Great read and I agree with Tony's observations. Although I grew up in one of those "bad" LA neighborhoods I spent a lot of time with my relatives in Mexico. The middle class standard of living my cousins enjoyed in Mexico was laughable--though really sad in retrospect--compared to that of my family in LA. Poverty is definitely not to blame for the violent crime in our neighborhoods, I wish more policy-makers would accept that fact.

Tony makes some great points about the overall and average material standard of living in "bad" neighborhoods in LA. Then again, he overlooks the economic reality of many people, particularly kids, in those neighborhoods who don't have a fucking thing to eat in the house, crappy clothes, broken toys and their parents are AWOL in prison or on the street while a poor granny tries to do her best for 9 kids in a tiny house. That's all too common, too, and it certainly feeds the cycle of crime and despair.

I don't disagree with one word of what Mr. Ricey writes. I have an expanded form of my observation over at my blogsite. My response is quite long and I don't want to take up L.A. Observed's bandwidth by doing it here. I thank Kevin for the mention.

I used to own property in the area, and I've seen some pretty poor looking places in South L.A. Like Willowbrook/Watts.

Somewhat on the other end of the scale, isn't there a walled community type of thing in South L.A.?