LA homeowners say their street is a 'perfect scenario for disaster' — and they demand the city take action
Drug use and multiple fires at an abandoned home in Los Angeles have created the 'perfect scenario for disaster,' residents say.
'What we've been dealing with here is so difficult, because we're always on the phone calling 911, calling our representatives, not getting a lot of answers,' a neighbor named Jeanne told CBS Los Angeles in a story published May 1. 'We are a group of neighbors whose lives have been severely affected.'
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It's a problem that's been brewing for five years, according to the local broadcaster, after one Hollywood building was turned into short-term housing. Jeanne says things got worse after a nearby property was vacated.
Here's what neighbors say has been going on, and how distressed properties can hurt home values.
The abandoned home — two doors down from the short-term housing facility — provided a convenient setting for illicit activity, says Jeanne.
'It was the perfect scenario for disaster,' she said. 'The people that were buying drugs would then have a place to go over and do them.'
Since November, the abandoned property has been on fire at least seven times, reports CBS Los Angeles. Jeanne, who is a mother and a photographer, says she's worried about embers sparking a blaze in her building.
'Our lives are in danger. Our property is in danger,' she said. 'I have 30 years of photo archives as a photographer that are now at my mom's, that I cannot bring here because I know they're at risk.'
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Jeanne blames the city for failing to intervene, calling the situation 'a complete failure' on the part of local officials.
Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez's office told CBS Los Angeles in a statement that it's working with the Department of Building and Safety to have the abandoned property declared a public nuisance. This may allow authorities to take action to protect residents, which can't come soon enough for some.
'We can't put up with it anymore,' Levi Freeman told CBS Los Angeles. 'It's not OK. I am terrified. I want these people removed from my neighborhood. I mean, what are we waiting for, for them to burn the whole place down?'
The average home in Los Angeles's Hollywood neighborhood is worth over $950,000, according to Zillow. But being within close proximity of a property in disarray can have a number of negative effects, including on a home's value.
The Center for Community Progress says that research has 'consistently shown' that abandoned and unkept properties lead to a reduction in value for surrounding properties. A report by the group cites multiple examples showing the impacts of vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties on communities.
Public health is a top concern. Individuals living in derelict homes may be exposed to more toxins such as mold, lead and asbestos. The group also claims studies show vacant and run-down properties can attract criminal activity, including violent crime.
As for homeowners' finances, the report says these types of homes in a neighborhood can both lower the value of surrounding properties and increase home insurance premiums. An increase in policy cancellations may be possible as well.person. If you see people trespassing on the property or engaging in illegal activity, call law enforcement and let them know what's going on.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
A historian of fascism is asked whether this was week was a turning point
Do you remember that day in March 2020 — five years and several eternities ago — when Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA announced they were suspending their season and profound upheaval suddenly seemed inevitable? I've felt echoes of that feeling the past few days, as downtown businesses boarded up their windows and the facts on the ground grew ever more fantastical. Are we at the edge of some irreparable rupture in American democracy? Or is this just another strange and absurd chapter in a long series of them? On Sunday, the president sent federalized National Guard troops into a city against the will of the state's governor for the first time in 60 years. On Thursday, California's senior senator was tackled to the ground by federal agents and handcuffed at a news conference. Hundreds of active duty Marines were sent into the Los Angeles area, where for days they appeared to be performing heavily armed training exercises on what looked like a high school sports field. (A looming scoreboard, palm trees and jacaranda blooms were all visible behind their riot shields, according to a social media post from the U.S. Northern Command.) The president and the governor are having a momentous fight about constitutional rights in the courts, and flaming each other with insults and photoshopped memes on Truth Social and X. The ICE raids have thrown some Angelenos into a state of fear and virtual hiding. But for many others, ordinary life continues apace. Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly cautioned that L.A. is being treated like 'a grand experiment' — a testing ground for President Trump to see if he can usurp the authority of Democratic mayors or governors in other states. Warning signs of democratic breakdown have been pointed out by scholars and Trump's critics since he took office for his first term in 2017 — so much so that many have grown numb to them. Has this week been any different? I called Federico Finchelstein, a historian of fascism and dictatorships who chairs the history department at the New School for Social Research in New York, to ask whether he saw this week as a turning point for the country. Finchelstein characterized Trump's federalizing of the California National Guard as a clear turn toward authoritarianism. He cited the move, along with attacks on the press and the judiciary and the manhandling of Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday, as assaults on democratic norms that 'create the conditions for a further erosion of democracy.' But he hesitated about categorizing recent events as a turning point. It's hard while living in the middle of history to know precisely where you stand, he explained. 'It's very difficult to know what is the exact outcome of this sort of militarization of politics,' Finchelstein said. 'What we know is that democracy is at the other end, and this path is towards either disabling, denigrating or even destroying democracy. It's hard to know where it ends.' The outcome would also depend on more than Trump's next move, according to the historian. History has shown that when anti-democratic attempts are met with institutional and public resistance, they are less likely to succeed, Finchelstein said. 'In other words, this is not the end of the story,' he told me. A selection of the very best reads from The Times' 143-year archive. Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team Julia Wick, staff writerKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Convicted terrorist who conspired to kill Americans has a new job at an NYC mosque
A convicted Al-Qaeda sympathizer who conspired to kill Americans in shopping malls and traveled to the Mideast to train with the terror group is now teaching kids at a muslim community center on Staten Island. For the past five months, Tarek Mehanna — who prosecutors say once vowed to wage armed jihad against Americans both here and abroad — has been teaching Arabic and the Quran to children as young as 4 at the Muslim Community Center of Staten Island in West Brighton. Mohamed Bahi, a former senior advisor to Mayor Adams and the Muslim Community Center of Staten Island's founder, announced Mehanna's hiring in a since-deleted Facebook post, promoting the MCC's Jan. 11 grand opening. Advertisement Adams has visited the MCC in Brooklyn in the past. 8 Tarek Mehanna, right, was released from federal prison in August. Mohammad Elshinawy/ Instagram Mehanna, 43, teaches four days a week, four hours per day. Advertisement 'I'm all for second chances — but not when it comes to convicted terrorists teaching kids. That's not rehabilitation — that's insanity,' said City Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island). The Sept. 11 attacks inspired the terror teacher and galvanized his radicalization, according to federal prosecutors. Mehanna and his unnamed co-conspirators were undeterred when denied entry into Afghanistan at the Pakistan border in 2002, and 'agreed to explore ways in which they, too, could kill Americans.' When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Mehanna discussed purchasing automatic guns with his co-conspirators to murder US citizens inside shopping malls, 'but [they] ultimately dismissed them as impractical,' according to prosecutors. Their focus then shifted towards killing American soldiers, whom Mehanna called 'infidels,' according to court records. Advertisement 8 The Post visited the Muslim Community Center of Long Island, and was told Mehanna was not a member. Leonardo Munoz 'They discussed many options,' reads the government's 2012 sentencing memoradum, which asked a judge to send Mehanna away for life. Ultimately, they decided in 2004 to 'seek training in Yemen, sought guidance on how to obtain it, received contacts, equipped and readied themselves for the journey, and made arrangements to sneak out of Massachusetts.' After days criss-crossing Yemen's hostile landscape, 'braving brigands and once facing down an AK-47,' the group failed to 'find a suitable training camp' and 'Mehanna returned to the United States disappointed but no less determined to provide support to America's enemies.' 