Friends,
Over the last 3 days, Mitch O' Farrell, along with Urban Alchemy, rehoused all the unhoused residents of Echo Park Lake and transferred them into housing at the LA Grand Hotel in Downtown LA. They will be allowed to stay in this hotel for 6 months, and then will be transferred to permanent housing.
The park has now been fenced off to allow for the beginning of repairs to restore the damage caused to the park (It will cost roughly $600,000)
Supporters of the unhoused and the LAPD faced off against each other. Unfortunately, the LAPD's extreme approach led to some protestors being injured, and journalists arrested. I do not condone the use of the LAPD for the removal of activists; however I understand it may have been necessary due to the protestors overwhelming the police and potentially blocking them from this encampment clean up.
The situation at the lake should have never been allowed to degrade to this point, as pointed out by Steve Lopez of the LA Times:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-25/homeless-echo-park-confrontation-political-leadership
Here's what Mitch O' Farrell had to say about the situation:
"This morning, I announced that we have now sheltered 166 people experiencing homelessness at Echo Park. The work to provide shelter to anyone who wants or needs it at the lake continues at this very moment."
"I was also joined by Dr. Lena Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Alchemy - our amazing outreach partner that has been working relentlessly to build relationships with the unhoused at Echo Park since last December in preparation for the temporary closure of the park."
"A little bit about Urban Alchemy: Dr. Miller and her team center their work on empathy and understanding the needs of unhoused individuals. Crucially, people with lived experience being homeless make up its outreach team."
"As we advance our collective effort to put people experiencing homelessness on a pathway to stability in a humane and compassionate way, Urban Alchemy's model is one that should be considered and expanded on here in Los Angeles."
-Mitch O' Farrell
See his full statement here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoGQ3TiBwnk
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The situation at the lake had become completely unsustainable for everyone, which if you signed this petition, live near by, or watched my documentary, you obviously saw with your own eyes. Housed or unhoused, it was time for a change. By signing this petition, you successfully told our local politicians that the time for this change was now. Now we begin the process of rebuilding the lake to be a park that all residents can use.
Echo Park Lake is expected to re-open after repairs in Summer 2021.