What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Los Angeles is at a turning point. We are living in a defining moment. What happens next is up to us. Over the past few years, problems and challenges have shaken this city -- and tremendous opportunities for change have presented themselves. How do we rise to this moment and emerge a better place to live? What will it take to create a more just and a more equitable community? Working together, how are we going to create a stronger, forward-thinking Los Angeles? Mike Bonin, writer, teacher, progressive activist and former City Councilmember, looks at the issues and problems facing Los Angeles, examines ideas, and talks with the people who will lead us to a brighter future.
Produced in partnership with LA Forward.
What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
A Dirty Eviction and a Dangerous Precedent
Los Angeles is about to experience the biggest mass eviction in generations – and it might be just the beginning of a huge wave of mass evictions – unless we stop a corporate real estate giant that is trying to force hundreds of families out of their homes.
The multi-billion dollar firm Douglas Emmett is using the need to install fire sprinklers as a pretext to evict every resident of its 700 rent controlled units of the Barrington Plaza apartments in West LA -- even though sprinkler experts say the work can be done without evictions. Tenants aren't just fighting to stay in their homes. They are fighting a precedent that could be devastating to renters all over California.
Mike talks with residents and tenant advocates on this episode of What’s Next, Los Angeles, and explains why Douglas Emmett's eviction strategy is bogus, and what Los Angeles should be doing about it.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Barrington Plaza Tenants Assn: https://www.bptenants.org/
Barrington Plaza residents sue owners over alleged misuse of state law for mass evictions: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-14/barrington-plaza-residents-sue-owners-over-misuse-of-state-law-for-mass-eviction
The mass evictions at Barrington Plaza will happen again if L.A. doesn’t act to protect renters: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-05-18/mass-evictions-barrington-plaza-renters-decarbonization-protections
They face L.A.’s largest eviction in years. But these Westside renters won’t go quietly: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-26/westside-renters-barrington-plaza-mass-eviction
Fire-plagued apartment complex to remove tenants for sprinkler retrofit: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-08/fire-plagued-apartment-complex-to-remove-tenants-for-sprinkler-retrofit
In a Westside council race, a major landlord’s $400,000 donation causes a stir: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-12/westside-council-landlord-donations
Coalition for Economic Survival: https://www.cesinaction.org/