8 Mohamed Bahi, right, a former advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, left, founded the MCC of Staten Island. Mohamed Bahe Advertisement The one-time pharmacist worked in an upscale Boston suburb. He attended an Al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan later in 2004, where he received 'paramilitary training so that he could eventually join Al-Qaeda in Iraq in fighting and killing American soldiers,' prosecutors said. Mehanna spent the last 14 years at the federal pen in Florence, CO, after being convicted in 2011 of providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit murder, and making false statements to the FBI. Mehanna lied about his Yemeni trip when questioned by federal agents, and later translated jihadist propaganda and distributed it online, along with Al-Qaeda recruitment videos, officials said. 8 Mehanna showed beheading videos to pals on 'movie nights' he regularly hosted. AP Prosecutors further stated Mehanna, whose best friend was Islamist extremist Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 'enjoyed viewing' and immersing himself in footage of the beheadings of Pennsylvania contractor Nick Berg, New Jersey contractor Paul Johnson, and Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. He showed the horrific videos during 'movie nights' he hosted, according to prosecutors, who said Mehanna idolized Iraqi terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who killed Berg. 'He prolifically distributed a video of the mutilation of American soldiers in Iraq, described how one could see the internal organs and ribs, and then said, 'Texas BBQ is the way to go,'' prosecutors said. 8 Mehanna had worked at a Boston-area pharmacy prior to his arrest. REUTERS Advertisement 'This is the role model that kids should be looking up to?' seethed former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind. 'This is a role model? Someone desperate to become a terrorist? It's a model of terrorism. 'We know what he stands for and what he's about — what is he teaching these children?' asked Hikind, the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism. While in federal custody, a treatise attributed to Mehanna was posted to a Facebook page calling for his release. In the post, he likened the entire Muslim world to the human body, and compared America to AIDS. 'Jihad is its immune system,' Mehanna wrote. Advertisement 8 On Facebook, Mehanna ridiculed a US soldier's death in one comment. Obtained by the New York Post Following his release in late August, Mehanna mocked the deaths of Israeli soldiers on Facebook, writing 'Poor baby' above videos he shared in both October and November. He also ridiculed Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, who was killed May 23, 2024, while delivering aid to Gaza on President Biden's failed floating pier. 'Another poor baby,' Mehanna wrote on Facebook. Advertisement 8 The MCC has been promoting Mehanna's involvement. MCC Staten Island/ Facebook In December, Mehanna translated a speech by Abdullah Azzam, one of Osama bin Laden's mentors, and shared the lecture — about Marwan Hadid, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria — in a now-deleted Facebook post. The MCC of Staten Island, affiliated with the Muslim Community Center in Brooklyn, has only been open since mid-January, and only just filed its not-for-profit incorporation documents with the Department of State's Division of Corporations on June 5. Advertisement The MCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'It's clear he still harbors the same anti-American hatred he held before his sentence,' blasted City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn). 'The 'education' these children are receiving is being administered on American soil and should reflect the values and interests of our nation.' 8 Mehanna, right, is seen embracing author and teacher Mohammad Elshinawy. Mohammad Elshinawy/ Instagram Vernikov wants him removed from any position where he'll have 'any opportunity to mold young minds.' Asked Vernikov: 'Do any of us really believe that someone who was convicted for colluding with Al Qaeda — a terrorist organization that's committed terrorist acts on American soil and shed American blood — is truly 'reformed' and won't continue to collude with other terrorists, and won't indoctrinate the children in his care into a radical jihadist ideology?'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
MAGA money and manpower running Trump's military parade create a sickening spectacle of shame
Today was supposed to be a day to honor our armed forces and our flag. It was intended as a day for reflection, reverence, and gratitude. June 14 is also Donald Trump's 79th birthday, so instead of reverence or anything good, for that matter, the day has been hijacked, co-opted by a cult of personality, turned into a grotesque celebration of criminality and authoritarianism. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Donald Trump's so-called military parade, allegedly to mark the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, is nothing less than a thinly veiled birthday bash for Trump, and if things couldn't get any worse, a whitewashed victory lap for the MAGA operatives, and money, that helped ignite one of the darkest days in American history, January 6, 2021. The same criminals and conspirators who organized the 'Stop the Steal' rally on January 6 are behind the scenes orchestrating Trump's dictator-like, self-serving parade, as Mother Jones reports, . The MAGA operatives are not hiding in shame. They are not lurking in the shadows. They are out in the open as planners of a celebration that will see American troops forced to march in the service of Trump's