Recycling center at Adams and La Salle in 2005

By Leslie Evans

[Below is an account of an ultimate victory in a near-six-year fight by community activists against a nuisance business that became a hub for street crime and blight. It is also a commentary on the almost dysfunctional enforcement of Los Angeles city code. The case was about community attempts to close a recycling center at the corner of Adams Blvd. and La Salle Avenue in South Los Angeles. This is a few blocks south of the 10 Freeway, between Normandie and Western Avenues. The battle ended when the owners, as part of a plea agreement that is to be concluded on Tuesday, April 12, voluntarily closed the business on April 6, 2011, and withdrew an appeal in another court of a lawsuit against the city. The owners of the recycling center are expected to plead no contest to the city's criminal charges against them at the April 12 hearing, in order to bring to an end a six-year battle waged between their attorneys and community, city zoning authorities, Building and Safety, and finally the criminal division of the city attorney's office.

[The text below is taken verbatim from the monthly reports of the Public Safety Committee of the Empowerment Congress North Area Neighborhood Development Council, the Los Angeles volunteer neighborhood council for the area where the recycling center is located, and of which I am chair. These reports were circulated as they were issued to City Council members, Building and Safety inspectors, city attorneys, police, and community activists and groups. This establishment first came to our attention in the fall of 2004 when there were some 30 robberies of pedestrians at knifepoint on Adams Blvd. near this business, and the perpetrators were found to be crack addicts living in an alley across Adams to the south from the recycling center who made the main part of their living by rooting in people's recycling bins and selling what they found to the Adams-La Salle recycling center.

This establishment first came to our attention in the fall of 2004 when there were some 30 robberies of pedestrians at knifepoint on Adams Blvd. near this business, and the perpetrators were found to be crack addicts living in an alley across Adams to the south from the recycling center who made the main part of their living by rooting in people's recycling bins and selling what they found to the Adams-La Salle recycling center.

[I should add that most recycling centers in low-income residential sections of Los Angeles are blight generators. New ones are not currently permitted, but exsiting ones are grandfathered. The Adams-La Salle recycling center was one of the very worst, but it became vulnerable to city action to close it specifically because the owners demolished their existing building in order to construct a small market on the property, just after a new ordinance had been passed prohibiting recycling activity within 100 feet of a residence. This left them without a valid permit and operating directly under the windows of an apartment house in violation of current law.]

* * *

June 2005

1883 W Adams Blvd at LaSalle, recycling center. This corner has become a major crime and nuisance problem for the neighborhood, with strong complaints from residents, the local block club, and several small business owners. The problem is the combination of the recycling center with a network of alleys in the block across Adams to the south (bounded by LaSalle, Harvard, Adams, and 27th Street). The alleys are frequently used as a homeless encampment, with homeless drawn there by the recycling center where they cash in cans and bottles. Criminals among the homeless carried out more than 30 robberies at knifepoint near that intersection in the summer and fall of 2004. More recently there have been at least six arrests of Rolling 20s gang members at the mouth of the alley across from the recyling center for narcotic sales. Local stores say their customers are being frightened away by the transients and gang members. The Senior Lead Officer for this area regards this intersection as one of the most serious crime problems in his patrol area.

July 2005:

The owners have taken out permits to build a small market on the property. In new photos of July 31, the small building and recycling bins fronting Adams Blvd have been demolished or removed and land cleared for the market. A smaller recycling center has been relocated to the rear (north end) of the property (see lower photo). The property is very small and it is not clear how it can safely accommodate both a recycling center and market and meet city codes, and whether the market will require parking.

August 2005:

We have questioned Bernard Anderson, South Region Code Enforcement officer for the Department of Building and Safety, if the conditional use permit for the recycling will remain valid after the main business of the location changes. Additionally it does not appear from the drawing that the required 6 parking places will in practice be accessible if the current level of recycling customers with shopping carts congregate in the small parking area and that therefore the two businesses are incompatible in the same restricted space. We are waiting for a ruling from Building and Safety on this.

September 2005:

Bernard Anderson, South Region Code Enforcement officer for the Department of Building and Safety, inspected the property at the end of September. His preliminary opinion is that recycling at the rear of the property violates code that requires such use be at least 100 feet from residential property.

