Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Eastside

In an effort to show how transportation, open space, planning and other issues are intertwined with the health, culture, livability and strength of a community, Streetsblog and The California Endowment teamed to bring Streetsblog’s coverage to a hyper-local level in Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles. Sahra Sulaiman is Communities Editor for Streetsblog Los Angeles and oversees work in South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. Her work and that of our former Boyle Heights-specific writer Kris Fortin can be found here. Contact Sahra at sahra[at]streetsblog.org or on twitter: @sahrasulaiman.

Jermaine Welch mourns the loss of rapper, artist, entrepreneur, and visionary Nipsey Hussle in this image from 2019. While out making deliveries just after midnight on June 3, Welch passed through an intersection on Broadway, just south of Manchester, and was shot six times, possibly by the LAPD. He has been under investigation ever since. Image courtesy Jermaine Welch.

Bystander Shot Six Times During Officer-Involved Shooting Left Homeless, Struggling to Recover while LAPD Treats Him as Suspect

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jul 14, 2020 | No Comments

“Wow, I wake up from my death and it was like I was in jail...I’m treated like a criminal," says Jermaine Welch. "[Yet] I'm the victim in this situation."

Gilbert Johnson, Lead Justice Organizer at Community Coalition (CoCo), speaks to the significance of this moment of rebellion while opening the nearly three-hour-long online discussion on the city budget priorities. CoCo had hosted the forum in collaboration with Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles and members of the People's Budget L.A. coalition this past Saturday.

Black and Brown Residents Speak to Urgency of Deep Systemic Transformation, Offer Insights Regarding Reinvestment

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jul 2, 2020 | No Comments

"We’re done paying for an institution that produces racism, violence, and poverty," said Carlos Cázares. "We are done talking. It’s time to put money where the people are at."

Officer Frank Hernández rains blows down on Richard Castillo while his partner stands by with her taser ready in Boyle Heights on April 27. Image captured from LAPD body cam footage.

How Beating of Unhoused Boyle Heights Man Exposes Woeful Inadequacy of LAPD Reform Proposals

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 23, 2020 | No Comments

Making the case for why, if L.A. is serious about reimagining public safety, it must embrace the conversation around defunding the police

Street vendors rallied to call for the cancellation of rents and for access to assistance one day after the Department of Public Health asked Angelenos to report vendors that did not appear to have permits or be practicing proper social distancing. The rally, it should be noted, was planned for May Day - not in response to the DPH briefing. But the continued stigmatization of vendors underscores how urgent it is that they be heard.

As Public Health Prepares for Vending Crackdown, Street Vendors Call for the Cancellation of Rents

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 1, 2020 | No Comments

Street vendors decry having been left to fend for themselves during a disaster, seek cash assistance, the cancellation of rents, and an end to criminalization

A low-res screengrab from a video posted to the Foos Gone Wild twitter account shows the moment a mugger jumps on the back of an elotera and puts her in a chokehold at 92nd and Figueroa.

Vending in the Time of Corona: an Elotera Who Can’t Afford to Stay Home is Attacked

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 31, 2020 | No Comments

Vendors across the city wonder how they will feed their families; a Street Vendor Emergency Fund aims to help

Last Tuesday's city council meeting was held in an empty chamber. Those hoping to make public comment were kept outside under a tent in the cold. They could see and hear the councilmembers, but the councilmembers could only hear them. [Screenshot of the live feed taken at some point during the eight hour marathon.]

As Council Heads to Chambers Today, a Plea that It Abandon the Do-No-Harm-to-Landlords Doctrine

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 27, 2020 | No Comments

While arguing to limit the grace period tenants would have to pay back any missed rent to six months during the marathon city council session last Tuesday, March 17, Second District councilmember Paul Krekorian beseeched his colleagues to consider the Hippocratic Oath – the pledge physicians make to do no harm – and not enact […]

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