Civic Leaders Speak on Allocation of State Funds Paying for CHP Presence in El Sereno

Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/14/2021
10:00 am

Category(ies)

• Politics

Community leaders and civic experts will be addressing the violence and inequities being experienced in El Sereno.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought existing crises to a boiling point, and despite community efforts, the state is allocating millions of dollars every month to guard 26 vacant Caltrans-owned houses. Educators, housing experts, healthcare professionals, and locals will be speaking to how the state could be meeting the region’s needs with these funds.

Confirmed speakers

• Erika Feresten: Director, Health Care for All – Los Angeles; Delegate to the CA Democratic Party.
• Ryan Bell: Southern California Regional Coordinator, Tenants Together; Organizer, Pasadena Tenants Union.
• Daniel Turner-Lloveras, MD: Assistant Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division of General Internal Medicine.
• Bita Amani, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Urban Public Health at Charles Drew University, Co-Chair of COVID-19 Task Force on Racism & Equity at UCLA
  Reclaimer from Reclaim & Rebuild Our Community (RROC).

Caltrans is currently funding the ongoing CHP presence which has kept 50-60 officers in the area guarding 26 hours 24 hours a day and 7 days a week since November 26, 2020, when a group of housing activists, Reclaim and Rebuild Our Community (RROC), reclaimed 20 houses to shelter-in-place. Reclaimers were met with police violence, promised housing vouchers by politicians that were never provided, disparaged by local politicians, and are potentially facing criminal charges.