Robert StGenis Voice empowered

Downtown Los Angeles is a "district" which is rather small, only encompassing shy of 6 square miles of the 503 square mile city boundaries. Basically, a little more than 1%. When I first moved to Los Angeles in the late 90s I would joke with visitors that the skyscrapers in Downtown were there as a stage set really so that you could have an easily identifiable location shot. Unless you needed city hall, had to go to court or went to see the opera (and some theatre), there was little other reason to go there unless your job was there. You might have well packed your own lunch or nosh as restaurants were hard to come by as well. Then, as LA moved into the 21st Century and the city adapted some new laws to allow repurposing of abandoned buildings that had been sitting for decades, things began to change.  The 2000 Census found that 27,849 people lived in Downtown. City estimates that the population grew to about 35,000 in 2008. Census data moved that number to over 40,000 by 201...

  Market Lofts Condominiums. This is Part Two in a mini-series: Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship. A Tale of Two Cities in my series Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship .  At a minimum, be sure to read:  Tale of Two Cities. Part One  before reading this post. When you have a chance read the entire series starting at:  Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship. Part One. I entered the building and there was Ricardo, our security guard, who had just recently "turned me in" to our management for creating a nuisance violation for use of words of offensive language. He sat with his somehow perfectly naturally sparkling white teeth and smiled at me with such a "shit eating grin" it took everything to avoid what I wanted to say to someone I had previously considered a great member of our staff as I looked at him stare at me  with his bleached teeth and smug smile. The pandemic has made life challenging for everyone, day-to-day at the Market Lofts being no exceptio...

Midtown Atlanta I am making this a "sub-series" within the series on my Love/Hate  series  of Los Angeles.  I descended back into the City of Angels on December 29 after being in Atlanta since December 1. While Los Angeles went further and further into lockdown, I was able to eat indoors in restaurants, and go to bars, go to the gyms indoors and sit in a hot tub or sauna while in Georgia. I couldn't go to the movies, a museum or theatre. There were restrictions in medical offices, some greater than here, which I learned as I took my father to a number of appointments. Some schools were completely open, others hybrids, others yet online only. I went and looked at properties to purchase with an agent, albeit socially distancing and with masks on. I attended open houses with limits on numbers of people in the property, social distancing and again masks. But all in all, life was as normal as it could be with a pandemic never seen in our history. On occasion, I found plac...

To really understand most of this blog entry, you really need to read:  Someone homeless in your house ,  Tony's first days back...  and  Tony incognito #1  prior to this entry.Read the messages in reverse, as they are Tony's replies to my messages. When Tony did come and received the IRS check he all but fell to his knees in thanks. I forget why, but I didn't have it at the front desk and I had him come to the door, just not inside. Later, he seems to have a very different memory.  Date: Mon 11 May 2020 Subject: RE: re: We have a package of something you ordered05:12 PM We also received something from the IRS for you. I will leave both at the front desk. ~~~~~~~~~ Tony wrote: Thank u! Ive been around elsinore still waiting for covid to stop ruining things. Ill try and grab that day after tomorrow unless im.up there manana ~~~~~~~~~ Robert wrote: It looks like something that may have come from wish. Where are you? What is up? Subject: re: We have a ...

Please read:  Someone homeless in your house ,  Tony's first days back... ,  Tony Incognito #1 ,  Tony Incognito #2  prior to this one to follow the story and gain the most insight. Transparency is paramount. Privacy and respect are also important so I travel a fine line. I want to continue to explain our relationship with Tony as it has been a learning experience for us. I believe it's important for others to at least try and comprehend the thousands of Tony's that are left in despair throughout our city and county of Angels, let alone elsewhere in the state and across the country. People most often try to categorize the homeless as a "group" with perceived "problems" that led them to their situation. In reality, our homeless pandemic is caused due to many neglects on our part as a society. We don't have the mental health facilities to house and help those who just can't handle being apart of "everyday life" and thus end up on the s...

