Post
by felinefan » Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:03 pm
Last week, I came home to find my bed and stuff gone. I asked my neighbors, and they they found bedbugs, so my stuff was bagged and put into storage. When I asked staff for details, they assured me I was not the source--come to think of it, a few nights before, there was a girl having a royal fit because she found a bedbug in her bed, and another on her clothes. I was put in another area of the women's area, known as the "Wind Tunnel". I'm getting over a sinus infection; are they trying to make me get pneumonia? And get this--the next night, I saw a new cot in my space. The night after that, they put another woman in my spot--where I have lived for 2 years! I have tried talking to staff about my getting my space back, and I keep getting the runaround. I finally asked the person in charge of bed assignments, and she refused to give me my space back, saying it would be "too hard" to do so. It sure wasn't hard for them to move me! I counted, and as of last night, there were nearly a dozen empty beds in the women's area! I don't see what's so "hard" about it! Problem is, if you file a complaint, you get kicked out.
Yesterday I went to the KTLA site--we used to watch channel 5, but the signal kept going out, as we have over the air antenna TV--and saw an article that named our shelter and a couple others as being the worst by the ACLU. So, I contacted KTLA, gave my experience--including getting my suitcase stolen by a staff member last June--and suggested that since photography was not allowed in the shelter--gee, I wonder why?--maybe they could do an undercover investigation, with someone who could draw. After all, lots of people in there draw and color, so that might be a way to record things without attracting attention.
Last Saturday, I went through my bagged stuff, got some things out I really needed, as well as my bedding. I took my bedding to the laundromat and washed everything. I had been issued some blankets, but one had dog hair all over it, and another stank so much I had to put it under me. The one that went on top had some stains on it. After washing my bedding, I took off the borrowed blankets, made my bed with my bedding, and put the dirty ones in the laundry area. They needed it! And for a change, I am warm! I nearly froze to death with those other blankets! I've been trying to get ahold of Ms. Doris, who runs the place, but she apparently is in meetings to find us another place, because 1.) our shelter will be closed in October due to an event center being built across the street, and 2.) a facility in another part of town is being prepared for us, but it won't be ready by October. I really think the bedbug thing was an excuse to get me out of that spot, because one of my neighbors is a cranky old hag who was getting on my case for coughing. My neighbors were mostly telling her to shut up, and she would curse them out. I think she had something to do with it, even though I'm not coughing that much now. Oh, I did find bedbugs in my stuff--two of them--and I killed both. I have bedbug spray. It's been over a week that my stuff has been bagged up, and I was told 3 days. One of our mental health counselors has said he will speak to the witch in charge of bedding assignments even though I'm not a client. So far nothing, but I keep hoping.