One day after he was shouted down at a South Los Angeles town hall meeting by members of the activist group Black Lives Matter, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday he understands people can sometimes be angry, but he remains committed to improving the area.
“People will shout, and people sometimes will be upset, and oftentimes it will come from a real place,” Garcetti told reporters as he attended a groundbreaking ceremony for Kaiser Permanente’s Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw medical office building. “I’m just going to continue doing the work that I was elected to do.”
Garcetti left the Monday night town hall meeting at Holman United Methodist Church when members of Black Lives Matter began chanting and shouting, and some then made their way to the church altar. Some of the activists swarmed the mayor as he left and surrounded his car, continuing to chant “Black lives, they matter here.”
One person briefly jumped on the trunk of Garcetti’s car. Police and security officers had to clear a path so the car could be driven away.
Members of Black Lives Matter have been critical of Garcetti over police shootings involving black suspects — most notably the Los Angeles Police Department’s fatal officer-involved shooting of Ezell Ford.
Surrounded by reporters Tuesday, Garcetti touted investments being made in South Los Angeles and other communities, including the Kaiser Permanente project at 3780 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The 100,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in spring 2017.
“As mayor that’s part of the job — sometimes people scream, sometimes people shout,” Garcetti said. “But as long as I continue to do good work to improve the quality of life for people, to make this a safer community with more jobs like we’re doing here Tuesday, then I feel a great honor to represent the city.”
The mayor also pointed to the under-construction Crenshaw/LAX light rail line and financial support of businesses affected by the construction.
“That’s the work that’s important,” he said. “I’m just going to continue doing that.”
— City News Service