I got ahead of myself with posts about communication with Tony after our November trip before telling about what occurred during the trip. The story of our time with Tony begins with  Someone homeless in your house . Continue following with  Tony in WEHO   prior to this entry.  Tony Incognito #1  and  Tony Incognito #2   and any others in the "Tony Incognito" series are best read following this post. After only knowing Tony for weeks and not a perfect track record, we'd given him a chance and let him stay at our place and care for our cats (we have 2) while we were away on a trip to Tennessee and Georgia. Perhaps I have some reservation of being judged. It's easy for many, especially those closest to us, to call us "idiots", "dumb shits" or whatever else. At least, that would be their justifiable first reaction. But most of those same people would have said the same of our helping him in the first place. It was a bit of a gamble, but my attitude...

To really understand most of this blog entry, you really need to read:  Someone homeless in your house ,  Tony's first days back...  and  Tony incognito #1 prior to this entry. Read the messages in reverse, as they are Tony's replies to my messages. Date: Thu 12 Dec 2019 07:41 PM Tony: Seeing how that card was stolen from me I find it highly suspect. ~~~~~~~~~ Robert (me) wrote: As you requested, we opened package. It was the notebook I gave you and your new social security card, thus how they got our address... We had offered in November that Tony could use our address to get a new Social Security card. He gets it and within a month he reports to us that is was stolen. Turns out he left it somewhere in Hollywood. They mailed it back to us along with a notebook (with our business logo and phone number on it) which we gave Tony. Quickly flipping through the notebook, Mac commented "this is Tony's head." We didn't really have any desire to read it...

To get the most of this blog entry, you really need to first read:  Someone homeless in your house ,  Tony's first days back... Read the messages in reverse as they are Tony's replies to my messages. Tony went incognito from the time we returned from our trip last November until right around the beginning of spring. We had some exchanges online in the interim. Below are copied messages with his and my screenames removed along with anything else that would be too personal and not relevant. November 24, 2019 Tony: just gearing up to move to a tribal reservation , when are u free ~~~~~~~~~ (Robert-me) wrote: What is up with you? What has you so busy? When are we going to see you next? Did you get my email? Robert and Mac December 4, 2019 & December 10, 2019 Tony: hi i have no idea what that could be? i have a new.cell tho can u forward me ur number ~~~~~~~~~ (Robert-me) wrote: I sent a text message as well, but not sure if you are receiving them. You receiv...

In my post  Being a Junior , I discuss two "washed-up hookers" to whom I would bring doughnuts and coffee daily when I briefly stayed with my Father at an apartment on 79th and 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. New York had a homeless crisis with mass numbers of unsheltered people and the city was at the early stages of gaining any control over the crisis, one which they were forced into addressing after the settling of a lawsuit  Callahan v. Care y in 1981. In that consent decree, the City and State agreed to provide shelter and board to all homeless men who met the need standard for welfare or who were homeless “by reason of physical, mental, or social dysfunction.” Thus the decree established a right to shelter for all homeless men in New York City, and also detailed the minimum standards which the City and State must maintain in shelters, including basic health and safety standards. In addition, Coalition for the Homeless was appointed monitor of shelters ...

The weekend after Tony had left our place he sent me a text message saying he needed to come by in the next "day or two" to pick up some "important document" he needed for something. I wasn't really sure what he did or did not have at our place. I know that he had very limited possessions in general. He seems to have had things stolen constantly, and people whom he stays with ultimately lock him out and keep his property. I have read and heard of many stories of problems with theft for those on the streets. While I could see some 'one' being vindictive enough to hold or discard his property I can't imagine why people would want his things. Canned tuna? Ragged jeans and tee shirts? Is there some gratification in throwing away another's belongings that I don't appreciate? He was at the library in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) and he would only have access to the internet until 1 pm. He would then have "spotty" access and let me know ...

He was soundly asleep on our couch. My husband, Mac, initially had all the lights possible off, but I eventually had to cook. We live in a loft. There isn't much segmenting. My cooking made noises and smells certainly. Mac and I ultimately had a rather intense, not argumentative, but important to us both, conversation while I finished cooking. Mac showered shortly after and went out to meet some friends. Mac closed the door slowly, creating noise still the same. Our one cat, Garnet, who has taken a liking to Tony since his arrival, jumped on and off him at least a half dozen times while he slept ever so desperately. He didn't awaken from the sofa for some 14 hours. I only met Tony at a club a couple Saturdays ago because we honestly had chatted on an online site and both were in Hollywood at the same time so I told him to come by. It is one of these sites I seem to spend a deal of time on, accomplishing nothing, but do entertain myself perusing when I am sick of looking at I...