Before I even get started, Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission just posted his latest blog entry. It is worth taking a few minutes to read his piece at http://www.urmblog.org/2010/09/16/the-incredible-power-of-words/
I suppose a good opening for this blog would be the above photo taken with my cellphone. These are what I refer to as "meal cards". I carry these with me all the time. When I am downtown and folks tell me they are hungry and need money for food I offer one of these cards to them. I also offer to walk them down to Union Rescue Mission. This can be a tough gig as in many cases folks don't actually want the meal or want the help. They want cash. Many become a bit difficult to converse with if you give them a possible avenue to change their lives.....
I also carry these in my car. If you have ever been approached at a freeway off or on ramp by somebody with a sign saying they are hungry having these cards handy is a good idea. By handing folks a card it shows that you do see them, you are not ignoring them and you are concerned for them. The phone number is on the card, the address of http://www.urm.org/ is on the card, a map is on the card and meal times are on the card.
Consider contacting URM or donating something to them and ask them for some of these cards so you can keep some in your car too. Spread the word and offer long term help.
I posted a bit of info on Mark Horvath ( http://www.invisiblepeople.tv/ and http://www.hardlynormal.com/ ) who is driving around the USA doing a lot of great things in regard to the homeless situation. Look at some of my earlier blog pieces for more information. On 9/11/10 I wrote a longish one on Mark.
On 9/1/10 I wrote a piece on Shay Kelley ( http://www.shaykelley.com/ ) and her Project 50/50. She is also driving around the country.
Last week was a busy week at the shop. Peter Stroud of http://www.65amps.com/ was in town. He is the guitarist for Sarah McLachlan and was in town for one of the night shows, I believe it was The Tonight Show. I get the shows all confused at this point. Seems like once a week there is somebody on one of the shows doing something where 65 Amps is involved.
On September 11 was a day of service at Union Rescue Mission. A lot of activity, a lot of photos, a lot of video. It was a terrific day that was filled with positive thoughts and feelings on a day where so many feel a sense of hurt.
The two shots above were taken on my cell phone so please excuse the quality. The shot below is from Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission. I have
Andy took the above photo and posted it with the comment: For my friend Myles, my first salad plate at Gold Coast Buffet on Commonwealth in Alhambra!
I love Andy's photos whether they are of what he eats in his travels or his activities where he packs 36 hours into a 24 hour day. I am glad to be driving Andy into the ranks of the cell phone food photo brigade and will hope for ongoing contributions :)
I shared the story from the New York Times about the number of families numbers on the rise in homeless shelters - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/12shelter.html
I continue to see the numbers of homeless on the streets of Los Angeles increase every month. A little bit of information: Last year Union Rescue Mission served over 1.3 million meals. The serve meals 365 days a week. The cost of doing this is not free. The cost of a meal is about $1.84. Consider giving them a hand from time to time. I know it sounds as if I am continually plugging these folks. I am not saying you have the wrong impression. You do not. I am continually plugging these folks every day. About half the nights of every week I walk some of what used to be the fifty block area called skid row and hand out meal cards or healthy snacks. I said "what used to be the fifty block area...." I think it is now expanded to at least 75 blocks.
I changed the title description of this blog. It used to say something about homeless, architecture, economy, music. The title was too long. It is now simply - Los Angeles, my city. I was born and raised here as were both my parents. I think of Los Angeles as my city. I also shortened the long winded description to: A center of entertainment. A center of music. A center of cool trendy things and wealth. The city with the highest homeless population in the United States of America.
Shared the story about unemployment expected to remain high - http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/goolsbee-unemployment-stay-high/story?id=11616090
Not all welcome Skid Row charity story which I shared: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless-feeding-20100912,0,6472079,full.story
I made a comment on this story: There are many good points in this news piece. Yesterday I witnessed folks set up with a table less than 50 yards from the entrance to Union Rescue Mission. They were passing out paper plates of food but had no trash cans. I guessed what was probably going to happen and it did. These folks need to take lessons of folks that work the entire picture such as URM, LA Mission and The Midnight Mission.
I ate tacos, shrimp and more. The great taco quest continued and I ate some great shrimp with Max Buda (his name on facebook, not his real name) I will say that he builds some great guitars.
Directly above - shrimp with Max Buda. I am pleased at some of the cell phone shots taken when the light is good. My camera does not do very well in lower light. This shot is a bit washed out but still works.
Fiesta Taco in Burbank. Thanks to Don Buchanan
Lady Antebellum needed more equipment for their ongoing tour so that was a focus over at http://www.65amps.com/
I reposted a video by Andy Bales from Union Rescue Mission that was done two years ago. It is as applicable today as it was two years ago, even more applicable.
It was nice that over 30,000 folks had read my blog on Shay Kelley at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2010/09/shay-kelley-project-5050-please.html and over 10,000 folks read my blog on Mark Horvath at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2010/09/mark-horvath-somebody-get-this-man.html
I posted the blog piece on Shay on 9/1 and the piece on Mark on 9/11.
Statistics were activated on July 1 and the activity on the blog is increasing at a very nice rate. Thanks to friends for sharing the link and thanks to those of you who assist me in supplying healthy food items for my evening rounds.
Dan Boul tried to fool me into thinking that one could make reliable calls using AT&T if one had an iPhone. I do not have an iPhone but I do have AT&T. I watch as people try to make calls from the shop. If their call does not work they have AT&T. Everybody else's service works at the shop. How did Dan try to fool me? He told me that one can now download an app which allows an iPhone to actually MAKE calls reliably on AT&T. Can't fool me that easily! After all we are talking AT&T here. When I came home for lunch today I posted this on facebook: So ... I run home for a bit of lunch and my AT&T rewards card for $100 has finally arrived after MONTHS of waiting. So, I go to the website listed on the card sticker with activation instructions. Big surprise - the website address hangs after inputting data they ask for. Still #1 if you count from the bottom of any list.
I started one of those twitter hash things.... #65amps. If folks want to talk about their amps or have questions or comments maybe it can be a simple mini-forum for folks out there.
I ate "surf and turf" one night for dinner with a friend. this is something I would never order in a restaurant. I love a good steak. Lobster is nice but I prefer crab. I see no reason to eat the two of these things together. I posted some photos in some other places but it was dark and the photos were not worth putting here
Well, that will probably work for a bit of an update for now. Maybe I will add more later or perhaps just let this stand as is.
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