Robert StGenis Voice empowered

Don't start the series here... To at least be current on topics related to Market Lofts and DTLA, please read:  Love/Hate spec. series #2 ,  Love/Hate spec. series #6 ,  Love/Hate spec. series #7 We lived at the Market Lofts for almost 3 1/2 years virtually not knowing any of our neighbors in this over 260 unit building. We started to get to know one married couple, but he traveled extensively until the pandemic so we literally haven't seen them in probably 2 years at this point. Occasionally, Oliver or Nicole "likes" one of my photos on Instagram or Facebook and a couple of times have Oliver has had comments on topics I have brought up, like last year's celebrations that turned into riots around our home. We know another neighbor upstairs, me more than my husband, but while we keep talking about getting together, but schedules have yet to align. We moved less than 1 mile away in LA for the next year so there is still plenty of time. We just recently met 3 of our ...

  This is written on the morning of June 15, 2021, the day California is lifting restrictions. According to the New York Times, which has been tracking with at least daily updates throughout the pandemic, as of 6/14/2021, California has had 3,803,531 cases or 9,626 per 100,000 residents. According to the US Census Bureau, as of April 1, 2020, the population of the Golden state is 39,538,223. Based on these numbers, roughly 10.4% of the state's population had a positive Covid-19 test. Some argue how cases are counted, whether someone who has more than one positive Covid-19 test is being counted more than once, but then again, there are those laying on their death bed with Covid-19 insisting it does not exist. This resulted in 63,149 deaths or 160 per 100,000 people. You would think it's harder to argue deaths, though as I just mentioned above, not only do some people deny COVID really exists, but some say things like "well they had a heart condition, had cancer..." The...

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...

In any condominium, water shut-offs do occur. Typically, however, they're occasional, not a common occurrence. This is particularly challenging at a time when more of us are working from home. Our property manager said water shut-offs are a more common issue as a result. However, the Market Lofts was a live/work building long before COVID-19 - it should be able to accommodate people living and working from home. We've had over 12 in the first quarter, some multiple days in a row. Living over the grocery store is tremendously convenient but also can be disadvantageous as well. At least once a quarter the bakery causes the alarms in our building to go off. Once, someone set the toilet seats in the men's room on fire. The entrance to the underground parking lot to the store is right next to our entrance. You need to always be extra cautious coming and going as shoppers are not always paying close attention. The largest grocery store in Downtown Los Angeles, it is also a magnet...

  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 ...

We had given him a $50 gift card and sent him out to buy some things. He then went out for a few hours to a clinic appointment, if I recall, initially, with some $32 or so dollars left on the card. I had told him to put $10 on his TAP card for Metro (transit). Once before, I had given him a gift card and said this was a "lottery gift"; find out what's left and it's yours. He ended up with some $24 or so dollars. In this case, it was not a gift, rather something he could use to get us things or we could tell him or agree to allow him to use for himself. For me, it was a trust building exercise with a gift card that we were given for going to our vacation ownership presentation. He had an appointment at a clinic and is over on the edges of West Hollywood.  I am not sure he didn't even suggest that he might say he might head over to "Boystown" before coming back but we knew he wasn't returning right after his appointment, which actually made sense to m...

You should read  When you sleep with someone homeless in your house  ,  Tony Disappears  and  Tony Returns...  prior to this entry to be completely "in the loop." Just after the 1st of the month, Tony got his food stamp benefits, called " CalFresh " in California, and he sent me a text. This means he has received his $192 per month to assist with food and other "basic needs."  He texts me and says he is on his way back and wants to stop at the store and make us dinner. I find out after he got back that he received some from his mother as well, which made sense when he offered to buy wine and I knew that his CalFresh benefits did not cover it. He wanted to make us a pizza. I thought it was a nice gesture but being on a Keto diet that was not in my picture and I let him know we had no expectations of his buying or paying for food for us. He explained that the pizza was over chicken breasts with tomato sauce and pepperoni; that fit my diet. I still th...

Tony arrived with a bag from Target and the backpack we had given him. He had been staying somewhere on the Westside of Los Angeles (a favorable area) for roughly 10 days with some guy who had taken some romantic interest in him and then offered him some work, manual labor of sorts, like painting. But that story alters later, as he commuted from Silverlake (closer to Downtown Los Angeles or DTLA) to this guy's place in stories he tells me in days to follow. Perhaps it changed along the way. I am not doing a police investigation, so every detail isn't my primary objective. Once again, he had been robbed of his things, but not all of them. Among things that he seemed most disappointed about was that he has food there and couldn't get back in to retrieve it. Evidently the guy threatened to call the police if he didn't leave the property. My impulse would likely have been to let him call the police if he had my things. But, I am not him. I must remember drugs are involv...

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...