A Sign of Pride in a Maligned Area

[x635 4,066]

Definetly an interseting article, and one that's relevant to apparatus here as well.....the community's reaction is also very interesting.

A Sign of Pride in a Maligned Area

In L.A.'s skid row, street people and loft dwellers know the district has a bad rap. But they object to a plan to erase the name from fire vehicles.

By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer

June 1, 2006

In Los Angeles' most maligned neighborhood, they hope to put the skids to one image-polishing idea.

Street people and loft residents have joined forces to block removal of the name "Skid Row" from the sides of firetrucks and rescue ambulances that are assigned to the beleaguered downtown zone.

The name has been painted for decades on equipment that is operated out of Station 9, the 7th Street firehouse that serves the skid row area and proclaims itself "the busiest fire station in the country."

Firefighters and paramedics — as well as some residents — said the skid row label helps instill a feeling of community in a district struggling with homelessness and crime.

But top fire officials say they've received complaints that the name is derogatory and ordered "Skid Row" stripped from Station 9's two fire engines, its hook-and-ladder truck and its two paramedic ambulances.

"If it's offending people, we don't want to be doing it," said Battalion Chief Lou Roupoli, adding that residents of the new condominiums and lofts popping up in the area have complained that the fire engine label is objectionable.

Some of the developers who have been converting old bank buildings into luxury lofts on the edges of skid row have increasingly been using the less-gritty name "Central City East" to describe the district.

Fire officials declined to say who complained. And with firefighters now campaigning to keep the skid row moniker, community leaders are largely trying to stay neutral in the debate.

They said they want to support the firefighters but also understand that the term can have a negative connotation — to both new residents and the poor who have long called the district home.

"It's a badge of honor to firefighters. They're adamant it should be 'Skid Row.' But a lot of people in subsidized housing feel stigmatized by the name," said Brady Westwater, the elected president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, which has not taken a position on the issue. "They feel the skid row name is a barrier to having a positive image of the area."

Yet many others have responded by circulating petitions calling on fire officials to reconsider their decision.

Transients are helping collect signatures on the streets while loft residents gather them in storefront shops and studios carved out of former factories and office buildings scattered around skid row.

"As off-beat and off-color as it might sound, there is a sense of community pride here," said Cherry Wood, a Web and graphics designer who has resided more than 10 years in downtown Los Angeles. "You know what? There are a lot of really nice people in skid row. People don't understand that unless they live here. Even people who don't like the name 'Skid Row' support the firefighters who want to keep the name on the trucks."

Wood said she and others learned of the name ban after firefighters responded to a recent refrigerator fire in their building. It is a converted 1926 paper factory between 5th and 6th streets.

"It was a small fire. But it put out a tremendous amount of smoke that filled the whole building. Everybody ran out when the alarms went off," Wood said. "A bunch of us were taking pictures."

Residents later decided to take copies of their photos to Station 9 as a thank-you gift to firefighters. Wood said firefighters became emotional when they saw pictures clearly depicting the "Skid Row" name on the engines. They explained that the name had been ordered deleted.

"The guys like it. It's become a term of endearment. It shows that, hey, this is our area," said Station 9 Capt. Cedrick Cleveland, who leads Station 9's two-engine crew.

Cleveland told the residents that firefighters didn't know who had complained about the skid row engine labels or found them derogatory.

"We know there's a hard push to clean up the area, to eliminate the homelessness. It's getting a lot of press. That's the only conclusion we came to," Cleveland said.

To the firefighters at Station 9, the skid row name is more than just a way of identifying the neighborhood they serve. They take pride working at what is considered the toughest assignment in the Los Angeles Fire Department, where the station can respond to more than 60 calls a day. Off-duty firefighters also wear T-shirts printed with the slogan "Wino Nino Firehouse Skid Row."

Wood is now leading the petition drive, and she says she's finding much support for the name.

"Does taking the name off the trucks change where we're at?" asked Willie Wilson as he signed the save skid row petition for her as he sat this week in San Julian Park.

Wes Sams, who lives in a single-room unit on Wall Street, was offended that the name was being removed.

"What petty group is trying to do that?" Sams demanded. "Maybe it's those people moving into these elaborate lofts. It's not right."

This is not the first time Los Angeles has grappled with a neighborhood name that some consider a liability. Three years ago, the City Council voted to change South-Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles, saying South-Central brought with it a stigma of gang activity and drugs. The city has also changed the names of several neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley — portions of Sepulveda became North Hills — for similar reasons.

