Elise Buick, Michael Lawson
May 3, 2021
In issuing a call for drastic steps to “decompress” Skid Row, U.S. Federal Judge David Carter was spot on with his analysis of the historical failings that have allowed this societal problem to fester on Los Angeles’ doorstep.
Carter’s order granting a preliminary injunction in the Alliance case eloquently explains how decades of structural racism, financial neglect, a policy of “containment” and a weak local public sector response has produced the humanitarian crisis now confronting us.
Unfortunately, his proposed remedy falls far short of his soaring rhetoric and even risks reinforcing mistakes of our past.
