On Sunday, January 15, 2012, the Los Angeles Community Action Network, scholar-activists such as Gaye Theresa Johnson, Christina Heatherton, and Jordan T. Camp, artists including Chuck D and Public Enemy, and many others made history with the book release of FREEDOM NOW! and the Operation Skid Row Festival. View videos and photos below.
FREEDOM NOW! BOOK RELEASE AND AWARDS
FIGHT THE POWER – PUBLIC ENEMY AND LA CAN MEMBERS LIVE FROM SKID ROW
VIDEO PREVIEW: FREEDOM NOW! THE BOOK
More info here: http://freedomnowbooks.wordpress.com/
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Attorneys at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Steptoe & Johnson, LLP yesterday announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the owners of a downtown hotel on behalf of displaced tenants and the Los Angeles Community Action Network.
The attorneys claim the owners of the Huntington Hotel—Rodney Goldberg and Richard Stromberg—evicted a majority of the existing low-income tenants after they bought the building in September 2010. The long-troubled building at 752 S. Main St. has been the subject of similar litigation under prior ownership.
These tenants, the majority of whom were disabled, were evicted without proper service, usually not finding out about the eviction until the sheriff was at their door, or harassed into leaving with far less than the legally required relocation amount, the attorneys contend.
Named plaintiff Edward Mason, who is recovering from colon cancer, allegedly was harassed and threatened until he felt he had no choice but to leave. He was given only $3,500, even though he was legally entitled to over $18,000, he alleges.
The complaint also asserts that the Huntington in October began showing the renovated property to prospective tenants, telling them that rents went as high as $1100 even though rents cannot be increased above the level they were at while the building was in the Rent Escrow Account Program, which averaged about $500.
The lawsuit seeks to restrain the Huntington from leasing up until the legal rental amounts can be determined, and to permit displaced tenants who were wrongfully evicted back into their units.
Becky Dennison, co-director of Los Angeles Community Action Network, warned that the Huntinton’s 200 units “ will be lost to the low-income community if we don’t stop this now,” as “our members and longtime Huntington residents can’t afford the illegal rents.”
Barbara Schultz, directing attorney of LAFLA’s Housing Unit said she was “shocked that despite our recession and its impact on our poorest and most vulnerable citizens, these actions continue to be taken by landlords and owners.”
She vowed that her organization “will continue to fight to preserve affordable for poor and low-income tenants.”
LA CAN Co-Executive Director Becky Dennison quoted in yesterday’s Daily News.
“Disabled North Hollywood woman suing development agency” (Daily News)
See below for the full story.
by Dakota Smith, Daily News Staff Writer
12/12/2011
When the city’s redevelopment agency backed the NoHo 14 project in North Hollywood in 2004, officials touted it as ideal for people who rely on mass transit because it’s so close to the Metro Red Line station.
But one disabled prospective tenant says she wasn’t welcome at the building.
Mei Ling, a 57-year wheelchair-bound North Hollywood resident, is suing the Community Redevelopment Agency, saying she faced discrimination at NoHo 14 and the Lofts at NoHo Commons.
The suit alleges that she was denied the right to an affordable, wheelchair-accessible unit in the neighborhood at both CRA-backed projects.
“This is a failure to provide accessible units,” said Ling’s attorney, Michael Allen. “You might as well put a sign on the buildings: `Handicapped people shouldn’t apply.”‘
The lawsuit is the first of its kind, say legal and housing experts, because it holds the Community Redevelopment Agency responsible for monitoring the actions of the numerous developers and builders with which the agency partners.
In addition to the CRA, the lawsuit names a half-dozen developers.
The CRA declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Kennedy Wilson, a Los Angeles-area developer and one of the owners of NoHo 14, didn’t respond to a phone call. Numerous other developers named in the suit also didn’t reply to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Ling, who suffers from a degenerative spinal disease and is confined to a wheelchair, has spent the last five years applying for affordable housing in North Hollywood.Currently, she lives in a single unit in North Hollywood that lacks proper bathroom facilities, forcing her to venture out to the gym to bathe.
Ling applied for units at the Lofts at NoHo Commons and NoHo 14, both of which set aside a small number of units for affordable housing. But the lawsuit said she encountered long wait lists, a practice of intimidation, and indifference by building owners, managers and CRA staff.
