OPINION
February 27, 2014 | By Amy Goldman Koss
When I appear at the fence of the Glendale homeless shelter with my rolling suitcase, I hear cries of "It's the book lady" or, if I'm with my daughter, "It's the book ladies; let them in!" At that point, we are allowed to cut to the front of the line and pass through the gate without being wanded or searched. We then head for a table in the hall where we empty our suitcase and spread out our books. Since I'm on the board of the Friends of the Glendale Public Library, I collect most of the books I bring from the red-dot, super-sale bookshelf at the library.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 11, 2014 | Steve Lopez
Scarlet, Deakin, Fudge, Nugget and Shyla are in the prime of life and pretty good-looking to boot, but their puppy-making days ended for good Tuesday in the back of a big blue van in Sylmar. Nine dogs and a cat named Smokey marched up the stairs of the Lucy Pet Foundation's mobile spay and neuter clinic, unaware of what they were in for in the parking lot of Pet Supreme. Lucy, the Chihuahua whose picture is on the side of the bus, stood by for moral support. And here's the story: Actor Dick Van Patten, a guest on "The John Davidson Show" in 1981, struck up a conversation with the drummer in the show's band.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 8, 2014 | By Esmeralda Bermudez
The sun was shining and the ice cream was melting so Rene Cerritos didn't waste any time. "Chocolate! Chocolate ice cream just for you!" the 18-year-old hollered. "Who wants some?" On Saturday, the high school senior joined 300 students from 36 high schools in a district-wide volunteer day aimed at helping the homeless. Children were bused in to help at six shelters, from Pacoima to Bell to downtown Los Angeles. They served meals, sorted clothes, called donors, picked up trash and painted a mural.
ENTERTAINMENT
January 24, 2014 | By Amy Kaufman
There were babies everywhere: crying, crawling, pooping. Framed Bible citations and photos of Jesus lined the walls. And no one was using a cellphone. This is what Vanessa Hudgens saw in 2011 when she arrived at New Jersey's Several Sources shelter, a safe haven for young pregnant women and new mothers without homes. And it made her very uncomfortable. "The first thing I did," the actress later recalled, "was run up to my room, call my mom and go, 'What on earth am I doing here?
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 9, 2014 | By Brittany Levine
Despite an increase in fights and several police calls at Glendale's emergency shelter, operators say a move to the city's outskirts this year has reduced complaints from residents and retailers. “At least it's away from the community,” said Alfred Hernandez, an outreach director for Ascencia, Glendale's largest homeless services provider and operator of the shelter. Last winter, when the shelter was housed at the Glendale National Guard Armory near downtown, shop owners and people using Central Park or the Adult Recreation Center lodged numerous complaints about the shelter's clients, the Glendale News-Press reported . This year, with the 90-day shelter on the outskirts of the city, there have only been two complaints from neighbors, according to a report released by Ascencia and presented to Glendale city officials.
OPINION
December 28, 2013
Re "Union Station's homeless," Editorial, Dec. 25 Once again we read on this Christmas day that the business community - in this instance, aided by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority - finds no room for the desperately poor at Union Station. One way to justify keeping the homeless at bay is to perpetuate blatant stereotypes, exemplified by the oft-repeated phrase "aggressive panhandling. " Both words are extremely negative and imply that people asking for charity are not only "bums" but that their actions, as the word "aggressive" conveys, border on violence.