Letter of Support for the Skid Row Neighborhood Council

October 18, 2014

To Whom it Many Concern,

I wholeheartedly support the formation of a Skid Row Neighborhood Council. I have been active with DLANC since 2010,
specifically the Parks, Recreation & Open Space (now Livability) Committee, which I chaired as a non-board member in
2013. While I believe there is tremendous satisfaction & empowerment to be gained within the Neighborhood Council
system, I have come to the conclusion that the unique issues that Skid Row faces are not being adequately handled
within DLANC, nor is there any sense of urgency about them.

I have been a resident & property owner in Skid Row at the Little Tokyo Lofts since 2010. Since this time, I have begun a
blog detailing the efforts & history related to community betterment in the public space of my community. I have also
worked extensively with our Council Office both before & after redistricting to address many of the ongoing health
hazards in Skid Row including lack of trash cans, lack of public toilets, used needles on the sidewalks, lack of working
street lights, ungrated storm drains, rat infestation, lack of bus benches & more. Most all of these efforts & corrective
measures taken by the City were negotiated & worked on outside of DLANC. This has been challenging in that many
meetings with City Departments & local residents have had to be put together in a patchwork fashion. If there were
regularly scheduled Skid Row Neighborhood Council meetings, City staff would know when & where to show up so that
our very specific needs could be worked through. Furthermore, many residents of Skid Row are physically disabled &
elderly, thus have a hard time getting around outside our neighborhood.

I write to you as a property owner, but as the attachment to this letter shows, the vast majority of residents in Skid Row
are renters of SROs. Most of the SRO units in Skid Row have a 55 year ordinance attached to them, guaranteeing their
low income status. These SRO units are also legally classified as permanent supportive housing, which means these
renters can stay as long as they wish to. Considering this is the structure of the neighborhood, and that many residents
of Skid Row are long-standing, it seems logical to me that they should have distinct & separate representation within the
Neighborhood Council system. As it stands, they do not. Although I have tried, I have been unable to get our current
DLANC Board to understand the difference between the Property developers/management of SRO buildings & the
residents themselves. In my research, I have learned that these SRO tenants have no independent representation
anywhere in the City, yet many have serious concerns about their living conditions. Numerous Skid Row residents have
attended DLANC meetings in the hopes that some of their housing issues could be addressed. Some of the issues related
to housing & sheltered people in Skid Row are violence, drug dealing, intimidation, contested evictions, bed bug
infestation, TB outbreaks, food insecurity & more. Being a resident of the community myself- I have taken this issue on.
Although we have a Skid Row Resident seat currently, the DLANC Board seat structure does not separate landlord &
tenant.

I am extremely concerned that DLANC cannot address & ultimately does not understand Skid Row as a community, let
alone our unique needs.

In conclusion, I fully support General Jeffs effort in the formation of a separate & distinct Neighbored Council for Skid
Row (SRNC). In the four years since knowing him, he has proven himself to be a tireless advocate for the residents of our
community. Skid Row is in many ways, a city within a city, a mature community with its own cultural & artistic
heritage. To improve it, we must work from the inside out. Our issues are so complex, our structure so distinct, that the
most efficient way for us to work with the City is to be independent. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely, Katherine

McNenny
Blogger at Trees On San Pedro Street
2013 Public Chair of DLANC Parks Committee
Co-Founder of Industrial District Green