The Brief

In an attempt to resolve evictions before they go to trial, the Los Angeles County Superior Court has launched new programs that seek to facilitate settlements by providing free attorneys to tenants and financial relief to landlords who are owed back rent.

Presiding Judge Sergio Tapia said these pilot programs are designed to stem the tide of evictions, which have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We're trying to show litigants across the board, whether it’s tenants or landlords, that the court is the opportunity to try to find resolution faster,” Tapia told LAist.

Both tenant and landlord attorneys agree that settlements can often be the best path for both parties.

One program launched last month in downtown L.A.’s Stanley Mosk Courthouse gives tenants the right to request a mandatory settlement conference overseen by a court-appointed settlement officer.

These tenants, who rarely come to court with legal representation, will be given a free attorney to guide them though the settlement conferences, as long as they earn less than 125% of the federal poverty level.

But lawyers who represent landlords say their clients often feel local government is increasingly putting money toward helping renters, while leaving property owners struggling.

Where does funding come from?

Facing eviction without a lawyer “puts people at such an enormous disadvantage, when landlords normally have lawyers,” said Conway Collis, president of the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, a nonprofit that is helping to fund the Mosk program’s free attorneys.

Other funding comes from Stay Housed L.A., a legal aid partnership funded by the county of L.A. and the city of L.A. through its “mansion tax.”

Landlords will be required to notify tenants about the program in the eviction paperwork they serve to tenants.

Settlement officers come from the court’s pool of temporary judges, who handle lower-level cases, such as traffic infractions. Other officers are retired judges or trained lawyers.

The settlement conferences are being held on the same day as regularly scheduled court hearings, one floor down from the Mosk courthouse’s eviction department.

How are the conferences working so far?

Elena Popp, the executive director of the Eviction Defense Network, which is providing lawyers for the program, said that on one recent day, landlords and tenants were able to reach mutually agreeable settlements in about half the conferences.

“We settled one,” Popp said. “We are very close to settling a second one. The other two are way further apart because the tenant really wants to stay on, but the landlord really wants them to go.”

Settlement deals look different in each case, Popp said. Sometimes they involve landlords letting tenants stay if they pay overdue rent. In other cases, tenants are given additional time to find new housing before they must leave. When settlements are reached, cases are sealed so that evictions won’t be visible on a tenant’s record, a black mark that makes it very difficult to find new housing.

When settlements can’t be reached, landlords and tenants go back upstairs to resume their normal proceedings, Popp said.

No matter how cases are resolved, she said, tenants can’t be expected to navigate legally complex processes on their own.

“One of the things that we stressed when we were setting this up is that you absolutely have to have a lawyer,” Popp said.

Compton program pairs settlements with money to landlords

Another pilot program launched last month at the Compton courthouse offers up to $10,000 to cover rent owed to landlords in cases that settle. Landlords will be required to inform tenants about the settlement conferences. To qualify, either the tenant or the landlord must earn no more than 120% of the area’s median income.

The settlement conferences at the Compton courthouse are overseen by Community Legal Aid of Southern California, and rent relief funding is administered by L.A. County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.

Attorney Aaron Kohanim, who represents landlords, said he advises his clients to settle whenever possible, because going to trial is “a casino — you don't know if you're going to win.”

But he also said landlords generally view taxpayer-funded attorneys for tenants as unfair.

“Only one side gets a piece of that pot,” Kohanim said. “Landlords have to pay out of pocket for their attorneys. And on top of that, they are not allowed to collect rent in the middle of the case, so they're getting beaten by two different angles, versus a tenant who is just living there rent-free and they get a free lawyer.”

Tapia said the programs are currently limited to the Mosk and Compton courthouses because of funding constraints and limited resources. But the judge said if they prove successful, they could be expanded county-wide.

“If we're able to show success, that will allow us to recruit a more robust set of settlement officers to perhaps expand,” Tapia said. “We need to see how this pilot plays out first.”

Many immigrants come to Southern California to start businesses. But with federal raids targeting them and the cost of starting an enterprise rising due to inflation, learning how to become an entrepreneur has become increasingly challenging.

Some small business owners are getting help navigating this tough economy from the government of the country where they were born. Mexico’s consulate in Los Angeles held a graduation ceremony on Tuesday for its yearly Consular Entrepreneurship Program for Mexican Women Abroad.

It took place in a lecture hall at the consulate’s MacArthur Park offices without the musical fanfare of academic ceremonies but very much with the same feeling that the graduates accepting their certificates of accomplishment marked a learning milestone that will open better economic opportunities for this target demographic.

Consul General Carlos González Gutiérrez said the program’s goal is to help “the mothers, the women who are at the center of our community and who want to develop their own businesses … in order to raise a family.”

Consul General of Mexico Carlos González Gutiérrez, left, talks about organic soaps with a small business owner who graduated from the consulate's business training program.

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This is the program’s seventh year. A total of 112 women have now participated in the program. Organizers and graduates told LAist that this year’s training felt more significant due to the tension in Latino immigrant communities in the wake of federal raids that ramped up last year, along with sharp cost-of-living increases.

