Working Towards Better Communication.
We are working on additional ways to get pertinent information out to the community in real-time. SMS or Texting is our newest option. This is a new resource for us. We will only use the SMS option for urge matters.
Please click the link below to sign up. This will help to make our areas safer.
FORTY EIGHT RV FIRES. 1st Arson Investigation.
On Sunday, September 10th, we had our 48th RV fire on Compton Blvd. The impact from the fire took out power for the majority of businesses on the south side of the street.
What was different on this fire? We now have an assigned arson investigator from LA County Fire. Our firefighters determined this fire was intentionally set. The Arson Investigator was on-scene within 1 hour along with the HOST team.
The vehicle was removed from the location within 3 hours.
RESCHEDULED SAFETY MEETING NOW OCTOBER 4TH.
In 2019, we started a Gardena Business Alliance to address the issues impacting local, small businesses operating along Gardena Blvd in the community of Harbor Gateway. That initial group created partnerships with the City of Gardena, Gardena Police Department, LAPD Southeast Station, Caltrans and local business leaders. This small group met on a bi-weekly basis to discuss the issues and create solutions. Updates were provided by law enforcement and both agencies worked together.
New LA County program targeting illegal RVs aims at removing, disassembling mobile homes
EAST GARDENA, Calif. (KABC) — More than 100 business owners and residents of East Gardena and West Rancho Dominguez packed a warehouse Thursday afternoon to learn more about a Los Angeles County program designed to clear out an estimated 500 RVs that illegally line the streets there. “It’s literally two straight blocks of RV, garbage, […]
Amid homelessness crisis, stretch of LA County has become an RV wasteland
EAST GARDENA, Calif. (KABC) — The streets of East Gardena and West Rancho Dominguez weren’t designed to be an RV park.
But they’re home to hundreds of run-down RVs without any services.
This is unincorporated Los Angeles County and the homeless who live here are just trying to survive.
“It sucks. Nothing works. The restrooms. Sewers. The trash,” said Erin Echavarria, who lives in one of the RVs.
The RVs are parked on public property, with the largest concentrations on Compton Boulevard and Redondo Beach Boulevard.
Hundreds of RVs lining stretch of LA County bringing crime and filthy conditions, residents says
EAST GARDENA, Calif. (KABC) — The Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce says there are 500 RVs parked on its streets, but politicians say some of those vehicles should soon be cleared away thanks to a Los Angeles County program that clears encampments.
The RVs are located in the East Gardena-West Rancho Dominguez area in unincorporated L.A. County.
“The majority of these RVs – they don’t exist. There’s no VIN, there’s no license plate, there’s no registered owner,” said David Matthews, the president of the Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce. “It’s basically just a vessel on the street. Unfortunately, our elected (officials) are thinking this is considered housing and this is not housing.
A look inside efforts to remove RVs from LA County streets
A plan to help people living in recreational vehicles that are crowding streets and troubling neighborhoods gets a boost just weeks after it got up and running. The RV encampment pilot program is getting absorbed by Los Angeles County’s homelessness solution: Pathway Home.
The additional funding and urgency due to the emergency declaration on homelessness is helping cut through red tape, making it possible to offer those living in oversized vehicles immediate and long-term help.
Spectrum News was originally told the RV encampment pilot program would launch in June to remove 1,500 RVs across LA County over three years. The county reports nearly 50 were removed in less than three months.
500 RVs in Harbor Gateway causes headaches for officials
Driving down Compton Boulevard or even on 129th Street and Athens Way the stretch of RVs seems endless.
The Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce said they’ve tracked 500 RVs set up in a 6.5-mile area of unincorporated Los Angeles County. Getting them to move has been a logistical nightmare that started with the moratorium placed during the pandemic and only grew.
“Tow operators will not touch an RV and then you have hazardous waste,” said David Matthews, President of Harbor Gateway North Chamber of Commerce. “What do you do with that? And then if they do take it, what do you do with the people who are in the RV?”
For years now, Matthews has been working to find some answers. He said he’s been equally moved by the desire to protect local businesses and his sympathy for the unhoused. He said there were 170 RV fires in the area just last year.
What A Little Perseverance Can Accomplish…..
Our metamorphosis has been underway for more than 2 years. From community organized clean ups to collaborative homeless outreach involving the entire South Bay, we continued to find solutions. Working with the front line workers has made a huge difference in understanding how the resources work and importance of partnerships.
We have a lot of work ahead but together we can continue to reshape our business corridors and residential neighborhoods into safer, cleaner communities. We now have the world watching our efforts.
RV Encampment Pilot Program Belated Update.
Gardena/West Rancho Dominguez area. The first targeted locations were
Main Street between Rosecrans & Compton Blvd
Spring & Lennon
Athens Way between 129th & 132nd
Media from throughout Los Angeles