Sunday, 1-2:30 pm at 1051 S Fairfax Blvd

Summary of Q and A discussion

Several asked questions about reporting encampments and other nuisances or safety issues in the neighborhood.

Thao Tran, representing Katy Yaroslavsky’s office, explained that it’s usually best to:

(1) report the issue in the city’s 311 portal. Uploading pictures of the issue is VERY useful.

(2) follow up with an email to shannan.calland@lacity.org. In your email, include the case number assigned by the 311 portal. You could also attach your pictures to your email—it really helps the team grasp the issue.

(3) If anything about the situation changes, don’t hesitate to send another email with more pictures

With this process, the issue goes into the city’s official records, and it’s also flagged for our advocates in Katy’s office, who can provide additional urgency to the appropriate departments.

For abandoned (or otherwise derelict) vehicles, Thao suggested reporting them to the abandoned vehicle line (800) 222-6366 right away. Parking enforcement will come out and document it, starting the 72-hour period which could end with towing. If parking enforcement declines to tow the vehicle because they believe it may be inhabited, then the issue of someone living in a vehicle gets documented in the system and Katy’s office can act on that.

Attendees also asked about how to resolve the nuisance caused by an after-hours club that sometimes operates at a business in the 1000 block of Fairfax.

Thao recommended a similar process, but instead of a 311 request, log the issue with the LAPD non-emergency line, 1-877-ASK-LAPD (877-275-5273). Then, email shannan.calland@lacity.org and explain that you filed a police report. Photos and videos (including from security cameras) are useful and can even be used as evidence by the police. Even videos in which little seems identifiable may be useful to the police—they might recognize an article of clothing or a dent on a car from other videos and use it to tie suspects to other complaints.

The call queue for the LAPD non-emergency line can be long, but Thao said it’s very important to get all incidents logged so that if the situation goes to a hearing, part of the evidence will be the total number of nuisance calls (and drain on public resources) reported for that location. She said that resolving this type of situation can take years, but is most often successful when neighbors are persistent and coordinate their efforts.

Questions? Let us know at CarthaySquareNA@gmail.com

Thanks to Destination Little Ethiopia for the use of their meeting space for this event!