Help with business plans, finances and permits

The program enlists professionals working in credit unions, small business development groups and businesses large and small to train budding entrepreneurs.

Maricela Martinez is the director of Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas.

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“It is important for me to learn about taxes, how to register the brand, how to promote and do branding,” said Maricela Martinez, who signed up for help with her musical group, Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas.

She’s run the band for 20 years, but nearly stopped after the pandemic and federal immigration enforcement led many Latinos, she said, to forgo mariachi entertainment.

Martinez was one of about nine graduates who showed off their businesses in a post-graduation reception. The tables were filled with products ranging from rosemary-infused essential oils and organic soaps to desserts and notary services.

“I signed up for this program because I had the dream of having my own business,” said Saray Pallares, who stood behind marketing material she created for her budding notary business. “I am a single mother of four.”

Saray Pallares signed up for a business training program offered at the Mexican consulate in L.A. to start her notary business, La Firma Latina.

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The items on Pallares’ table included a black polo shirt embroidered with her business’s branding. Her company’s name, La Firma Latina, can be translated as The Latina Firm, or The Latina Signature.

Pallares said she learned the most from training given by a marketing professional with a Guadalajara-based restaurant chain that has opened in Montebello. Sharing a culture and language with the trainer and the other budding entrepreneurs gave her the kind of support she felt was missing from business classes she took at community college, Pallares said.

Help mustering up courage as a woman and an immigrant

Extensive arrests of immigrants in Southern California by federal agents last year sowed fear in immigrant communities. But some of the participants in this program said that’s not holding them back.

“That's more of a motivation to keep going, to keep fighting, to keep pushing back,” Pallares said. “I was thinking of having my business name in English, and I said, ‘No, I want to help my community. I want them to be able to say I trust her because she speaks Spanish.’”

That environment has been another roadblock for these participants, who also need to balance their work at home with their entrepreneurial dreams.

Claudia Shah, a consultant at the L.A. County-based Small Business Development Center and a program trainer, said that this program has its own challenges. Twenty-nine women started the course, but only 15 reached graduation, she said, because of family and work responsibilities as well as the fears women have that keep them from finishing the course.

“[For] some of them, it’s the language. Some of them, it’s technology,” Shah said. “Fear is always there, not knowing what to expect.”

Wendy Alvarez, right, describes her graphic design business at the offices of the Mexican consulate in L.A.

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Shah said some even asked whether registering their businesses could lead to negative consequences for their immigration status.

But for those who completed the course, she said, the positive economic ripple effects will be felt in their households, their neighborhoods and the region.

The city of Irvine is one step closer to adopting an ordinance to protect grocery workers from being laid off during a store ownership change.

The City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday night (Aug. 11) to direct city staff to draft the ordinance. Councilmembers James Mai and Mike Carroll opposed the move.

The law would apply to grocery stores that are less than 15,000 square feet and employ more than 300 employees nationwide, according to memo from the council to the city manager. If a store is sold, new management would be required to keep employees for at least 90 days. Businesses that don’t follow the law could face fines.

Irvine’s proposal extends protections in place in California since 2024 for grocery store employees who work at markets larger than 15,000 square feet. For example, under Irvine's proposal workers at stores with smaller footprints like Trader Joe’s would qualify for these protections.

What officials had to say

Councilmember Melinda Liu said the city has a responsibility to protect residents.

“This is a protection of local workers and not an anti-business proposal,” Liu added. “This is not something that is going to turn any business away from the city of Irvine.”

Carroll, one of the two council members opposing the ordinance, said it seemed like local overreach.

“The way I look at it, my job is to focus on parks, police, public works, and property land use,” Carroll said. “This feels like something that needs to be taken up by the state.”

What’s next? 

City staff will draft an official ordinance for a first reading at the next Irvine City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Where: City Council Chamber, Irvine City Hall
Address: 1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine
When: 4 p.m.
How to participate: Visit the ICTV page for information on remote viewing and how to submit public comment

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Pedal boats are expected to return to MacArthur Park next year, bringing back a longtime attraction as the city looks to draw more families and activity to the park. 

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks aims to have the watercraft on the lake before fall 2027, and possibly sooner, General Manager Jimmy Kim said. A firm opening date has not been set as the department determines what infrastructure needs to be repaired or built at the park.

“We want to make sure that all of the compliance requirements are in place, because we haven’t had boating there in such a long time,” Kim said.

Unlike in the past, the department would not run the rental operation and the city is negotiating with a vendor interested in operating the service, Kim said.

The city would handle some repairs, including making sure the existing dock is usable. Absent from the park is an adequate boathouse, so a new rental stand or similar structure would need to be set up for the operation. Other upgrades to the park are also in the works, including an iron fence that would encircle the green space.

Kim said he would like the boats to reflect the surrounding community, much like Echo Park’s swan boats and Hansen Dam’s duck boats have their own unique designs.

“I would love to have some type of cultural design, like Aztec, Latin inspired pedal boats there just because of what MacArthur Park represents and the community it represents,” Kim said.

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks aims to have the pedal boats on the lake before fall 2027.

