Fellow Echo Park Citizens- housed and unhoused alike:

A few years back, The City of Los Angeles used $45 Million in tax payer dollars to renovate the Echo Park Lake, making it a place of peace and prosperity for families and citizens to enjoy it's beautiful environment 

However, as of late, activists and the current Los Angeles leadership, have sought to let unhoused peoples use all of the lake facilities and land for housing- Instead of using the $1.2 billion in Prop HHH funds we the voters approved to construct housing for the unhoused (None of which has been built) Source: https://laist.com/2019/10/08/prop_hhh_homeless_housing_audit.php

The Covid-19 epidemic has also complicated the matter significantly. So where is the housing that O'Farrell and Garcetti promised? Where are the solutions? It seems our current political leaders couldn't care less about solving this crisis.

Los Angeles is Short on Parks, Ranking 74th Out of 100 Cities (Source: https://www.kcet.org/shows/neighborhood-data-for-social-change/los-angeles-is-short-on-parks-ranking-74th-out-of-100

And yet, during this epidemic, the ONLY park we have access to as tax paying citizens is the Echo Park Lake, which is virtually unusable now.

Housed citizens around the lake have reported the following incidents occurring:  

-Nearly daily incidents of unhoused people stalking, harassing, spitting, and using hate slurs against the housed citizens who actually paid to live here and want to use the park they also paid for

-Ongoing animal cruelty against the geese and ducks of our beautiful park committed by mentally unstable unhoused individuals 

-Rampant drug use and drug sales 

-Prostitutions of unhoused women by the men of the lake 

-Overdose deaths and deaths of mysterious causes 

As of writing this petition, three unhoused people have died at the lake JUST THIS YEAR!

Scott Murphy (30 - cause of death unknown) 

Brianna Moore (18 - Died of overdose)

Andrew Kettle (51 - Cause of death unknown)

The city of Los Angeles and the local CD-13 politicians have abandoned the lake we paid $45 Million for. They're fine with these deaths occurring, and they're fine with the entirety of Echo Park becoming Skid Row. 

The local neighborhood council have so far failed to do anything to help those at the lake, OR reassure tax payers that our voices are being heard. 

WE - THE CITIZENS OF ECHO PARK - WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE OUR LAKE BEING DESTROYED! 

WHERE IS THE HOUSING WE VOTED ON?

Sign this petition to tell Eric Garcetti, Mitch O' Farrell, the EPNC, and our local councilmen: We want to save our lake and our fellow unhoused citizens. Restore the lake and build housing - NOW. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please watch my short documentary on the lake to see first hand testimonials backup up the claims in this petition: Echo Park Lake - Los Angeles in Chaos