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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

How to Kill Downtown

Joseph Mailander a guy in laelsewhereemail

Or, Gail Goldberg and Jan Perry are completely helpless, part 496.

One sentence in a Times editorial says it all:

Owners of the condos, which sell for $400,000 to $1.2 million, were stunned to learn a few weeks ago that a treatment center was moving into the ground floor of their building.

Go ahead. Trade "up." Move downtown. It can happen to you too.

Continuing from the ed:

City and county officials should give service providers more help in finding spaces that work best for everyone, but those who migrate downtown need to accept that new condos and coffee shops aren't the only tools for cleaning up the neighborhood.

Yo, downtown "migrants." Homeowners, for whom private property rights apply, get to say what goes on in their backyards, even their communities; but you don't get to say what goes down in your own building. It may have a facelift, but containment continues apace.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Mayor Sam said:

Hopefully those owners can find a clause to sue Lee. More importantly people need to know that Lee doesn't give a shit about his customers and get the word out for any future projects; to be careful if you buy from the guy. What an idiot.

February 26, 2008 7:27 PM  

Blogger bgfa said:

The homeowners WILL sue Lee. That's a no brainer.

February 27, 2008 12:22 AM  

Blogger don quixote said:

Hey JM did you check this out.


From the LA Times today about another supposedly good deed trying to help the tenants get there bldg livable (again!) but to do it the old Mariachi's will have to be displaced for three years while the bldg is renovated!

Oh yeah! Like these people haven't heard this kind of bullshit before.

Why don't the owners just fix the damn roof and plumbing, and get the Orkin Man out to kill the rats and roaches, and leave the people be.
Shit these old Mariachis have been at 1st and Boyle for decades without the city's help and it's a landmark because of them.
Now these urban planners get some govt money and want to come in and make the area a "world class destination" all fancied up and gentrified (there's that word again).
Oh yeah, no wonder the tenants are slamming the door in the faces of these new landlords.


...................................

The Boyle's residents fear a major rehab will price them out of a home. The owner says it needs a lot of work.

By Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 27, 2008
Janet Favela is making one of her regular visits to the Boyle Hotel. The 25-year-old organizer with East Los Angeles Community Corp. is carrying a stack of fliers in a brightly colored bag emblazoned with the image of Mexico City's famous Garibaldi Plaza, a popular destination for mariachis.

Favela walks through a gate shuttering the front door and proceeds up a long staircase in the four-story residential hotel, built in 1889. She proudly points out some of the changes her agency has made to the shabby Boyle Heights building: newly painted hallways, security cameras and clean bathrooms.

The nonprofit organization bought the hotel a year ago, promising to restore it from slum-like conditions while preserving it as an affordable residence. Most tenants are among the dozens of mariachi musicians who gather daily in the nearby Mariachi Plaza looking for work.

This day, Favela is handing out fliers about free tax preparation services offered by her agency. But when she knocks on doors, few tenants answer. When they do, they look at her skeptically, grab a flier and quickly shut the door.

February 27, 2008 8:49 AM  

Blogger Red Spot in CD 14 said:

East Los Angeles Community Corp.

Thats the first problem.

February 27, 2008 9:03 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...PERIOD!

No matter how much $$$ is squandered downtown, it's still going to be skid row. It's surrounded on all sides by ghettoes and Mexicans. Why on earth would ANYONE buy ANYTHING downtown????

What do the residents do on weekends...stroll the neighborhood??? It's fine for a working environment but at 5:00...all you want to do is get the hell out of dodge and back to the westside!

I would be very interest to know how many buyers are foreign! Natives are too smart!

February 27, 2008 9:17 AM  

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