Commentary

The Garment & Citizen has achieved a number of accomplishments that give me professional satisfaction.

There have been statewide honors and local recognition for our coverage. A series of stories about a wayward deal cooked up by city officials to buy a piece of land for a park led to a savings of $500,000 for taxpayers. Some more recent enterprise reporting has prompted public officials to reconsider whether a number of country clubs in Los Angeles are paying a fair share in property taxes.

A column that appeared in this space awhile back led to an invitation to deliver an oral rendition of the piece as a lesson for a graduating class of new officers at the Los Angeles Police Academy. There also have been honors from community and trade groups, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.

Allow me to add one more achievement that gets less attention: Poetry.

Yes, poetry—a form of expression often deemed to be solely the province of dusty books and coffee-house performance artists.

Yet poetry lives and breathes in the pages of the Garment & Citizen (see “Inspiration From Our Readers,” home page).

The poems in this edition are just the latest of a number that have come from various contributors. Some of our poets are blue-collar workers and some are wealthy entrepreneurs. They range broadly in terms of age and ethnicity. Some craft poems about love while others seek to inspire community spirit, or aim for humor.

I’m particularly satisfied by how this burst of poetry started, touched off by a young immigrant named Esteban Cano, who goes to English-language lessons every morning and works the rest of most days at a Downtown restaurant.

A number of poets followed suit shortly after Esteban’s work began appearing in our pages. A lady who lives in Skid Row sent a touching elegy for a recent crime victim. Others have strung poetry around current events or observations from everyday life.

This poetry is valuable stuff because it serves as a reminder that our readers still see wonderment as they weave their way into the fabric of our city. They still find plenty of inspiration on the streets of Downtown and beyond.

These poems are, indeed, art. These poets do not need sky-high price tags or chic galleries to know that much (see related Guest Viewpoint, “Weeneez and the Story of Cheap Art,” home page).

I don’t often point business owners in the direction of poets, but there is a season for everything. Now is the season for our business class to remember that Downtown is a place of great human spirit, diversity and drive. The stuff of Downtown is the stuff of the American Dream. Take stock of the strengths, and battle forward. Keep in mind that the recession is upon us but it should not own us.

Anyone interested in fighting back against the economic downturn will be able to find some fellowship at an upcoming meeting for the proposed Downtown Los Angeles Marketing Center. The gathering is free to attend and will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27, at the Wurlitzer Building at 816 S. Broadway.

Take an hour or two from your schedule. Consider the crowd at the meeting. Remember how many still hold a stake in our city’s center.

Be like the poets—and remind everyone that business owners can also be creative.

—Jerry Sullivan, Editor & Publisher