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The city does not yet have a cost estimate for the infrastructure work needed to bring the boats back, but Kim does not expect the boat operation itself to have a major financial impact on the department.

The department plans to seek community input after an agreement with the vendor is signed, including on what the boats should look like.

Officials will also work through water-quality testing and boating safety requirements before the boats can return. Kim said weekly water-quality testing will be required and that the vendor would have to have someone trained in lifesaving techniques on site during operating hours.

“If somebody falls in accidentally, then having somebody there, they’ll be able to respond to it quickly,” Kim said.

The need for a lifeguard is not completely out of the realm of needed resources at the park. Officials estimate the lake is about 14 feet deep and in December a person drowned in the water.

For Jerry Young, 53, who was sitting near the lake with his bicycle recently, the water itself gives him pause.

“In this water? Nasty,” Young said. “Boy, this water is nasty.”

Trash and debris are visible along the edge of the lake at MacArthur Park. The city plans to bring pedal boats back to the lake before fall 2027.

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Young said he has been coming to MacArthur Park since his early 20s and remembers when boats were still on the lake. He now lives on the Eastside but returns about once a week.

“The park was cleaner when it had the boats,” he said.

Asked whether bringing them back could help make the park feel that way again, Young was skeptical.

“They got a lot of work to do,” he said.

Young said he enjoys spending time at MacArthur Park because he likes being outside, but he wouldn’t bring his children there now.

“First of all, they have to get rid of the drugs,” Young said. “That’s first of all. They’re making the park look really bad.”

Boating has a long history at MacArthur Park, dating to when it was known as Westlake Park. The pedal boats have disappeared and returned several times over the decades. In 1997, 30 boats were brought back after roughly a decade away, with supporters arguing that recreation could help bring families back to a park struggling with drugs and crime. Recreation and Parks ultimately discontinued its city-run pedal boat operations in 2009 after years of financial losses, according to a 2011 department report.

The city sees the latest return of boating as one part of a broader effort to bring more people and activity to MacArthur Park.

“It’s not only boating, but it’s any type of activity,” Kim said. “We’re endeavoring to activate that park a lot more, working with our community members.”

Long Beach is taking feedback on its plans to enshrine a major symbol of the city’s contribution to hip-hop.

Anyone interested in the look and feel of the future VIP Records Park is being asked to participate in a workshop at 6 p.m. Aug. 13 at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center at 1950 Lemon Ave.

The 90-minute workshop will include a presentation and discussion on the park’s design process. There will also be an update on the refurbishment of the “World Famous VIP Records” sign, the longstanding symbol of the city’s contributions to West Coast rap, which will be displayed at the park.

Conceptual designs will likely be shown in a second workshop this fall, with final designs unveiled by next spring ahead of construction meant to be finished by that fall.

This comes as the latest installment in the storied saga surrounding VIP Records, a venerable record shop that vaulted the careers of artists like Snoop Dogg, Warren G and the late Nate Dogg. Despite its past success, VIP had to move from its original location in 2018. The sign remains in city storage.

Ahead of the 2028 Olympics, the city has chosen the VIP sign to be among its cadre of capital projects meant to showcase the best examples of its local culture and pride, approving money for the sign’s refurbishment in January and setting out a plan to honor the store’s history.

The new park, a grassy, quarter-acre lot at the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, sits across the street from the famous record store’s former location, now a 7-Eleven. A weathered fence wraps around it, with small hills running through its center.

The vacant city-owned lot that Long Beach plans to turn into a park that includes the VIP Records sign at the southwest corner of Anaheim Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Photo by John Donegan.

Ideas for the new park are up to the public but also proposals by contractors. On the project’s bidding page, city officials have budgeted $235,000 for the sign’s restoration, installation and site improvements. They must also replace fencing as needed and remove the “Long Beach Poly Tech” sign that’s already at the park.

As a designated historic landmark, officials say the sign will undergo restoration that meets federal standards, which may include “repainting, electrical repair, repair of acrylic, replacement of globes, repairs for rust and other damage, and other similar work.”

Another $500,000 is set aside for the redesign of the park and its plaza. Its redesign, once complete, will act as an extension of the store’s legacy and be used as a communal space for parties, gatherings and other events.

VIP founder Kelvin Anderson has spent years raising awareness about the importance of his shop, making several pitches to donors and officials to help create a state-of-the-art museum with room for a recording studio, printing space, restaurant and live music.

Before its time in storage, the sign accompanied the VIP Records store in Long Beach — the flagship of 14 locations across Los Angeles County. Snoop Dogg, Warren G and the late Nate Dogg recorded their first four-song demo at VIP. After he signed his first label deal, Snoop Dogg recorded part of his “Who Am I? (What’s My Name)” video on the store’s roof.

Today, a majority of VIP’s customers — nearly two-thirds, according to Anderson — are tourists traveling to Long Beach. It’s now at 1028 E PCH, a smaller storefront just a few doors down from the original spot.

As part of the approval for the sign’s repairs, the City Council in January OK’d a $170,000 licensing agreement with VIP Records to display the sign on city property for five years.