Koreatown tour buses headed to casinos cause uproar

KOREATOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Tour bus operators have a thriving business, taking customers to various Southland casinos. However, it comes with a cost.

Local leaders in Koreatown say they're tired of the noise, parking, littering and other problems that come with the service.

They're coming "morning, lunch, and dinner, so we want it to stop. There are 2,000 people they're carrying every single day," said Mark Lee, who is on the Pico Union Neighborhood Council.

"We have approximately 15 to 30 buses daily coming into Koreatown and picking up passengers," said Scott Suh, a neighborhood council president.

Suh said the tour buses, most of which are not run by the casinos, create a bad environment for businesses.

He adds that the tour bus companies are targeting minorities, such as the Latino, Chinese, and Filipino communities.

"It's impacting our neighborhoods and the residents are complaining because all these casino-goers come to Koreatown and start occupying parking, throwing away trash and sometimes urinate in their neighborhood," Suh said.

A letter from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation dated July 2006 is driving the issue. It states an agreement that tour buses would begin parking at Vermont Avenue and 8th Street.

But according to the neighborhood councils, in eight years, nothing has changed.

Staff for Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson, who represents the area, said they planned to meet with the transportation department and the Los Angeles Police Department to sort out the confusion and ask for more consistent enforcement.

The manager of one tour bus company says kicking the buses out of town isn't the solution. If buses are banned from Olympic Boulevard, other streets could follow.

"We can negotiate and do something, to make it better for both of us," said Wilson Ni, manager of H&C Paradise Tours.