Gary Blasi

Litigation on Behalf of the Homeless

The dirt and the dust are everywhere. No breeze is ever gentle. When there is wind, it brings not relief from the sun but more dust. Set out on the dirt are rows of army cots under incongruous blue and white canopies. It is cold at night, and the people on the cots wake up wet with dew. Others sleep in the limited number of tents, each 4 feet high, for which there is a long waiting list. The wind carries not only dust, but the stench from the plywood latrines. Only the sights in the distance distinguish this camp from refugee camps around the world: Fifty yards away a high steel fence surrounds the area, the closest thing here to four walls; just beyond the fence sit dirty gray industrial buildings and railroad tracks. In constant view, however, are the modern skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles in the summer of 1987.