Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 12 Feb 2022, 18: 12 pm EST
Century Boulevard in Inglewood, in Los Angeles County, which will host the Super Bowl on Sunday, shows how the image of an enclave known for crime and homelessness has been washed away in record time who camp in the area.
Banners, posters or advertisements of the event on giant screens make up reality on this avenue where the SoFi Stadium is located, which tomorrow will host the Super Bowl final.
Almost 100 Millions of people watched the gigantic sporting event last year, so the county authorities -and Inglewood- have coordinated so that the international image of the Los Angeles brand comes out very well.
The premise is to guarantee that does not occur avoid any episode of violence or crime and erase any hint of the homeless encampments which, like the rest of Los Angeles, have exploded due to the covid pandemic.
“Near the stadium we will not see the camps, but if they drive just a few miles they will see the devastation of Los Angeles”, explains the director of the reception program of the Union Rescue Mission organization in Los Angeles, Cynthia Jiménez.
According Los Angeles Homeless Services (LAHSA) at 2020 were accounted for 42,713 Los Angeles County-wide Homeless: One 13 % more than the previous year.
Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the country, after New York, is known for lead from time to time the national statistics regarding the number of people living on the streets. In 2020, according to the same source, the figure amounted to 41,290.
In 2021, the official count was not carried out , but from the civil organizations that operate in the sector throughout the county they estimate that the coronavirus would have left some 90,000 people in a situation of having to live on the street.
Less than a week ago, the police evicted more than fifty people who had their stores deployed in a section of Century Boulevard
that connects with the highway 300.
After this, some like Killer, nickname with e l who know this man from 13 Years of Inglewood who had been living in the camp for years, have decided to relocate just a few meters further.
“We have been here for the last two or three years, there were huge mountains of waste and the police are now worried because the Super Bowl is coming up”, says Killer and adds that this is because “it means money for the city”.
Others like Detlev have chosen to relocate to the area, although the police may return in the next few hours to evict them.
“No I was here when it happened, but when I got there there was nothing; it seemed as if a UFO had landed”, details this man from 39 years that he had settled in this place.
The Dreambuilders Project charity reported that it is unknown where they have relocated the 60 persons who camped in this area near the stadium.
“ They are not detained but they have been forced to leave this part of Inglewood,” said the organization’s president, Mayer Dahan.
The increase in violence in Los Angeles
Violence has also increased throughout the county after the pandemic, and three weeks ago in Inglewood itself there was a shooting during a birthday party that left four dead.
According to the statistics of the Los Angeles Police Department, in 2020 occurred 397 homicides only in LA, which means 42 more than in 2020 and marks the highest crime record since 2007.
Of the total number of homicides, one of every ten (43) had a person as a suspectna homeless.
While, in the reverse case, approximately in two out of ten cases (90) was a homeless person who lost his life. Within this statistic, 06 incidents in which the victim and the alleged murderer were homeless.
Homicides, shootings, mass robberies in businesses and traffic accidents caused by illegal racing have awakened a sense of insecurity in a city that believed have tackled the crime problem after decades of constant struggle against street gangs.
By Guillermo Azábal
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