New market that invalidated the old permits

In an October 11 email Building and Safety Principal Inspector B.A. Anderson reports the owners intend to lease the market to a separate tenant while continuing the recycling business in a reduced portion of the north end of the property. Anderson comments: " The relocation would violate the existing non-conforming use and be in violation of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC."

January 2006

On November 2 the recycling center owners were given a notice of intent to revoke their conditional use permit on the ground that the building for which it was issued had been demolished and because the current recycling business has been moved to the north of the property, too close to homes on La Salle. Building and Safety followed up on January 13 with a revocation order of the permit to move the recycling center to the rear of the property.

March 2006

The owners filed an appeal of the revocation of the recycling business permit on February 23. . . . We are waiting for a hearing date before a Zoning Administrator on the appeal, and expect numerous community members to testify at the hearing.

July 2006

The owners filed an appeal of the revocation of the recycling business permit on February 23, which was heard on J uly 6 at City Hall, case number DIR-2006-1383-BSA, before Zoning Administrator Linn Wyatt. Three representatives of the ECNANDC testified as well as LAPD, a Noel Palais for Councilmember Bernard Parks . The Public Safety Committee also submitted two letters, one on the public nuisance aspect and one on the inadequacy of the small lot to sustain both a market and a recycling business. ZA Wyatt said she would deliver a decision in about a month.

August 2006

In a major victory for the community Associate Zoning Administrator Wyatt on August 30 denied the appeal by the recycling business owners. However, they have two possible levels of appeal.

September 2006

The appeal hearing by the owners of the nuisance recycling center at 1883 W. Adams Blvd. at La Salle will be heard before the full Planning Commission on Tuesday, October 17. . . . We have received a report that the owner claims to have powerful friends who will ensure they will win the appeal. It is important that community members turn out to testify at this hearing.

October 2006

The appeal hearing was held onTuesday, October 17, at the Constituent Service Center, 8475 S Vermont. ECNANDC board member Rachel Capata and Public Safety chair Leslie Evans testified. The board voted unanimously to deny the appeal, making clear that the owners are free to complete and open the minimarket. We are leaving the case in our list until the recycling part of the business actually ceases operations .

December 2006

Deputy City Attorney Jan De Andrade has contacted Building and Safety and been informed that the closure order is final and that there are no further appeals.

February 2007

Building and Safety issued orders to stop using this property as a recycling center with a deadline of February 16. Thus far the owners have continued to operate without permits.

April 2007

The owners have appealed this latest order to the Building and Safety Board of Commissioners. We have written to the commissioners urging that they uphold the LADBS order.

May 2007

The notorious recycling center at LaSalle and Adams Blvd - 1883 W. Adams Blvd. - appealed Building and Safety's February 2007 orders to close to the Building and Safety Board of Commissioners. The hearing was held June 5. In a very long session where nine community members attended, three community members, including a representative of the ECNANDC Public Safety Committee testified, as well as several Building and Safety staff. Three representatives attended from Councilmember Bernard Parks (CD8) staff and his legal deputy, David Roberts, testified very effectively. The owners were represented by attorney Nick Pacheco, a former L.A. City Councilman.

The Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 to uphold Building and Safety . . . and to sustain the closure orders. This is a major victory for the community. It is not over yet, as Pacheco announced that the owners will sue or take some other court action now that they have exhausted all possible appeals through the city structure.

September 2007

[More on the June 5, 2007, Building and Safety Board of Commissioners hearing.] Building and Safety justified the revocation also on the grounds that the owners had submitted a false site plan which specified a required six parking places for the new market, landscaping setbacks, and recycling limited to a small corner. Instead the recycling business has effectively taken over the whole parking lot, and, as our photo shows, lock up the lot entirely when they are closed, leaving the market, which is open longer hours, without even the pretense of having its required parking.

December 2007

Criminal charges were filed against the owners at a Superior Court hearing on 11/28/07 in Hollywood on the grounds of not providing the required market parking.

Market parking lot in 2008, controlled by recycling operation.

August 2008

The criminal case got a continuance to September 12. Reportedly there is also an IRS investigation of this business.

