A judge has granted a permanent injunction aimed at preventing gang activity at a two-story commercial and residential building at the corner of Broadway and 93rd Street in South Los Angeles, City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Friday.
A preliminary injunction has been in place since 2014 at the building, which includes four residential units, along with a hair salon, appliance store and three other storefronts. The new action makes those preliminary anti-gang restrictions on the building’s tenants and owners permanent.
Feuer said the building was the headquarters for several gangs and the site of two shootings, including one in which a person was killed. Drug sales were taking place at the building, and authorities have recovered numerous firearms, along with $100,000 worth of counterfeit goods and 484 credit cards that may have been used for identity theft, he said.
Since last year’s preliminary injunction, criminal activity at the property has stopped, Feuer said, and the permanent injunction against the property’s husband-and-wife owners, Louis and Clara Young, was secured to maintain its current status.
“When we turn problem properties around, we can turn neighborhoods around,” Feuer said. “Our lawsuit has put a stop to a major source of guns, drugs and counterfeit property that plagued this community. We’ll continue to fight to hold property owners like these accountable.”
The building is within three blocks from the Watts Charter Elementary School, 93rd Street Elementary School and W. Barrett Elementary School.
City attorneys initially targeted just the tenants of the building, shutting down a hip-hop clothing shop called NOW WHAT Clothing where counterfeit goods and drugs were being sold, but illegal activity continued until the property owners also were served with an injunction.
Under the injunction, the Youngs were ordered to employ a professional management company that screens commercial tenants and a manager for the residential properties. They also must keep the area well-lighted and have security cameras installed. They have already complied with an order to evict tenants with criminal records, attorneys said.
—City News Service