Shooting "Near" Staples Highlights Downtown's Distinct Boundary
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
The 110 freeway separates South Park from the Pico-Union neighborhood. Visible on the left edge of the photo is construction for LA Live's Regal Cinemas.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — "An 11-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were fatally wounded Sunday evening a few blocks from Staples Center, victims of a drive-by shooting that police said may have been gang-related."
That's the opening paragraph from a sad story in today's L.A. Times about a shooting that occurred near Staples Center last night. A followup story places the incident near the Convention Center.
The stories and their geographic references are accurate, but illustrate the sharp definition of Downtown's geographic boundaries and the wall that our freeways create.
The shooting occurred at Connecticut and Valencia, west of the 110 freeway. The site is just under a half-mile from Staples Center, but few would call it Downtown.
The 110 provides a defined boundary between Downtown and the Pico-Union neighborhood immediately to its southwest. The neighborhood is served by a different LAPD division (Rampart instead of Central), a different CRA project area and features a very different demographic. While the areas around Staples Center and LA Live have seen much development and even more projects planned, none of that has crossed over to the west side of the freeway.
All of this division has been shaped by the path of the 110. The freeway creates a 150-foot-wide gash that separates what once were contiguous neighborhoods. While the development of the freeway system has created neighborhood separation throughout the city and the country, in few places are the two sides so night-and-day different as South Park and Pico-Union.
It seems inevitable that Downtown development will eventually spill west of the 110 here, much as it has to the north in City West. Given that Pico-Union is a fully built-out and occupied neighborhood, that's sure to create a much more serious debate on gentrification than occurred in the rest of Downtown. For now, though, it's remarkable that two neighborhoods can be so close, yet so different.
Brigham on October 13, 2008, at 01:25PM – #1
Yeah (rolls eyes), and it's the Pico-Union area that was reported by the LA Times as having a few residents that were adamantly against the bright search lights of LA Live and how it "disrupted" them. (NIMBYs) Ironic, since it's proven that areas that are brightly lit are SAFER as they attract more people due to perceived safety.
In Choi on October 13, 2008, at 01:42PM – #2
I live only two blocks away from where the shooting occurred. I couldn't even drive to my building because of LAPD's barricade last night.
LAPD's slow as snail response even when things like this happen is really disconcerting. I saw bunch of cops trying to find something with flash lights well after the incident.
Anyone who equates gentrification with a big corporation destroying a "unique" neighborhood never had to go through events like this. I'd rather live in Starbucks filled yuppified yet safe neighborhood.
The downtown development can't succeed until they fix how LAPD operates. The police shouldn't wait to respond until victims are bled to death.
Rich Alossi on October 13, 2008, at 02:12PM – #3
A previous version of this story stated the shooting occurred at Connecticut and Western, anything but "a few blocks west" of the Staples Center -- and definitely not Downtown.
They should know better, especially when it comes to events such as this when readers want the most solid information possible.
William on October 13, 2008, at 07:26PM – #4
I'm glad this was posted on the website..I've noticed a lot of people I talk to always give me the weird look when I tell them I live in downtown..majority of all the crazy stuff happens out of downtown and im glad to live in the areas where nothing big goes on.
teacher on October 13, 2008, at 09:16PM – #5
I am a teacher from the school where the student got shot, and to see how his murder is being compared to new downtown construction is appalling, he was only 11 years old, a little boy, have some compassion!
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on October 14, 2008, at 08:11AM – #6
What happened to the two who were shot is tragic. No one is taking anything away from that fact.
David on October 14, 2008, at 08:52AM – #7
I live a block from where the shooting took place. The area has long been plagued by violent gang activity. Groups of young thugs loiter in the streets. This criminal infestation must be eradicated by any means possible. Gentrification can't come too soon.
Former resident on October 14, 2008, at 03:18PM – #8
Until recently I lived in that area and rode a bike daily past that school, where children and their parents live and work under the threat of violence and murder at the hands of thugs.
Teacher on October 14, 2008, at 05:59PM – #9
David: Steven Munoz, 11 years old was not loitering, he was riding his skateboard, isn't that what kids should be able to do without being killed.
LA Not the Best on October 17, 2008, at 10:38AM – #10
Most of city revenue is being used to generate more city revenue. This comes in the form of parking enforcement and cops downtown ignoring crime but handing out jaywalking tickets. They say crime doesn't pay and they're right, that's why they don't respond to it. I know some people running this town are extremely wealthy as a result, and while I don't know who they are, I know for sure it's not me and it's not the kids who see gangs as their only way to get the material things they want. Makes me sick.
Trojan Ted on October 17, 2008, at 04:20PM – #11
I've lived "near" the Staples Center since 2003.
We've tried for 5 years to get LAPD to do anything. Sure, we have some polite conversations with the "Senior Lead Officer", but nothing changes.
Complaints to Bratton's office go nowhere. The man who ran on "broken windows" theory, wouldn't even send out a patrol to arrest someone for breaking our windows.