In one instance, a building manager called the police on her. In another, she was told there were no affordable units available, only to discover that some did exist in the building.
While legal experts argue it may be difficult to prove CRA’s culpability in Ling’s case, housing advocates said they aren’t surprised by her lawsuit.
Becky Dennison, co-director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network represented disabled tenants in a 2007 fight against the CRA over living conditions at the Alexandria Hotel in downtown.
The settlement with the city resulted in a task force that focuses on disability issues in CRA-backed projects.
“The CRA has almost no monitoring or enforcement,” said Dennison. “They have no capacity to enforce their own contracts.”
Meanwhile, the lawsuit comes amid a federal investigation related to disabled housing. Last week, the U.S. attorney notified the City Attorney’s Office and the CRA that it had launched an inquiry to explore whether the agency had violated the rights of the disabled in the course of building projects.
The investigation was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
It is not clear if Ling’s case and the federal investigation are related. Allen said he didn’t know if Ling had been interviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This past weekend, members of the Los Angeles Human Right to Housing Collective, honoring International Human Rights Day, revamped and repurposed the Old LAPD Rampart Police station through clean ups and offering services.
We will be posting a full wrap up of the event, including photos and videos, shortly.
For now, check out this coverage:
“LA collective seeks to repurpose Rampart police station” (KPCC)
“Vecinos renuevan expuesto policial: Bustcan utilizar este espacio para uso de residentes del área” (La Opinión)
“Demonstrators want to reclaim Rampart Station” (TheEastsiderLA.com)
Click on the photo above to read the November/December 2011 Edition of the Community Connection
(or download a PDF version HERE).
From the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative website:
“National civil and human rights organizations with a long collective history of defending the right of political expression and challenging the targeting of movement leaders submitted a strongly worded appeal letter to the Los Angeles City Attorney on behalf of Mr. Steve Richardson, a community organizer with the LA Community Action Network (LA CAN) based in the Skid Row community of downtown LA.
Over the past 16 months, Mr. Richardson has been booked, processed and jailed four times on the same troubling charges arising out of one non-violent act of protest. The letter of appeal in full is attached.”
Civil and Human Rights Organizations that have signed on to the letter:
American Civil Liberties Union – Southern California
Center for Constitutional Rights
International Alliance of Inhabitants
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants
U.S. Human Rights Network
Click HERE to read the letter.
On November 3rd The Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown LA was filled with more than 2,200 “No More Drug War” warriors all intent on stopping a war that has ravaged our communities. The gathering reflected a truly diverse audience that included, law enforcement, medical professionals, formerly incarcerated people, conservatives, liberals, Hollywood celebrities, impacted residents, and the list goes on and on.
Kicking off the convention was Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, followed by LA CAN’s Pete White, NAACP’s Alice Huffman, former New Mexico Governor and Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson and Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadleman. It was clear that the morning would be like none other with all speakers, in no uncertain terms, calling for the end to the failed drug war.
Please check out the links below for press coverage of the event as well as the Op-Ed piece written by Pete White that appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News.
And, return soon to view video of the powerful rally and concert held at MacArthur Park’s Levitt Pavilion.
Lastly, stand up today to STOP the failed drug war!
“Responding to a Social Emergency: Drug Policy Reform Conference”
by John Lindsay-Poland
“International Drug Policy Reform Conference Kicks off in LA”
by Ellen Komp
Unfortunately, since the recent preliminary injunction decision that forbids the city and its agents from seizing and/or destroying the private property of homeless people living in Skid Row (blog post), misinformation and questionable journalism has continued to suggest that this injunction is the reason why trash and other health and safety concerns have escalated throughout the community.
At first it was local blogs and the likes of Estela Lopez (ED of the Central City Association) and City Councilmember Jan Perry who were perpetuating false information. Then this week a problematic article by Christina Hoag of the Associated Press was picked up by newspapers across the country. According to Hoag, since the court’s decision, “the streetscape has deteriorated. The number of people sleeping on the street has jumped at least 30% since June because they can leave mattresses and tents on the sidewalks.”
A recent piece from the LA Weekly blog even went so far to say that trash and belongings have begun to “pile up Third-World style” to the point that “trash and the belongings of homeless have festered on the row between Los Angeles and San Pedro streets, between Third and Seventh streets.”
Let this be clear: there is nothing about the injunction that prevents the city from cleaning up trash in the community. They have, however, continued to use this as an excuse for not doing their job.