Officials of the Central City East Assn. said that while they believe the term skid row has a negative connotation, they have not called for it to be removed from the trucks.

"Whenever I see the trucks and the words 'Skid Row,' I always smile," said Estela Lopez, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group for area property owners. "If we really want to clean up skid row, we shouldn't worry about what's on the side of the fire engines. We should be worried about what's on the streets."

Records indicate that the skid row name in Los Angeles dates from 1939, when an essay labeled "Skidrow Serenade" was published in The Times. The article chronicled the area's "10,000 transients, variously called tramps, hobos, hitchhikers, bindle stiffs and other names not so nice," noting that "sooner or later every one of these wanderers will find his way down to 5th Street and Towne Avenue … the heart of Skidrow."

The name was first applied to an area in Seattle where an early-1900s wharf-area lumber operation attracted transient workers who moved logs by dragging them along what locals called "Skid Road."

Back at Station 9, some of the 51 firefighters, who are divided into three round-the-clock shifts, said they would hate to see the label go.

"Its been on there 20 years," said Justin Bactat, an apparatus operator on the hook-and-ladder. "We wear that name with pride."

Fire Capt. Walter Duffy said those in skid row view it that way too.

"People shout out, 'Hey, you guys are our fire station. You guys are our fire department,' when they see us," Duffy said.

Firefighters have invited downtown-area City Councilwoman Jan Perry to have dinner at the 46-year-old firehouse next month so they can discuss skid row and other issues.

Perry said she favors public hearings, which would gauge community reaction to the firetruck name before she takes a stand. Some have recommended a whole new official designation for the skid row area — such as the "Hope Central" name that one homeless mission has floated, she said.

"People have strong feelings about this," Perry said.

Edited June 3, 2006 by x635

[x635 4,066]

Here's a close up of what they're talking about. LA City FD Engine 209 2003 Seagrave, photo by x635 from August 2005 :

[Guest]

Thanks x635,

Great story--as if LA doesn't have enough to worry about. Imagine if Bloomberg wanted Hell's Kitchen stricken from the nickname roster. I say, whatever works.

Besides, the truck is a Seagrave...the words "Skid Row" would be considered a complement "behind the Cheddar Curtain" where Seagrave has its factory.

[res6cue 67]

"Whenever I see the trucks and the words 'Skid Row,' I always smile," said Estela Lopez, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group for area property owners. "If we really want to clean up skid row, we shouldn't worry about what's on the side of the fire engines. We should be worried about what's on the streets."

I think that quote right there hits the nail square on the head.

[Guest]

I just love how new people move into a neighborhood, and then complain about the neighborhood they voluntarily moved into.

You can't move into skid row without at least hearing the nickname once in your lifetime.

I'm sure it's people who just moved to the area and are trying to change everything. Sort of reminds me of my area.

[IzzyEng4 427]

How many places in our cities, towns, villages, ect. do we have nicknames for that originated way before out time???? Hell's Kitchen and Hell's Hundred Acres in NYC. Remember when someone from NY complained about the town name of FISHKILL, not knowing the dutch meaning of the word "kill" (though the spelling is anglecised)? Heck down the road from me in the next town is Sodom Road.

I can understand on somenames can be offensive but you know if the people of a neighborgood identify with that name and suppor the "Skid Row" crew's name on the trucks thier taxes paid for, then keep it.

I think if the officials are not fessing up to who complained, then it is someone from inside the department or someone who had great influence over the department. If the department feels that they don;t want it on thier truck, then be honest.

[X615 0]

just more "touchy feely" disingenuious nonsense from some hysterical politically correct whining creep. estela lopez couldn't be any more correct or honest but then again political correctness & hypersensitivity have nothing to do with honesty, reality or common sense. with all the crap going on in dowtown LA & this i what someone decides is the biggest problem that needs fixin'? ridiculous. whoever is guilty of making the complaint needs to grow up & put their effort into something constructive to actually make a difference. i can't even believe i'm wasting my time responding to something so insane.

[Guest KFD236]

I think that quote right there hits the nail square on the head.

←

Without a doubt.

""People shout out, 'Hey, you guys are our fire station. You guys are our fire department,' when they see us," Duffy said."

I think this part is taking it a little to far. The department does a good job and they are there when these people need them and that is all that matters. Forget what these people say the only thing that they should care about is what the department thinks of themselves. And with the name its just a name it doesn't really matter but taking the name of the trucks isn't going to change the area that they live in. They are still going to have a bad reputation.