member was a Ficus that had been at that location for many years. You will be missed Ficus Tree.

sleep study bad

2008-06-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

The sleep study turned out pretty bad. It looks like I stop breathing in my sleep now , not just oxygen levels dropping.

Gotta get a cpap.

Who cares . I am doing things now I never even dreamed of. MY oxygen level drops down due to muscle weakness. Not because I am fat. IF that were the case I would have dropped this weight a long time ago.

So it is quite hilarious when idiots who think I won't fight back physically because I am afraid of them think they are making me afraid. They don't know it, but they happen to be just a bully.

Being accused of being a bully online is far from having someone at a restaurant threaten you with physical violence. But I have to protect myself from these people somehow. They are just plain cowards if they pick on the weak. They deserve to get stones thrown at them online.

NEw blog about to go into overdive yahoo.com watch out

2008-06-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

O.k. it is not a search engine , but the new blog is about to take on a familiar look that we see at Yahoo.com although it will have it's own flavor.

I am actually very afraid of setting up a good looking site only because I don't want anyone to see what I am capable of, until I get the portfolio of the clients I have put together. Even then , I want to wait until I have tons of satisfied customers because I don't want to give my recipes away.

Anyway , I have even frightened myself with my new skills . Where I thought it took a genius to build these types of websites I am starting to see it only takes someone willing to stare at code all day and then stare at it some more .

You might get to see my talents or you might not. I have even asked my clients not to reveal who their webmaster is.

Next art purchases

2008-06-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Goals for the end of the year:

1. Buy a painting from OG Man

2. Buy a painting from Bert Green fine art

3. Robert Vargas

4. Emmeric

Plumpynut focus of 60 minutes report on CNN

2008-06-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Plumpynut is saving lives. Watch and find out how...