Los Angeles City Hall North steps facing LAPD headquarters, six month after the occupation by OccupyLA.
“In New York, urban spaces were made “dead” by police action–baracades, police presence, mobile command stations–and are clearly marked as such. Here in LA, the intersection is like any other: many cars pass by; commerce continues in the form of a couple gas stations, an AutoZone, and a convenience store; and a few people walk by. Upon closer inspection, however, there is connection between the two locales, albeit an inverse one. The dead spaces in New York City are created by barriers to financial buildings. At Florence & Normandie, the barriers are created by day-to-day activities. Most passing through this intersection are doing just that, and by car, and three of the four corners of the intersection are in support of that, as a place to consume gas and car parts. This dead space has been created by the developed “normal” American urban economy that supports a lifestyle of movement through decayed areas, not to it. Supporting this land use design are the same authority structures that people rose up against in 1992, that siphon taxes from homeowners in areas such as this along racial lines to create redevelopment elsewhere, while giving back to the community with occasional repaving and, of course, business incentives to Chevron and 76.”
Interview with Jesus Lopez at his residence in South Los Angeles. Jesus describes his unhealthy living conditions and the mental/physical toll his struggle has taken as he continues to fight for an end to slum lord housing. Video edited by Jesus Lopez with USC cinema student Chris Rowe.
By Tenants In Action (TIA): a collaboration between Community Members, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), and the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML) coordinated by Chris Rowe, Adam Liszkiewicz, Maya Abood, Craig Dietrich
Documentation of the UNIDAD Protest against the USC Expansion Plan discussed at the LA City Planning Department Public Hearing, Radison Hotel, South Los Angeles, 14 March 2012
By Tenants In Action (TIA): a collaboration between Community Members, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), and the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML) coordinated by Chris Rowe, Adam Liszkiewicz, Maya Abood, Craig Dietrich
