Immaculate Heart
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@losfelizledger #coronavirusLos Feliz Ledger Read by 100,000+ Residents and Business Owners in Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Vol 15. No. 12 June 2020 Atwater Village, Echo Park & Hollywood Hills Summer Camp Garcetti: “Shame on Us,” If We Let People Return Still on for Some, Others to the Streets Post COVID-19 Opt to Close By Allison B. Cohen By Sorina Szakacs, LOS FELIZ—The COVID-19 Ledger Contributing Writer epidemic has afforded the city of Los Angeles an opportunity to house some of its 36,000 homeless residents, either in empty hotel rooms or in trail- ers, through a program offi- cials are calling “Project Room Key.” Forty such trailers, pro- cured in March by Gov. Gavin Newsom, are now housing as- ymptomatic homeless people in the parking lot at Friend- ship Auditorium, in an effort to keep them free from coro- Silverlake Beach Camp is still hap- navirus. pening this summer, but it won’t look The temporary solution like this. Photo courtesy Kari Druyen. has been welcomed by some as the right thing to do and With a COVID-19 vac- scorned by others who say cine at least a year and a half the temporary trailers were away, if scientists are able to Forty trailers moved into the Friendship Auditorium and Griffith Park Adult Community Center parking lot the first week of May to shelter COVID-19 asymptomatic homeless persons to help them avoid contracting and spreading the disease. the last-straw, becoming the make one at all, and several Locals are mixed about Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti’s choice of the Los Feliz parking lot as a homeless shelter is opening third homeless housing proj- recent incidents of youth Mul- soon across the street and another is planned a short distance away on Riverside Drive at Hyperion Avenue. Garcetti and ect along a half-mile stretch of see SUMMER CAMP page 12 homeless officials are promising to find the 40 or so individuals living temporary in the trailers permanent homes or shelter when the pandemic has passed. Photo: Allison B. Cohen Riverside Drive. “It really does sound like they are making an effort to create another skid row in a re- Schools Seek to Boost Seniors’ Re-Opened Griffith Park ally nice neighborhood,” said Graduation Spirits Trails Worry Gets More Land one poster on Nextdoor. No one is sure when the By Erin Hickey Pinheiro Beachwood city will be able to re-open such Residents Ledger Contributing Writer high-risk places for coronavi- By Sorina Szakacs GRIFFITH PARK—Friends of rus spread as senior centers and large event halls, both of which Ledger Contributing Writer Griffith Park and the Moun- tains Recreation and Conser- are located at the site. But one Things seemed to be vation Authority closed escrow thing is certain: the relocation calming down in Beachwood in May on just over an acre of of those living in the trailers Canyon—once a quiet neigh- land near the Bronson Caves, must occur before either the se- borhood nestled beneath the also known as the “Batcave,” nior center or Friendship Audi- Hollywood Sign in Griffith expanding public space in the torium can reopen. Immaculate Heart President Maureen Diekmann (left) and IHHS Principal Park, until the advent of GPS- popular hiking area just in “Shame on all of us collec- Naemah Morris greeted members of the class of 2020 on May 12th for a tively from the federal level all campus drive-on “Senior Sundae Party,” the seniors’ first visit to campus enabled phones brought a time for summer. since March 16th. crush of tourists to the area— The land, which was fea- the way down to the local [level] if we let people just return to By Erin Hickey Pinheiro, Ledger Contributing Writer thanks to hiking trail closures tured in the 1960s Batman tele- in March and April due to the vision series, will serve as a de- the streets when this is done,” With the coronavirus crisis ing unprecedented times. coronavirus pandemic. facto extension of Griffith Park, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric putting the kibosh on in-per- Franklin Avenue girls’ According to local resi- according to Friends of Griffith Garcetti during an April 29th son graduation ceremonies, lo- school Immaculate Heart has dents, the closures brought a Park President Gerry Hans. COVID-19 press briefing. cal school officials have found held their graduation ceremo- temporary reprieve, restoring According to Hans, the Finding permanent solu- creative ways to honor their ny at the Hollywood Bowl the area to its pre-smartphone land was on the non-profit’s ra- tions for the city’s stubborn upperclassmen and provide a since 1957, according to the calm—but that peace was dar for a long time, but when homeless problem has been small amount of normalcy dur- see GRADUATION page 12 see BEACHWOOD page 15 see BRONSON page 4 see TRAILERS page 14 CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: