Re “Cochran Avenue parking lot may become affordable housing site,” June 24. issue

In regards to the proposed housing on the Cochran Avenue parking lot, do you know exactly who will be living there? Will it be 100% affordable housing for low income seniors who will be long-term members of our neighborhood, or will it be a homeless shelter, with built in supportive services, a way-station for hardcore homeless persons who do not have a stake in living here? We don’t know.

One reader wrote, “Principal Kipp could lead the way and organize a team of students, parents and staff to help the needy to gain skills and seek better lives, with restrictions of course. New friendships would be formed.”

Please realize that the recently incarcerated are among those homeless. And among them are also registered sex offenders. As a former jail nurse, I discovered one such patient – a registered sex offender – riding the subway with me. “Hey nurse! What are you doing here?” he shouted cheerily. That made my skin crawl.

Technically, sex offenders are not supposed to live by a school, but just getting out of jail, how is that enforced?

As Union Station is walking distance from Men’s Central Jail and the Twin Towers complex, and the jail provides the fares, just where do you think released inmates go? The Purple Line [subway] will be a main line for those recently released, with no place to live. The as yet unidentified, “housing” across the street from Cathedral Chapel School is a possible destination.

I get that the causes of homelessness are many and we all need to help out. However, offering up the staff and students of Cathedral Chapel School and our neighborhood as a sacrifice into a situation we know nothing about and have no guarantees, helps no one.

Hana Kawano

Los Angeles