Degladillo Files Criminal Charges Against Westlake Landlords
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office last week charged landlords at five apartment buildings in and near the Westlake neighborhood west of Downtown with a total of 72 criminal counts of fire, building, safety and health code violations.
The buildings are allegedly in dilapidated conditions, infested with vermin and plagued by poor plumbing and a lack of hot water, according to Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who recently filed the charges in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“The housing crisis in this city is forcing more families to work longer hours to pay the rent and make ends meet,” Delgadillo said. “Our families demand and deserve safe and healthy living conditions. No Los Angeles resident should live in squalor because unscrupulous slumlords repeatedly flout the law.”
The cases cover a total of 188 units.
Margie Yet Kue Wong and Henry Wong, Jr., each face eight counts for violations at a four-story apartment building at 1812 W. 5th Street. Mayurkumar Patel, Rajanikant Patel, and Pritty Patel face 12 counts each for violations at a four-story apartment building at 301 S. Witmer Street. Jacob Libman faces 12 counts for violations at a multi-family residence at 833 S. Fedora Street. Larry Litwin and Mindy Litwin each face eight counts for violations at 701 S. Mariposa Avenue. Henry S. Boorstin and William S. Boorstin each face 32 counts for violations at the three-story residential Regis Hotel at 230 W. 23rd Street.
None of the people charged could be reached for comment last week.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The actions by the City Attorney’s office follow two recent civil lawsuits making similar charges against landlords of two other apartment buildings in Westlake.
Carver Hotel Residents Get Relocation Money
Residents who were recently evicted from a low-rent hotel at the southern edge of Little Tokyo have received relocation payments ranging from $3,200 to $8,000, according to the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC).
City law calls for a minimum of $3,200 in relocation payments in many cases where new development plans lead to the displacement of tenants from low-rent housing. Current regulations also call for higher payments for disabled or elderly tenants, a rule that covered at least two of the former Carver tenants.
The Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) worked with fellow non-profits Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) and the Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation to help secure the payments for tenants of the Carver Hotel at 460 E. 4th Street.
All 14 of the former Carver tenants—many of whom speak only Japanese—have found new housing in and near the Little Tokyo area, according to LTSC.
LTSC representatives said all 14 residents were illegally evicted after New Central LLC, the company that owns the Carver, applied for a demolition permit for the property. New Central LLC representatives failed to provide the required relocation payments or allow sufficient time for tenants to find new living quarters, according to the LTSC.
LTSC representatives said the group is currently working with 9th District Los Angeles City Councilmember Jan Perry, who represents the area, to determine if current city policy on affordable housing will require New Central LLC to replace the units they intend to demolish, either on the same site or in some nearby location.
New Central LLC had not indicated any development plans for the parcel of land on 4th Street, as of presstime.
Bratton to Meet With Community Groups on Proposed Change to LAPD Policy Toward Illegal Immigrants
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief William Bratton will meet with representatives of a nonprofit group serving about 35,000 immigrant families from Central America later this month, a discussion intended to ease fears over a pending change in a policy known as Special Order 40, which currently forbids his officers from asking people about their immigration status.
“We are deeply concerned about this violating the civil rights of the immigrant community,” said Salvador Sanabria, associate director of El Rescate, a non-profit organization in the Westlake neighborhood west of Downtown. “We support the work of the police department, and we want our community to cooperate with police, so any attempt at changing Special Order 40 could result in a lack of trust between our community and the police department.”
Bratton recently said LAPD plans to clarify the language of Special Order 40 in order to eliminate confusion over how officers can deal with convicted felons who are deported from the U.S. and then return illegally. LAPD instituted Special Order 40 in 1979 in an effort to encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes without fear of deportation.
Bratton said the planned revision, which will be presented to the Los Angeles Police Commission and City Attorney’s office for approval, would reflect the LAPD’s commitment to combating criminals who take advantage of the historic distrust and fear of police in many immigrant communities (see related story on immigration law, page 1).
The proposed change sent waves of concern through various immigrant communities, however, and El Rescate representatives requested a meeting with Bratton soon after hearing of his plans.
Bratton has agreed to meet with representatives of El Rescaste on April 25 to discuss Special Order 40.
MTA Streamlines Student Metro Passes
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has streamlined its process for making $20-a-month passes for its Metro bus and rail system available to students in Los Angeles, completing an effort that had been in the works for some time and now addresses a complaint from a longtime critic of the regional agency.
The monthly passes are good seven days a week on all Metro buses and trains. Regular monthly passes cost $52.
Students at schools in Los Angeles will now be able to obtain the discounted passes by showing some proof of their status, with a report card or student ID among the acceptable documents. Prior rules required students to mail in applications for the pass, along with a photograph of a certain size and other paperwork.
The new program allows students to pick up cards for the program at a number of participating schools or one of several hundred stores or other locations that sell tokens and passes for the Metro bus and rail system. The same locations will also sell the discounted passes, which come in the form of color-coded stickers to affix to the card each month.
The Bus Riders Union—a non-profit organization that has long claimed that the MTA provides too little service for Latino/Americans, African/Americans and Asian/Americans while focusing plentiful resources toward European/Americans—called the move to streamline the discount passes for students another victory in their long and adversarial relationship with the agency.
But MTA spokesperson Ed Scannell said the agency’s staff had been working on the streamlining for some time. He said the MTA now believes it has a plan that makes it easier for students but also places some burden of proof on them as they seek the discounted passes. Scanell said that only a handful of schools are currently issuing the pass cards and stickers, with more expected to join the program in coming months. He said students can check with their schools to see if they are providing the pass cards and stickers before opting to get them from private vendors.
Meanwhile, the matter found its way into local politics last week, as Los Angeles Unified School Board president Jose Huizar joined representatives of the Bus Riders Union to celebrate a “major victory” on the student-discount passes.
Huizar is widely believed to be preparing to run for the Los Angeles City Council’s 14th District seat if incumbent Antonio Villaraigosa succeeds in his bid to become mayor in the May 17 election.
Feds Arrest Major DVD Counterfeiting Suspect
U.S. Marshals in Florida last week captured a Los Angeles man who became notorious for videotaping movies during Hollywood premieres for the purposes of making counterfeit videos and DVDs.
The federal officers nabbed Johnny Ray Gasca in a motel room at about 12 noon on April 5 in Kissimmee, Florida. They also seized electronic equipment used to copy DVDs, along with stacks of what appeared to be copied videos.
Gasca had been a fugitive since January 7, 2003, according to federal officials, when he allegedly escaped and fled Los Angeles after being entrusted to the custody of an attorney. Gasca at the time faced charges for criminal infringement of copyrights, interstate communication of a threat, possession of false identification, and witness retaliation threats. He escaped after persuading his attorney to stop at a drug store to purchase some medicine.
Federal authorities are now holding Gasca with no bail. He has been ordered to Los Angeles for further court proceedings.
Gasca allegedly managed to get into movie premieres with a video camera and illegally tape films before their public release.
Gasca would then make DVDs and videos of the movies, selling them through small stores and street vendors such as those who peddle counterfeit merchandies in the Downtown area, according to federal officials.
Gasca made an estimated $4,500 a week selling the counterfeits, according to the original indictment.
Gasca’s capture drew cheers in Hollywood.
“We applaud the FBI and U.S. Marshals office in Orlando, Florida, for capturing…Gasca,” said Dan Glickman, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based Motion Picture Association of America, an entertainment industry trade association that has made fighting video piracy a priority.