December 2008

The owners filed a civil action to reverse the Board's ruling. This was heard by Judge James Chalfant November 7. Chalfant in a decision issued later in principle upheld the closure order, but contingent on the Board providing specific numbers on the owners' investment as a test of their claim to have made a large enough investment to establish vested rights to the business. . . . A concurrent criminal case was won against the owners. Sentencing is scheduled for December 4.

January 2009

On January 12 the two owners were sentenced to 24 months probation, a $500 fine each, ordered to pay $3232 in city investigative costs, and ordered to comply with any civil judgment. They are also required to provide all six parking places as a condition of their parole.

January 2010

For reasons we have been unable to determine Judge Chalfant's decision was not filed until November 17, 2009, a year after the hearing. The owners had 60 days to appeal and filed an appeal on January 15, 2010.

July 2010

On July 23, 2010, the City Attorney's office filed criminal charges against the owners on 8 counts. The main points were: LAMC SEC. 12.21A1(a)   "No building or structure shall be erected, reconstructed, structurally altered, enlarged, moved, or maintained ... [without] applying for and securing all permits and licenses required by all laws and ordinances." SEC 12.26E     E.  " No building erected or structurally altered shall be occupied or used until a certificate of occupancy shall have been issued by the Superintendent of Building." SEC 12.21A18(c)(3) "No portion of the recycling operation may be closer than 100' to any A or R zone." SEC 91.103.3.  " No person shall fail to comply with any valid order issued pursuant to any provision or requirement of this Code"

August 2010

On July 26 neighbors at nearby 23rd and Congress detained a man breaking into a car. He was arrested and is believed to have been responsible for some 15 smash and grab car burglaries. It was determined by the police that he had been living in the Harvard-Hobart alley. . . . This is entirely related to the nearby recycling center at 1883 W. Adams where the transients make their living.

November 2010

A hearing was scheduled for [the criminal prosecution] case on Wednesday, October 13, at the Hollywood Courthouse, 5925 Hollywood Blvd. It resulted in a postponement to Wednesday, December 1

December 2010

The defendants asked for a postponement until their lawsuit appeal is resolved. This was denied and the case is to go forward at a hearing at 8:30 am, January 21, 2011, at the Hollywood Courthouse.

January 2011

Defendants'

attorney Nick Pacheco did not appear. Case was postponed to January 31. Pacheco again asked that the case be deferred until their appeal on their civil suit is resolved. Judge Hilleri Merritt is to rule on this. If she does not agree, the case will resume at the Hollywood Courthouse on March 30.

Market parking lot today after recycling bins were removed.

March 2011

[There were some errors in this section of the March 2011 Problem Property report which are corrected in the text below. Corrected text is enclosed with brackets.]

On March 30 defendants attorney Nick Pacheco agreed to settle on the terms that the business would close by April 7, 2011 with the bins removed by that date. [Under the proposed agreement the owners are scheduled to enter their pleas on current city charges at a hearing in the Hollywood courthouse on Tuesday, April 12. Though until then there remains the possibility they they could change their minds, they did remove all bins and recycling materials from the location by the end of the day on April 5, and also withdrew their appeal on a civil lawsuit they had been waging against the city to claim a vested right to operate the business. Under the proposed agreement,] the recycling center would remain closed for 365 days, which would void any claim to an operating permit of any kind. The owners would face jail time if they did not carry out this agreement. The bins were removed on April 5 and the clean lot was in use for parking for the market for the first time on April 6, 2011.


We are deeply indebted for this victory to the tireless work of Deputy City Attorney Jan De Andrade, who served as Neighborhood Prosecutor for Southwest Division LAPD from January 2004 through August 2010. She successfully prosecuted the owners of the recycling center on charges that led to fines but did not close the business. Then, shortly before transferring to the civil division of the City Attorney's office she was instrumental in persuading the criminal division to file the charges that led to the outlaw business's closing for good.

[I should add an appreciation to the Senior Lead Officers of the Southwest Division of LAPD who served over the years to protect the community from the Rollin' 20s Bloods street gang and from the petty criminals who camped in the alleys south of Adams Blvd. and made part of their living from the recycling center at La Salle and Adams. In particular we are indebted to SLOs Sergio Sanchez, Ryan Whiteman, Brian Hun, and Tracy Hauter.]