Varooooom! Screech! Street Take Overs in the Neighborhood

I’m one of those people who after about four hours of sleep, wake up, and stay up for about an hour before returning to bed. That was my routine on August 8 when I woke up, moved into the living space to do a little reading. From my window, I can see a good deal of Hope, some of Flower, Figueroa, Olympic, and 11th. I asked myself, why is there all this traffic at 2:30 in the morning? It’s too late. All events should be over?

Then it started: Varooooom! Screech! Again, and again, and again!

It had happened before; a street takeover was under way at 12th and Figueroa. I can’t see that intersection from my unit, but I walk by it almost dailyand the street is black with tire marks. There are so many tire marks that they all blend together. This went on for about a half hour before police finally showed up. I live two blocks away, I can’t imagine how it must be for our neighbors who live on Figueroa or Flower or our South Park guests staying at one of the hotels.

Police say that this is a favorite spot for street takeovers; a perfect location to take photos with Oceanwide Graffiti Tower (another takeover) or the Crypto.Com Arena in the background and post the photos on social media which drives onlookers to attend. At a recent meeting of the Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB), police claimed there is little they can do: “Too many of them and not enough of us,” was the explanation.

See for yourself -- Channel 4 had coverage of recent takeovers and associated looting. District attorney Nathan Hochman has promised to prosecute the perpetrators. We’ll see. I reached out to his office for comment or additional information for this story. So far, nothing. Meanwhile, another quality-of-life issue in South Park goes unaddressed.

Sweet dreams.

By Tom Shrout