The city attorney's office is no help. We've been told to call our councilman - when we've gone to his meetings, its clear that the audience is upset that they're conducted in English. The staff in his office, and the mayor's office offer nothing but contempt when we complain of gang activity.
We hope for redevelopment, that would chase out the hiding places for all of the gangsters. But half of the zip code is plagued with government, low-income, and "non profit" entities, while the rest is deemed "historic". Groups like ACORN see to it that any discussion of improving the neighborhood does not involve displacing any of the dregs, thus taking away any incentive to invest. In five years, everything looks the same.
No on October 20, 2008, at 08:48AM – #12
"Gentrification can’t come too soon."
Gentrification is NOT the solution. Education and creating opportunities for local youth is. Rather than stripping another neighborhood of ethnic identity like Silver Lake, affordable only to a privileged, homogenized, white population, programs should be instituted where residents of the community can help themselves.
Gentrifying an area like Pico-Union only serves to create more racial tension with the message of "white money and bland corporate greed are more important than your lives and your identities...time to go, poor brown faces."
Angelino on October 23, 2008, at 05:05PM – #13
"Gentrification is NOT the solution"
I totally disagree. Gentrification is the only solution left for Pico Union. If you live here, you know it. In my opinion, a blanket statement like all the developments are done by big greedy corporations that try to push out poor minorities is such a poor argument and I find it rather offensive as a Pico Union resident myself. (brown face? Is that supposed to be condescending or politically correct?)
Anyone who wants to make a real difference in Pico Union are the people who invested in the community (it doesn't matter what race or where they are from) and they want the district to have the same service from government and LAPD as the people living in more affluent neighborhood. If it takes a big real estate development to get their attention, so be it.
PICO UNION RESIDENT on November 03, 2008, at 03:44PM – #14
Bold THE ONLY REASON WHY THE TWO VICTIMS DIED WAS BECAUSE THE POLICE DIDNT DO THEIR JOB. INSTEAD OF HELPING THE 19 YR OLD THEY WERE TOO BUSY ASKING HIM WHERE HE LIVED. HE COULD OF MADE IT IF THE AMBULANCE WOULD OF HURRIED UP. IT TOKE THEM ALMOST 1/2 HR TO GET THERE. I GROW UP IN THAT AREA. THEY DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE. N I BELIEVE SITUATIONS LIKE THIS SHOULD MAKE THE COMMUNITY N THE COMMUNITY LEADERS TO SOMETHING TO PROTECT THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THERE'S SO MANY FAMILIES THAT HAVE BEEN LIVING THERE FOR YEARS. FOR EXAMPLE THE PICO UNION HOUSING CORP. CLAIM THAT THEY R THEY FOR THE COMMUNITY ALL I HAVE SEEN THEM DO IS STEAL THE MONEY THEY GET IN ORDER TO HELP THE COMMUNITY. THE LAPD SHOULD START PATROLLING MORE N ACTUALLY CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY. WE ALL PAY TAXES. ILLEGAL, NOT ILLEGAL. WE ALL DESERVE THE SAME TREATMENT AS THOSE DO IN RICH NEIGHBORHOODS. I AM TIRED OF SEEING POLICE OFFICER HARRASS THE COMMUNITY. FOR EXAMPLE I WAS A WITNESS TO A LITTLE 11 YR OLD KID GETTING HARRASSED BY THE POLICE. THE THINGS THEY WERE TELLING HIM I GOT REALLY UPSET. TELLING HIM THAT HE HAD NO FUTURE N THEY KNEW FOR A FACT HE WAS GOING TO GROW UP N BE A LOOSER AND A GANGSTER. SINCE WHEN DOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD U LIVE IN DETERMINE WHAT YOUR FUTURE IS. I THINK THE CHIEF OF POLICE SHOULD MAKE THE POLICE OFFICERS TAKE AN ETHICAL CLASS AND GET SOME TYPE OF COUNSELING BEFORE BEING ALLOWED TO BECOME POLICE OFFICERS. SOME POLICE OFFICERS DECIDE TO BECOME COPS BECAUSE THEY HAVE ISSUES WITH THEMSELVES. SOME WERE EITHER PUNKED GROWING UP AND NOW THEY TAKE OUT THAT FRUSTRATION THEY HAVE WITH THE MINORITY NEIGHBORHOODS. DO YOUR JOB GO AFTER THOSE KILLING AND DEALING DRUNGS. STOP HARRASSING THE WRONG PEOPLE. LAPD U NEED TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!
His Cousin on November 05, 2008, at 05:41PM – #15
This was my cousin who qot shot... he didnt deserve to qet shot but ii think that God has somethinq in store for me and my family ii hope it is qood... ii miss Steven dearly and ii will always miss his...
Dont forqet ppl pay backs a bitch!!!
noone on January 18, 2009, at 10:51PM – #16
the kids parents are involved with 18th st, not him.