The Brief

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

The proposed plan would cover an area stretching from 1st to 7th streets and between Mission Road, Clarence and Anderson streets where sound stages, film studios and warehouses sit alongside the public housing complex of Pico Gardens and a residential neighborhood near Dolores Mission Church. Property owners say the city has failed to adequately provide services to keep the area clean and their employees safe. Meanwhile, some community advocates and nearby residents are wary of the area’s growing concentration of entertainment venues, just across the river from the Arts District, which have drawn crowds for electronic music festivals and special events like Olivia Rodrigo’s album release pop-up.

David DaCosta, of the 18-acre Ace*Mission Studios, is among those pushing for what’s known as a Business Improvement District, or BID, in the area that proponents refer to as the Boyle Heights Industrial Flats, which runs adjacent to the Los Angeles River. 

At a meeting at Dolores Mission Church in May, DaCosta touted the effort as a rare private-public partnership that should be cherished. “There’s a natural relationship between us all, a natural path for us all to want to work together,” he said.

Not everyone is convinced. The proposal comes as Boyle Heights continues to grapple with tensions over displacement and who benefits from development. Supporters see privately funded services as a solution to neglect and public safety. Opponents say it could eventually lead to gentrification and over-policing.

To Elizabeth Blaney, with Union De Vecinos, a local branch of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, the BID would “put control of public space in the hands of those businesses who are part of the BID.” 

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

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Andrew Lopez

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What is a BID?

Business Improvement Districts are self-funded associations that collect revenue through property taxes within a geographically defined area. 

In this case, the proposed BID encompasses over 160 parcels that are owned by more than 70 property owners within the so-called “flats” area adjacent to a series of railroad tracks. The proposed tax would only apply to commercial property owners within the industrial district — not residents of nearby apartments and single-family homes.

Property taxes collected through the BID would fund landscaping services, including weed removal throughout the proposed district, as well as sanitation personnel who would sweep up trash and litter from sidewalks and gutters seven days a week.

Security services may also be provided “to ensure that petty crime and vandalism are reduced” within the district, according to the BID plan. Proponents say they will work toward “minimizing the impact of unhoused individuals” within the district by collaborating with social services. 

Funds would also support marketing efforts, website development and public relations campaigns to promote business and activities within the BID.

The Boyle Heights Industrial Flats BID would operate for five years, from January 2027 to December 2031, and is projected to generate $6.9 million over that period, with about $1.2 million in its first year. If approved, the BID would be managed by a nonprofit.

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

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Andrew Lopez

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For Boyle Heights Beat

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Residents express concerns

Residents and community members have mixed feelings about the proposal.

On one hand, Boyle Heights residents like Margarita Amador see it as a win “when someone in the community wants to invest to improve our quality of life.” 

Amador grew up in the area at a time when gang violence was at its peak. “No one would want to come into that side of town,” Amador said. Redevelopment and investments have changed the neighborhood for the better, she added. “We’re not in a position to turn away dollars,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ana Hernandez, a Pico Gardens resident, is wary of stakeholders behind the BID proposal. 

Businesses in the industrial area, she said, host late-night events, including raves, that disrupt their quality of life. Residents have complained of loud parties and music late into the night. Their dogs get scared, and they have to shut their windows, one neighbor said. 

“They don’t bring business for the community. What they want are earnings,” she said. “The ones who dominate the streets are people who are not from the community.”

Homeowners like Sylvia Sifuentes aren’t necessarily opposed to the BID. 

Instead, Sifuentes wants residents who live near the proposed district to receive clearer information about how the plan would operate and who it would affect. Sifuentes, 67, has lived near Dolores Mission since she was born and only recently found out about the proposed district.

The meeting in May was her formal introduction to the BID proposal. Initially, Sifuentes incorrectly heard homeowners like her would also be taxed. She also wondered why a tax was necessary. The city, she noted, already provides graffiti removal and trash pick-up services.

Union De Vecinos has organized a petition opposing the BID that organizers said has garnered more than 300 signatures. The petition argues the BID could contribute to rising rents and parking congestion.

Blaney, the organizer with the group, finds the BID problematic because property owners would “get to decide what goes on there” instead of the community as a whole.

“They get to decide the aesthetics of the neighborhood. They get to decide who can hang out and at what hours on the street. They can hire security on bikes and cars that patrol and enforce and harass.”

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

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Andrew Lopez

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For Boyle Heights Beat

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Proponents respond

Alfred Fraijo, Jr., whose law firm Somos Group is helping with the BID formation process, said proponents are looking at “alternative modes” of creating public safety. Fraijo, who is from Boyle Heights, acknowledged at the May meeting that communities like Boyle Heights have suffered from over-policing.

