Here’s my theory: now that the unfinished Fuller Lofts have gone into bankruptcy and the scaffolding has been taken down, the exposed windows will become broken ones in due time. They tend to fall victim to the projectiles of bored youth (err, so I’ve heard) might as well take count before it gets started. Oops, too late for that. One.
Plywood counts as broken. Someone has good aim, they got all the ones on the right! 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.
It’s not very visible in this pic but the arrow points to a shattered window with a bb hole in it. That counts as half. Just for shits and giggles, I’ll be keeping track of the broken windows on San Fernando only, ain’t gonna bother with the rest of the building. Simple eh? So our grand total for today is 9.5 – stay tuned for updates!
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I’m salivating just looking at all that virgin glass – like shooting fish in a barrel! Smart money says it’ll all be broken before Independence Day.
What are the plans for this project? I could really become affordable housing now. I mean really affordable.
I believe in NYC they did create affordable housing in buildings such as this but since I’m sure this has gone to bankruptcy the court wouldn’t allow it. Too bad there is a need. How close is this to the Gold Line?
In a decent society, this project would be squatter heaven, but in America it’s just waste, waste waste.
The idea of even having any glass windows in a building is a disappearing one. Lincoln Heights used to have a lot of stores and other businesses with windows that now have been covered over and merged with the rest of the stucco surfaces- not charming at all. Security is a big factor that changed the look of the area, with the change long ago happening with 5 Points Thrifty’s, the 5&10 across the street, and the storefronts down Daly.
The remaining glass storefronts usually have bars or expanding fence barriers that some leave up all the time, not just when they close for the day, and they are ugly, but still needed security items.
The bothersome thing is, first, to consider breaking windows as anything other than vandalism, and, second, to consider it as acceptable behavior, even with the proliferation of “bored youth.”
It’s not much of a stretch to see the targets shifting over from an unoccupied building to a business or house. In any event, the idea of respecting other’s property, regardless of the owner or status of ownership, is another value that is not even recognized by many, and I don’t mean this as focused upon people with lower income, since the idea of respect cuts across all economic levels and is manifested in more subtle ways, as well.
But for this item, I don’t think there’s any positive thing to be achieved by promoting or acquiescing to the idea of breaking windows. It’s simply a hostile and destructive thing that gives critics of the neighborhood more substance to replace the stereotypes held, and gives people on all sides to think, “Why bother?†for things beyond simply building in the area.
Robert: point taken. But I gotta say I’m still salivating. Betcha others are too.
“It’s simply a hostile and destructive thing that gives critics of the neighborhood more substance to replace the stereotypes held”
THAT seems like a stretch to me.
Come now, don’t encourage this. Have some pride in your neighborhood.
Besides, haven’t you heard of the “Broken Window” theory?
http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/Neighborhood/brokenwindow.htm
chavo, what happened to this project? i was at st. vincents the other day and i was looking at the building, it looks like they were doing a good job with it. they didnt have funds to finish?
broken window theory makes sense to me, too bad lots of us Hispanics dont care much about the places were we live.
Are people actually implying here that racism and prejudice and preconceived notions of what people are like is because people don’t “act right”?
Oh god, that’s pretty laughable.
Kids destroying the property of a bunch of greedy dumbasses that have left a massive abandoned building has nothing to do with Lincoln Heights are people of color it has to do with young boys and how they like to destroy abandoned property and that’s across ethnic lines and takes place in rural, suburbs and urban cites.
Latino people care about their neighborhood as much as Asian people, black people and white people, to say something different than that points to something alot more bigger.
How can you believe the line of “If we all just behave then maybe people will treat us more fairly.” Don’t be such a tool.
I call bs on that line of thinking. People are prejudice because they are ignorant assholes. It’s the assholes fault in regards to stereotypes not the people being stereotyped.
I say the biggest crime here is that this isn’t being turned into affordable housing right now, not that some kids do kid things and break some windows of an abandoned building.
Browne
It seems that the broken window theory has been used to explain how acts of vandalism are symptomatic of larger, systemic problems. Whether or not that link to that particular analysis is agreeable, I take issue the mentality or justification behind trashing the building. I agree, the Fuller Loft stands as a gross reminder of how capitalists/big businesses have used all kinds of housing developments to infiltrate these neighborhoods. However, the rehabilitation of a community starts at the local level – within the capacities of Lincoln Heights residents and their supporters along with other communities experiencing the same things.
While expressing frustrations and recognizing the problem is key, more results might be seen when questions about why a community like Lincoln Heights needs affordable housing, why is homeless and crime an issue, etc. are addressed. Responding to these issues as opposed to just reacting to them is the foundation of a real social justice agenda.
In regards to the race issue brought up, I think the real issue here is the fact that resources for the working class and low-income families (who are predominantly latino in Lincoln Heights) have been cut… therefore, the Fuller Lofts symbolizes elitist power over working-class and low-income Latinos. But, let’s not deny the existence of the dangerous subtleties of racism in all of our communitities but I digress…
In response to issues about interpersonal relationships, the problem isn’t so much that people don’t care for their neighborhood, the problem is that people “don’t act right” to other people (i.e. greedy dumbass vs dumbass and vice versa).
P.S. boycott lofts.