A row of women frequently sits outside A Woman's Place shelter beneath the 13th Street freeway, with some leaning on walkers and others wearing heels. Many eat, smoke, or doze while earplugs from travelling nurses help muffle freeway noise. City crews sometimes arrive to clean the sidewalk, including a DPW worker in a hazmat suit and outreach teams, while a paramedic expressed uncertainty about chemicals used. Nearby Erie Street is strewn with broken glass, overflowing carts, and barbed-wire fences. Individual residents display visible vulnerability and distinct personal histories, such as tattoos and past fighting days.
There is often a row of women sitting outside A Woman's Place, a shelter beneath the 13th Street freeway. Some lean on walkers, their feet too swollen to do much else. Others wear heels. They eat, smoke, or doze off. Earplugs supplied by travelling nurses help block out the rumble of traffic. At 9:30 a.m. today this usual crowd was replaced by city employees: police, two Homeless Outreach Team workers, and a Department of Public Works crew.
Around the corner, on Erie Street, sat Lillyonna, polishing off a melting popsicle. Around her, broken glass sparkled in the direct sun. A handful of people pushed overflowing carts over bumps in the rough cement. One person dressed down to just their underwear sat in a wheelchair and shaved their legs. Lillyonna's popsicle, miraculously, never dripped onto her white tanktop.
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