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LOS ANGELES – Weeks after a string of fires damaged vacant buildings along Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles, residents say they are seeing some progress, but remain concerned about security and crime on the block.<\/p>\n
“Yesterday there was a stabbing a block over here,” said Travis McGahey, a concerned neighbor. “We see fires, they\u2019re scavenging through things.”<\/p>\n
Local perspective:<\/p>\n
For weeks, residents said they felt their concerns were being ignored as vacant buildings repeatedly caught fire and people continued entering the properties.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think they\u2019re doing anything. They don\u2019t really care,” one resident previously told FOX 11.<\/p>\n
Now, after several FOX 11 reports highlighting the conditions on the block, some changes are visible.<\/p>\n
Two of the properties have been surrounded by metal barriers, with signs declaring them a public nuisance. A police surveillance tower has also been installed in the area.<\/p>\n
But residents say the properties are not fully secured.<\/p>\n
“Look at this. Someone just came right there,” McGahey said as FOX 11 observed someone exiting one of the properties.<\/p>\n
“This is a little bit disappointing to see someone coming out of an area that\u2019s supposed to be secure,” he said.<\/p>\n
Residents say the open properties have contributed to a broader crime problem on the block.<\/p>\n
Video from Monday shows two people wielding knives during a fight in the street. One person was stabbed, according to residents.<\/p>\n
The area is also where actor Johnny Wactor was shot and killed in May 2024 after confronting someone who was stealing the catalytic converter from his car.<\/p>\n
During an online neighborhood council meeting Tuesday night, residents raised concerns about the properties and questioned whether more could be done to hold property owners accountable.<\/p>\n
“Can we do more? Can we bar property owners from any future investment from any future property in the city of Los Angeles?” one person asked during the meeting.<\/p>\n
While some residents acknowledge the visible changes, they say more needs to be done to fully secure the properties and bring the block under control.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully we can maybe see some change,” McGahey said. “It is a little disappointing, though, because as we saw, those buildings aren\u2019t fully secured.”<\/p>\n
Dig deeper:<\/p>\n
FOX 11 continued to see people entering and leaving some of the buildings. About half of the properties are boarded up.<\/p>\n
What’s next:<\/p>\n
Officials and property owners are considering adding 24-hour security to the area.<\/p>\n
Downtown LA<\/a>Homeless Crisis<\/a>Los Angeles<\/a>Wildfires<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES – Weeks after a string of fires damaged vacant buildings along Hope Street in downtown Los…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1184,6858,19262,48,52,6086,51,47,137,50,49,100,1181,19,535],"class_list":["post-430537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-dtla","tag-homeless-crisis","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-los-angeles-county","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-us","tag-weather","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}