Lincoln Place Tent City Report
By C.V.
Beck
Our Tent City Coordinator, David
Busch, was called away on family business. We miss him and hope he’ll be
back soon. Meanwhile, hours at Tent City are Wednesdays and Saturdays 10 am to 5
pm, weather permitting.
People continue to come by, ask questions,
take pictures, donate money and take away flyers to read. We have munchies and
feed “our” squirrels an apparently endless supply of peanuts,
unshelled, unsalted.
The gardener from
Ross/Shafers Family Trust continues to put the sprinklers on our TC, according
to his whim--with a continued no warning to us, although we had asked to let us
know, so we could move our stuff out of the sprinklered area. I rebuke him, as
we are in the public walkway--but to no avail. He doesn’t know what an
easement is and I haven’t been able to explain it to him properly. People
drive by and swerve at me on the corner. They drive around and around the center
square part of Lincoln Place, they look familiar but I can’t place them (I
did, however, write down their license plate number).
Others drive through, and out of, the
Ross parking lot at high rates of speed, shouting, “It’s too
late!”, waving their arms and gesticulating wildly, turning left on
Frederick Street and right on Lake. Others come by, shouting at us,
“Assholes!” and some politely reply, “Up your nose,
Jocko!” Still others come by and sit with us for long periods of time,
explaining patiently, (with beer cans in their
pockets)
how David can’t beat Goliath
in this day and age and I wonder if they have been paid for in 12,000 cans of
beer, saying as much to this man, who laughs,
knowingly.
We residents are awaiting
the start of the mediation, hopeful that it will work out to the betterment of
seniors, disabled, those unlawfully evicted and traumatized, way back in
December, 2005 and perhaps others as well. Bill Rosendahl came by two weeks ago
and we women present thanked him for not forgetting us. He said he would not
forget us. I told him I wanted to “see” Terry Considine in the flesh
after all of this and he said he did,
too.
Two weeks ago, a homeless person,
“Philly” (not his real name) arrived by bicycle, stating he had been
through “three emptying outs of the emergency room” at Brotman
Hospital but was not yet treated. They told him to come back later, over and
over, had put on a yellow plastic ID bracelet on his wrist but wasn’t
treated. He says he has had problems getting treated at Venice Family Clinic, he
thinks because he is not a family, not Hispanic, gets passed over at Brotman and
at Freeman.
He had what looked like
gangrene rising up both his legs and clearly needed medical treatment.
“Philly” said the person in charge told him his Medi-Cal card was
“no good.” He said he has a permanent, very old card but that it is
good. I suggested he try the urgent care place in front of Daniel Freeman
Hospital as these places are never “busy” like the emergency rooms
are. Most people don’t seem to be aware of these places. I drew a map for
him, hoped it would work out. (He was on his bicycle, with flip-flops.) It was
cold and windy that day.
Last week, I
followed up a suggestion and went over there myself to see what was what. This
place is an urgent care center located along the right side of the medical
office building immediately in front of Daniel Freeman Hospital. As it turns
out, they are closed between 12 and 2 but I was able to get information from the
reception person, as follows: I asked clearly if they took
“Medi-Cal”? The person replied, “Yes”. I then asked if
they took “Temporary Medi-Cal”?...she said “Yes”. I then
asked if they took “Medicare”? She said “Yes”.
I asked her again, just to make sure,
if they took “Medi-Cal”...(she was starting to get nervous)...and
asked me what was the problem? I said I wasn’t asking for myself but for a
homeless person. She then said that they don’t take “Medi-Cal”
and told me I had been asking about “Medicare”...I replied I had
asked about both programs and thanked her for her time and
left.
OK, so, then,
“Philly”, sorry to have wasted your time. Hope you didn’t go
there after all and that you did find an emergency room that would treat you. (I
haven’t seen him since that first time and I hope he is alright).
Posted: Sat
- April 1, 2006 at 03:17 PM