An unsightly property in the middle of a Westmont neighborhood is concerning neighbors about trespassers, illegal drug use in the area and prostitution activity.<\/p>\n
Residents say the home, which is near the intersection of West Century Boulevard and Western Avenue, has been a problem for the last four years. What was once an 1,800-square-foot house is now a nuisance that\u2019s attracted trespassers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat house will knock you to your knees,\u201d said Pastor Carnell Powell, who lives in the area. \u201cIt has been like that. Been empty since 2022 when the previous owner passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrice Weldon, who lives in the community, echoed those sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last four (years) have been a nightmare from hell,\u201d she said. \u201cThe police, the 311, came and tore down the curtains and everything, and they go back up. So, there’s people living in there, children living in there. They’ve been squatting in there forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weldon added that she\u2019s seen young women and an infant coming and going from the abandoned house. She said the trespassers travel in Bentley and Mercedes vehicles.<\/p>\n
Since 2022, the neighbors say they\u2019ve reported the issue to City Council President Marquecee Harris-Dawson, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the LA Department of Building and Safety. However, the problem with trespassers persists.<\/p>\n
Powell, who has lived in the neighborhood for 51 for years, said the building inspector confirmed to him there was an order to demolish the property. However, that permit was issued two years ago.<\/p>\n
The mayor and council president sent a joint statement saying they\u2019ve called on police to come out and address any potential criminal activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecuring the legal authority against negligent private property owners to address nuisance properties has been a challenge in L.A.,\u201d the statement read. \u201cFor decades, and we are looking into additional ways to change City policy and strengthen enforcement tools so public departments have the authority to intervene earlier and move faster to keep our neighborhoods safe. The Board of Building & Safety Commissioners declared this site a nuisance, and LADBS has submitted work orders to clean the site. The City will look into all legal options available to hold the property owner accountable and to cite them for all costs incurred during the clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn her proposed budget, Mayor Bass allocated $2 million to address vacant city lots, but it was removed. The Mayor will be calling on the City Council to restore this funding so all properties can be secured and made safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a call to the property\u2019s owner, the owner told NBCLA that he is \u201ctied up\u201d in court proceedings before he hung up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An unsightly property in the middle of a Westmont neighborhood is concerning neighbors about trespassers, illegal drug use…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1038185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,7618],"class_list":["post-1038184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-south-los-angeles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117199629555233840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}