COMMUNITY NEWS: REAL ESTATE: EASTSIDE EYE: EDITORIAL: Coronavirus and Stories you may have missed, Local postman gets viral recogni- Prices, demand both up despite L.A.’s art institutions the crazies on Nextdoor, page 2 tion, page 6 pandemic, page 7 have gone virtual, losfelizledger.com losfelizledger.com Los Feliz Ledger In Case You Missed It: Coronavirus Updates We’ve been posting daily coronavirus updates online since March. Here are a few recent highlights: • Los Angeles may find itself in a worse financial situation than envisioned in the mayor’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, city officials said on May 22nd. • Saying current restrictions unfairly hurt small businesses, while allowing big-box stores such as Target, Costco and Walmart to welcome customers inside, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn asked California Gov. Gavin New- som to allow all retailers in the state open their doors to cus- tomers with limited capacity, mandatory face coverings and social distancing. • Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city would reassess previously denied applications for the city’s $11 mil- lion small business micro program, following a Los Feliz Led- ger story indicating only 3% of such loans had been approved as of May 13th. • Even though traffic collisions in the city have gone down almost 40% during the coronavirus pandemic, automobile- related fatalities have gone up during the pandemic, which LAPD officials say is due to increased speeding. • While the coronavirus pandemic has dominated headlines, November’s City Council District 4 election still looms. In- cumbent David Ryu has introduced a barrage of new legisla- tion aimed at helping renters, seniors and other vulnerable Angelenos, and challenger Nithya Raman recently released a policy proposal for rent forgiveness. • The Hollywood Bowl cancelled its 2020 summer season. • Local Angeles City Councilmembers reallocated some of their funding to areas of higher need during the coronavirus crisis. Council District 4 Councilmember David Ryu real- located $1.2 million in developer fees typically used to fund art festivals and other events to instead provide cash grants to Newly released documents show he knew all information, “I don’t recall anything being briefed struggling artists, while Council District 13 Councilmember along that there was no proof of Russia-Trump up to me.” Former Deputy AG Sally Yates concurred Mitch O’Farrell moved $1 million of his discretionary funds collusion. several weeks later: “We were at the fact-gathering stage here, not the conclusion stage.” to assist small businesses. Americans expect that politicians will lie, but • While some local restaurants have begun planning to reopen sometimes the examples are so brazen that they The same goes for the FBI agents who started the for dine-in service at a reduced capacity as coronavirus re- deserve special notice. Newly released Congressional collusion probe in 2016. Most remarkable, former testimony shows that Adam Schi spread falsehoods FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe admitted strictions start to loosen, others say they are firmly against shamelessly about Russia and Donald Trump for the bureau’s reason for opening the case was it, citing financial and safety concerns. Among those with three years even as his own committee gathered nonsense. Asked in December 2017 why the FBI reopening plans, outdoor space seems to be key. Both Rock- contrary evidence. obtained a secret surveillance warrant on former Trump aide Carter Page, rather than on George well and Alcove said they planned to offer patio dine-in once The House Intelligence Committee last week Papadopoulos (whose casual conversation with a it was allowed, while Palermo and Masa of Echo Park said released 57 transcripts of interviews it conducted foreign diplomat was the catalyst for the probe), in its investigation into Russia’s meddling in the they wouldn’t reopen until they could do so at full capacity. Mr. McCabe responded: “Papadopoulos’ comment 2016 election. The committee probe started in didn’t particularly indicate that he was the person January 2017 under then-Chair Devin Nunes and that had had—that was interacting with the Read more at losfelizledger.com, and check back daily for up- concluded in March 2018 with a report nding no Russians.” No one else was either. dates, charts and data. evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with the Kremlin. Most of the transcripts were On it went, a parade of former Obama ocials ready for release long ago, but Mr. Schi oddly who declared under oath they’d seen no evidence refused to release them after he became chairman of collusion or conspiracy—Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, in 2019. He only released them last week when Samantha Power. Interviews with Trump campaign the White House threatened to do it rst.