L.A.'s 'Danger Zones'

Is Los Angeles developing it's own 'Mogadishu's' -- lawless zones beset by gangs, black markets, rapacious crime and dysfunction?

1 minute read

December 23, 2004, 1:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"L.A.'s hot zones are tiny, intensely dangerous areas where nothing works, where law has broken down and mainstream institutions simply fail. Places where mail carriers and meter readers balk when the bullets fly. Where paramedics and firefighters are hesitant to enter because of the crossfire. Where police officers go in only heavily reinforced or with helicopters; in the LAPD's South Bureau there was an 80% increase in sniper fire on police in 2004, according to a report by LAPD Chief William Bratton.

These zones are often found in and near public housing projects, although the worst privately owned slums like the gang-ridden apartment complex at 69th and Main that was recently ordered evacuated by the city mirror the conditions."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: L.A.'s Budding Mogadishus

Thursday, December 23, 2004 in The Los Angeles Times

Community / Economic Development California

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