I thought our class discussion developed well towards the end of class and dug in depth into many of our expert questions. Throughout class we have been looking at ways in which a community is defined. In the book, Darrel often felt patronized by the non-profit organizations that he was sent to and that his needs were not attended to, which left him feeling isolated. The systems in place to help those living in Skid Row better their lives and move out, seem quite robotic and unpersonalized.

The question I posed to the class was, “Stuart defines actions taken by the police in Skid Row as “therapeutic policing”. How do we better the system so that people are more willing to accept help from, say, non-profit organizations without feeling belittled? Is there a top-down method rather than bottom-up that would be more beneficial; i.e. having government intervention or community-based aid?”.

Relating specifically to my question, I found that many people agreed on having a balance between more government mediation and community-based help. I think a part of my question that is still unanswered is, if government control and community-based aid should go hand in hand, how? In what ways? What would this look like specifically? Though, these are not easily answered questions. If there was more government control, would this be accepted by those living in Skid Row, or would they feel that this would be extremely invasive and continuing the vicious cycle of robotic “help”? On the other hand, would the surrounding communities be able to provide the aid and support that is needed to make a difference? Or would they feel that being involved with Skid Row lowers their identity status as a community?