Sprawling LA homeless encampment has tennis court, garden, BBQ pit
KOREATOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Residents in a Koreatown neighborhood are expressing frustration over a sprawling homeless encampment that includes such unexpected amenities as a makeshift tennis court, garden and barbecue pit.
The encampment is located on an otherwise empty lot on Manhattan Place, between Seventh and Eighth streets, surrounded by apartment complexes and other buildings.
"The reason why people are sleeping here is because you leaders are sleeping on not taking initiative and action to clean this place up," Koreatown resident Daniel King said in an interview with ABC7.
Max Smith, who also lives nearby, said of the privately owned lot: "Now it's a city in there. It's crazy. It's crazy."
Aerial video from AIR7 shows what local resident Sangmin Lee describes as "a whole community."
"There's a tennis court, there's a garden where they're growing stuff," said Sangmin, who reached out to 7 on Your Side about the encampment. "There's a barbecue pit."
Sangmin said he was concerned about how some people living on the lot ripped open a streetlight, stuck a surge protector inside, and were using an extension cord to run power from it across the street and into the encampment.
"Thank God it hasn't rained in a while," he said. "It's a fire hazard ... then they run the cable across the street, and it's a trip hazard for everyone."
Personal safety is also a concern. One young woman who lives in the area said she's now afraid to take her dog for a walk near the encampment, adding that some people who live on the lot have approached her when she was walking alone.
An Eyewitness News reporter and cameraman were threatened by a person when they visited the site.
Eyewitness News contacted Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.
When asked for her perspective on why residents of her district were still contending with the situation at the location, Yaroslavsky responded: "I think that the challenge comes from the fact that this is private property.
"But because it's private property, there's different path and that path is convoluted," the councilmember said in an interview. "It's over-bureaucratic. It's the city at its worst, sort of not being able to get out of its own way."
The owner of the property is a limited liability corporation registered in Delaware. The company did not respond to Eyewitness News' request for comment.
According to Yaroslavsky, the company has been cooperating with city officials and is expected to soon be putting up "No Trespassing" signs along a fence surrounding the encampment -- a development that would allow the Los Angeles Police Department to step in.
The city's Department of Building Safety says it's "issuing an order to comply to the property owner to address the security, rubbish, garbage, trash and debris graffiti."
But Yaroslavsky the department needs to start acting faster.
"We immediately called [them] and said, 'Hey, get out there. Please send an inspector out there so we can start this process,' and it took a while, but they finally have gotten someone out there," she said.
Meanwhile, the Public Works department told ABC7 crews will be placing an anti-vandal wrap around the street light in regards to the electric rigging.
Mayor Karen Bass' office said it has sent outreach teams to the encampment this week to try and move some of those people inside.