In fact, community residents recently voiced their concern about trash being neglected by the city to the office of their councilmember, Jan Perry. And it appears that those meetings worked. Since last week, the clean up crew seems to have resumed cleaning the streets – something conveniently omitted from any recent media articles.
In contrast to the degrading descriptions of our community promoted by the business community, the photos above (taken November 1) support LA CAN’s position that it is completely possible for the city to both respect the property of individuals while also doing their job of cleaning the streets. They also reveal that belongings are not piling up “Third-World style.” Rather, they show that the vast majority of personal belongings on the street during the day are neatly organized, often times covered, and placed tightly against against an wall/fence and away from the street.
This month-long media blitz seems to be the business community’s attempt to influence the court appeal process – the City’s appeal to the injunction is currently pending. It is in their interest to perpetuate the myths that this injunction has created a “third-world” environment, so that the injunction will be overturned. We hope that the fearmongering of the business community won’t trump the constitution, as the courts have ruled over and over to protect homeless residents’ right to possess property – no matter where they live.
We ask why would the City supported by downtown business interests (or vice-versa) want so badly to be able to have the right to steal people’s personal property? If the City and business community supported the right to housing, invested in real solutions, and stopped wasting our police and legal resources to fight for the right to steal and destroy people’s things – there wouldn’t be a problem with property on our sidewalks, because people would store their belongings in their own homes. We will continue to fight for this reality.
“A Legal Rulings Unfortuante Impact: June Decision Turns Skid Row Sidewalks Into a Health Hazard“
Op-Ed by Estela Lopez, Executive of the Central City East Association (Los Angeles Downtown News August 26, 2011)
“Injunction and Growing Encampments Bring Health Fears on Skid Row”
by Eric Richardson, (blogdowntown.com October 26, 2011)
The recent chatter regarding the impacts of a Preliminary Injunction ordered by Honorable Philip S. Gutierrez, United States District Judge, has been one big ball of MISINFORMATION.
As background, in June Judge Gutierrez found that the City of Los Angeles was in fact violating the rights of homeless people living in Downtown Los Angeles by seizing and destroying their personal property. The violation(s) happened in a number of ways including confiscation of property directly from homeless people and seizing property that was left unattended for short periods of time. (Click HERE to read the decision).
As such, the courts PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED THE City and its agents from doing the following:
1. Seizing property in Skid Row absent an objectively reasonable belief that it is abandoned, presents an immediate threat to public health or safety, or is evidence of a crime, or contraband; and
2. Absent an immediate threat to public health or safety, destruction of said seized property without maintaining it in a secure location for a period of less than 90 days.
The City was also directed to leave a notice in a prominent place for any property taken on the belief that it is abandoned, including advising where the property is being kept and when it may be claimed by the rightful owner.
The intent of the order is very clear and is consistent with constitutional and California law. More important, however, it in no way, shape or form, instructs the City of Los Angeles to stop picking up trash—but stop collecting trash on a consistent basis is exactly what they have done. As a response to this action, the strategy on the part of the City and the Central City East Association appears to be to point fingers at “said” trash and say that it is the judge’s fault. Why? To hopefully influence the appellate court to see things their way.
In a recent conversation with Central Bureau Deputy Chief Jose Perez , he unabashedly confirmed the obvious: that LAPD and other city agencies were in fact not picking up trash because the decision prevented them from doing so, which, of course, is a straight out non-truth. Now, you have City Councilmember Jan Perry parroting new nonsense about health risks that have been created as a result of the decision and some bogus business about a process needing to be created that instructs people to move their PERSONAL PROPERTY so that the sidewalks can be cleaned.
For the record:
Lastly, the current situations regarding personal property and trash in Central City East represents an immature bureaucracy hell-bent on denying the rights of downtown’s poorest residents for the sake of a few. Most passersby will quickly realize that most residents in downtown have a stringent routine (some of the routine is based on ordinances that forbid standing, sleeping, or sitting on public sidewalks during the hours of 6:00am – 9:00pm) whereby personal property is neatly stored and areas cleaned up first thing in the morning.
So, we must ask, what are Lopez, Perry, and similar groups really after? Clearly they are more concerned about winning their appeal of the decision and getting “permission” to steal and destroy people’s personal property than they are about ensuring a clean and safe community for ALL residents.