ego, with the stain of MAGA on their boots. Top figures from Trump's Stop the Steal apparatus have been woven into the White House Task Force on America 250, the organization orchestrating the parade, according to the publication. This includes Chris LaCivita, Trump's 2024 campaign co‑manager and America 250 cochair, now helping oversee planning. It also includes shadowy figures like Megan Powers, Hannah Salem Stone, and Monica Crowley, each embedded in the January 6 Stop the Steal movement. They are bringing their extremist credentials to the helm of what should be a nonpartisan celebratory task force. Even the parade's sponsors deepen the influence of Trump's political network: Tech and corporate heavyweights like Palantir (backed by Peter Thiel), Coinbase, and UFC (Trump sycophant Dana White), Coinbase (of course cryptocurrency follows Trump everywhere) have financially propped up America 250's efforts and therefore the parade. All this participation by these MAGA movers and shakers — and their money — undercuts any pretense of neutrality, aligning private interests and campaign assets with a parade planned and executed by individuals tied to an insurrection. In other words, the military gets lost in all of the Trump MAGA hoopla. Obviously, this overlap has alarmed critics who warn that the infrastructure used to equip and transport mobilized crowds for the Capitol attack is now being repurposed for what they see as a politicized, militarized spectacle in Washington. This is not normal. This is not American. And, sadly, very sadly, it has nothing to do with the military. The U.S. military has long stood as an institution above politics, a force committed to defending the Constitution, not acting as a clown show at Trump's backyard birthday party, But today, tanks will roll and troops will march not to honor the Army's service but to feed the fantasy of a man who once suggested soldiers who died in battle were 'suckers' and 'losers.' It is a disgusting perversion of everything the military stands for. Let's take a look back at how tarnished these individuals are by their association with the January 6 National Mall rally. Trump's senior aides were well aware that the Jan. 6 rally could turn violent, as ProPublica reported after the fiasco,. They knew it was 'highly combustible' yet did nothing to stop it. In fact, many cheered it on. And some of those same figures, those who summoned the gun-toting extremists, the Confederate-flag-wavers, the militia thugs and white nationalists, are now reemerging from the muck to plan a 'celebration' of American might. What do you think happens if Trump's military parade turns violent? Will these same aides shriek in horror or applaud with pride? Is it any wonder Trump is so enamored with dictator-style parades? He's long admired the authoritarian pageantry of Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, even Hitler. To him, military power is not a sacred trust. No, there's no such thing as trust in Trump's mind or vocabulary. Instead, it's a personal accessory, and a tool of dominance. And just like any good dictator (I realize that's an oxymoron), Trump is surrounded by not only military soldiers, but foot soldiers from his personal MAGA army, a hodgepodge of criminals, conspiracy freaks, and catalysts for destruction and chaos. And disgustingly, sitting on the dias with him will most likely be Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and Kash Patel. They are Trump's Himmler, Goebbels, and Göring, the mouthpieces of election lies, the peddlers of racism, xenophobia, and homophobia. The fact that the U.S. military is being dragged into this theater is an insult not only to everyoner who has ever worn the uniform but to the principles they swore to defend. This isn't a show of strength. Not even close. It's a demonstration of the betrayal of democracy. These are the people who sent mobs to the Capitol to hang Mike Pence and hunt Nancy Pelosi. These are the people who smeared feces on the walls of the Senate chamber, who beat police officers with flagpoles, who invoked the name of Jesus while desecrating the heart of our democracy. And now they'll smile and wave as U.S. Army soldiers march by them in lockstep. This isn't just offensive. It's dangerous. It will be a performance choreographed not to honor America but to distort it. And let's be real and honest, some, perhaps many of the soldiers in that parade, will not be comfortable taking part. They will march not for pride, not for politics, but for allegiance to a dictatorship. They will be exploited, used as stagecraft for a man who used five deferments to dodge service himself. Sadly, we do not celebrate our military today. That's been lost in all the controversy around Trump's pompous persona parade. Perhaps, today we mourn the way our military used to be. And, we do not wave the flag in pride today on Flag Day. Instead, that flag is being managed by people who have used it to stir hate and division. And sadly, we do not honor freedom. Today, we witness its slow suffocation under the boot of those who would trade justice for loyalty. Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.
