If you live in the Los Angeles area there are a few local numbers you can call from any phone including pay phones that say they assist with various problems you might have with in the city.  Some of these numbers work at times and at other times it is just a waste of time and money since they are not able to provide the service or forward to you to a service that may help.  They claim you will have assistance with things like transportation, graffiti removal, child abduction, finding lost children, child visitaion, health services, finding shelter, or even emergency pickup and food.

Los Angeles 311:

You can call 311 and report graffiti in Los Angeles however after using this number almost every day to report graffitti it is obvious that it does not work consistently.  In some cases people may come out right away and remove the problem with in 14 days but in many other cases they may not come out for 6 months or more if they ever help at all.  You can all all the time, have others call and report it as well, but they will never give you a reasonable window for the removal in most cases.  They might say it will be with in a month but then it does not happen.  One great example of this is under the Balboa bridge near Balboa Blvd on the bike path in the city of Encino Los Angeles.  I personally contacted 311 over 60 times about this problem with over 500 square feet of removal needed but it only happened once in two years.  As soon as the removal was complete the graffiti was back with in a week and even got worse.  I even asked to volunteer to help remove it but never received a call back from the sanitation department, 311, or any other management service. 

Los Angeles 211:

The 211 service claims that they can help with abducted children, the transfer of children, or temporary visitation however each time you call they will give you different information and different agencies to talk to.  One example of a scam agency is Kidfind dot org.  Kidfind is a rip off because they can not actually find any children.  They just require to provide all of your private confidential information like your social security number and offer no ways that they will help find your child.  They will not even answer why they need your social security number.  If you do have a problem with child abduction call 1-800-THE-LOST since they are the only agency that has really helped me locate and help my child spend some limited time with me over the last 7 months.  211 may also forward you to a website for visitation but when you contact the agencies by phone, online, or over email you will see that they are only there to help abusive mothers alienate and buffer their children from their biological fathers.  They may say they help fathers as well but the “screeners” at the agencies will just put up road blocks for fathers, require them to call in at specific busy times, and never offer any real assistance to biological fathers.  They will help illegal Spanish speaking mothers hide their kids and keep their kids away from their biological fathers in an unhealthy way.

211 also offers services for “women and children” but if it is a “father and child” you will not receive assistance.  I have been witness to this on many occasions where an abusive mother will be having sex with a new boyfriend while doing hard street drugs in front of the kids but when the father calls for help with a pick up or a place to stay temporarily that is safe they will not offer help.  They continue to give the mother and her new abusive boyfriend EBT funds for housing, street drugs, food, and other transportation so they can continue the abuse.  They also would not help me with my child who is under 5 years old even though I have called them over 20 times.  They just send me to rip off agencies that buffer me away from the child like kidfind.org or the Van Ness Center, waste my valuable time, and then prove that they will help illegal mothers from Mexico or other parts of the world alienate their children away from their real, safe, loving, and caring biological fathers that were born in the US, lived here their entire life, or are legally US Citizens.

Los Angeles 511:

Recently I have called 511 for transportation help and it actually worked!  The people were friendly, took the information in a reasonable way, and the system did provide the answers to the questions I needed.  Odds are you can call 511 for help with bus information and other transport needs.  This seems to be the only city phone service right now that is working so I suggest you use it and use it well.  Public transportation can save you time, it is available for all ages, and it is much better than being hit by a bus while biking or hit by a car while walking (both have happened to me in the last year).  You may be hit by a car while walking to the bus and if you are a man the police most likely will not respond which is a rip off because if a female calls and even says a lie the police will be on the spot with in seconds.  Why do we have this double standard in Los Angeles?  Maybe it is part of an illegal immigrant culture that values women more than men.  Maybe it is because women are leaving Los Angeles in search of a better life in droves which is avilable in almost all other metro cities in the United States, or maybe it is just because the city management believes men can take care of themselves and women need more help and are of a lesser sex.  I have been to almost every metro city in the United States and most places believe men are equal to women and both can take care of themselves.  What do you think about this Los Angeles cultural problem?  Leave us your comments here!