Rooms for the Poor

Shunt increasing numbers of individuals into single-room occupancy and “there’s no stigma involved?” I mean, excuse me? Why not just institute Jeremy Bentham’s scheme of “pauper management” (which called for the incarceration of the poor in workhouses run for profit)?

I invite your readers to visit some of Los Angeles’ SROs, as I have, and attempt to reach the same conclusion as Judith Lenthall.

On the contrary, what would “benefit a broad range of Orange County’s neediest residents” is not SROs and not these deep-dish sentiments, but a close examination of the phenomenology of land acquisition in Orange County--and the parts being played by the Building Industry Assn. and the Board of Supervisors.

LESLIE POWELL

Santa Ana