After Katan Khaimov was stabbed in Poinsettia Park two months ago, the 70-year-old West Hollywood man cried for help for over an hour. Neighbors heard but ignored him, chalking up the moaning to the recent influx of prostitutes, drug addicts, and mentally ill that have descended on the area, reports the Los Angeles Times. Via the paper: "Some homeless and mentally ill people have begun drifting here from downtown L.A., which is undergoing rapid change with new, pricey lofts and new enforcement of loitering laws. Drug addicts have followed, some drawn by a nonprofit food kitchen and needle exchange program off Santa Monica Boulevard, on the other side of Poinsettia Park from Khaimov's apartment." One positive thing to come from Khaimov's unsolved murder is a resurgence of neighborhood civic pride: more than 300 people turned out for a recent public meeting to talk about crime, there's a new neighborhood watch program, and activists have started enlisting block captains to help keep tabs on criminal activity.
· Stabbing death shakes up neighborhood [LA Times]
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