Can Someone Buy The LA Times Newsroom And Editorial Staff A Thomas Guide - And A Dictionary?

Today's article on the immigration march/rally at MacArthur Park had three interesting, if contradictory, statements:

Waving American flags and signs reading "No to Deportation," about 2,000 marchers gathered about 6 p.m. for a brief rally in front of Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire Boulevard before heading to the park several blocks away.

And...

Hundreds of police officers on foot, bicycles and motorcycles patrolled the boulevard along the roughly 10 blocks leading to MacArthur Park near downtown.

And...

As the marchers entered the park near Vermont Avenue about 7:15 p.m., they joined another 2,000 people already there. A sound system on a stage blared popular songs about the struggles of illegal immigrants, leading to wild cheers and dancing.

First, in one paragraph it states the park is several blocks away from the church; then a second paragraph states it is TEN blocks from the church. Any dictionary will prove both statements cannot be true.

Second, saying the marchers entered the park near Vermont Avenue is... odd... since Vermont is closer to ten blocks away from the park - depending on how you count blocks - while it is only two blocks from the church. There is also a second major park - Lafayette Park - between Vermont and MacArthur Park

Now if the purpose was to give the approximate location of the park - the main street by the park is Alvarado. And if you wanted to give the main street where they entered 'near' the park - that would be Rampart since it is far closer to the park. But then so are Hoover and Virgil. Vermont, on the other hand, is only two blocks from where they left the church, and it is nowhere near where they entered the park.

Now these are not big deals except that they demonstrate neither the writer nor the editor has any real world working knowledge of this neighborhood and someday the Times needs to hire someone who actually knows this city to read their articles before they get printed.