[Democrat Karen Bass...] L.A.'s newest tourist attraction? Abandoned high-rises covered in graffiti

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ls-newest-tourist-attraction-
abandoned-high-rises-covered-graffiti-rcna138907

LOS ANGELES — Few people walking around downtown could look away from the
spray-painted towers that have become an unlikely attraction in a city
known for spectacle.

Crowds surrounded the popular Kobe Bryant statue outside Crypto.com Arena
on Wednesday, and dozens of concertgoers lined up early for a rock show
inside.

But the real draw for many near the intersection of 11th and Figueroa
streets was the colorful graffiti decorating 30 floors of an abandoned
real estate project.

“I saw it on TV, and I had to come check it out,” said Ronald Velasquez of
Long Beach.

Velasquez crossed multiple freeways with his father just to snap a few
photos of the buildings. He said even his mother, who disapproves of
graffiti, agreed it was worth braving weekday traffic just to see what all
the fuss was about.

“It’s cool and bad at the same time,” Velasquez said. “It doesn’t make the
police look good — they haven’t been able to stop it.”

The unfinished towers have become a destination for graffiti artists and
BASE jumping thrill-seekers eager to become part of the cultural zeitgeist
that has unfolded on the street corner since late last month.

Residents and workers appear divided over whether to consider the taggers'
handiwork street art or an eyesore.

"Aesthetically, it looks kind of cool," said Douglas Rhee, who lives in a
luxury apartment building across the street. "I just feel bad for the
business. What happened to them?"

Crypto.com Arena employee Elizabeth Lau said she was impressed with the
coordination it took to pull off the large, organized display right under
the noses of police.

"My sister has three kids, and she can barely get them dressed in the
morning," Lau said, laughing. "I can't imagine how a bunch of people got
together to do all that."

Los Angeles officials have struggled for weeks to rein in the taggers and
vandals who marked the buildings. Despite constant police patrols, new
graffiti seems to pop up overnight. Video surfaced on social media this
week showing someone appearing to parachute off the skyscrapers.

Mayor Karen Bass has said antics like that are “extremely dangerous” and
could result in serious injury.

“I guarantee you tragedy will take place there if that place is not
boarded up quickly,” she told NBC Los Angeles.

But who will do that remains a mystery, because the city has been unable
to find anyone associated with the China-based developer that began
construction in 2015 and ran out of money three years later. Work stopped
in 2019 after the company went out of business, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Attempts by NBC Los Angeles to reach the parent company, Oceanwide
Holdings, through addresses listed on corporate filings and by phone and
email were unsuccessful.

In the last news release posted to its website, in 2020, the company
distanced itself from disgraced ex-Los Angeles City Council member José
Huizar, who was recently sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for
public corruption.

Without a company to keep the site secure after the graffiti appeared and
the crowds showed up, police have had to step in.

The job has strained police staffing and cost 3,000 hours of personnel
time, Chief Michel Moore told reporters this week. Eighteen people have
been arrested there since Feb. 1 on suspicion of various offenses,
including trespassing and felony vandalism.

The police department has had to call in officers on overtime and add more
patrols to the area, he said. Police cars were parked on every corner of
the abandoned project Wednesday afternoon as several officers on horseback
trotted on the sidewalks and nearby parking lots.

The City Council will consider a motion next week to spend $3 million to
install a fence around the buildings, clear debris and possibly hire
private security guards to take the load off the police department.

Meanwhile, the graffiti towers continue to draw visitors.

“I think it’s dope,” said Sacramento resident Latasha Cooper, who was in
Los Angeles with her fiancé to visit his family.

The couple recently returned from a road trip to the Mexican state of Baja
California, where they passed many abandoned real estate projects dotting
Highway 1.

The unfinished Oceanview Plaza reminded Cooper of those buildings, she
said.

“I think it’s almost a metaphor,” she said. “We start things and don’t
finish them, and then we get mad. People end up losing money, and then
people end up losing jobs because they’re not working.”

Her fiancé, Mike Quintana, smiled as he looked at the colorful buildings.

“It’s an L.A. thing,” he said with a shrug.

“But when you think about it, this is America,” he said, pointing to the
bustling Crypto.com Arena.

“And this is America in the future,” he said of the graffiti towers.
“You’re going to run out of money someday.”

Across the street, a tattered Oceanview Plaza banner flapped in the wind.


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We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
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President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.