He said providing better lighting could make the area more inviting and walkable. “Having eyes on the street is a way to do it,” he said. “We want to partner with organizations that are already doing the good work [in] Boyle Heights, creating intersection safety for children crossing the street.”

Proponents like Mark Borman of Bridge & Corner, which hosts film production in the area, said the BID could address environmental concerns impacting the well-being of their tenants.

“We suffer [from] illegal dumping, often of toxic materials,” Borman said at the May meeting. “There are zero actions, zero street services that we received. Our streets are not swept. Our buildings are tagged … on a daily basis. Our cars are broken into regularly.”

Borman said property owners call the city’s 311 system to no avail. “As a property business owner, I have tenants … who tell me that they do not feel safe going to their cars after work,” he said.

For DaCosta, the BID could make all the difference in retaining employees.

“As an employer, if you employ people and they are driving early in the morning or they are working late … and if the area is not safe and secure, it’s difficult to recruit people, and it’s difficult to keep people,” DaCosta said. “Why would anyone want to come and work in an area that’s not safe?”

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

(

Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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What happens next?

The proposal’s next stop is the city’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee on Tuesday. 

Property owners in Boyle Heights’ industrial corridor, near the Sixth Street Bridge, are proposing a plan to fund private security, street cleaning and landscaping, a move that could significantly change how the area is maintained.

If approved, it would advance to the full City Council for consideration before ballots are sent to property owners within the district. After about 45 days, the city will tally those votes, and the City Council will decide whether to formally establish the district. 

Throne, the smart restroom company at dozens of Los Angeles Metro stations, reached a milestone of 1 million uses last week, the company said.

Metro has partnered with Throne to provide public restrooms since 2023, starting with high-tech toilets at three public stations.

In advance of the World Cup, Metro and Throne wanted to expand their presence in Los Angeles. The company completed those installations on June 4, days ahead of L.A.'s first World Cup match on June 12. Now, 64 locations are operating across the Metro system, according to Throne.

Before the partnership, Metro had just a few publicly accessible restrooms across its coverage area.

In a social post marking the occasion, Throne wrote, “Here’s to the next million.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., died late Saturday night following a "brief and sudden illness," according to a statement released by his office. He was 71.

His office did not immediately reply to a request for information on his cause of death.

Graham served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, when he succeeded Strom Thurmond in the Senate. He was reelected three times and recently won a primary election as he sought a fifth term.

Graham served in the U.S. military for more than three decades. After graduating from the University of South Carolina's law school, he served as an active duty Air Force lawyer for six years. Graham later served in both the South Carolina Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves and retired from the military in 2015 at the rank of colonel.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Graham "a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe," in a statement posted on X. "Lindsey fought passionately for the Palmetto State. He was a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel."

President Trump shared a remembrance on his Truth Social platform: "Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot."

His death comes at a difficult moment for the Senate Republican conference, which has struggled with a narrow majority that includes a handful of outgoing members who occasionally break ranks to oppose the president.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has missed votes during an apparently ongoing hospitalization for an undisclosed health issue, further narrowing the margins for Thune to pass legislation and confirm executive and judicial branch nominees.

Legislative legacy

During his near-quarter century in the Senate, Graham served as chair of two key committees and was instrumental in enacting Trump's policy and staffing priorities.

As chair of the Judiciary Committee during much of Trump's first term, Graham oversaw the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and of scores of federal judges.

Last year as head of the budget committee, Graham shepherded the president's landmark tax package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to passage despite unanimous Democratic opposition and thorny negotiations with his Republican colleagues.

An adaptable and sometimes controversial deal-maker, Graham was the last surviving member of an influential group of Senate defense hawks known as "the three amigos," alongside the late Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat-turned-Independent. The group was a fixture of congressional delegations to conflict zones.

Graham was among the most vocal supporters of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

"Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X. "Our hearts are with Lindsey's family and with the American people at this difficult time."

Graham also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and staked a lane as a fierce critic of Donald Trump. In a 2015 CNN interview, Graham referred to then-candidate Trump as "a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot" who doesn't represent the views of the Republican Party.

In the decade since Trump's victory, though, Graham has become one of the president's staunchest advocates. A longtime friend and ally of McCain, Graham attributed his transformation to a sense of patriotic duty.

"I am not going to give up on the idea of working with this president. The best way I can honor John McCain is help my country," he told CBS News in 2018.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (left) gestures as President Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One as they were returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Jan. 4.

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A frequent Trump golf companion, Graham hewed closely to the president in his recent Senate primary election — his campaign website touts the president's "Complete and Total Endorsement."

Graham was born in Central, S.C., in 1955 and lived with his family in a single room behind their liquor store, restaurant and pool hall, according to his campaign biography. His parents died while Graham was still in school. After their death, Graham became the primary caretaker of his younger sister, Darline, whom he eventually legally adopted.

In a statement on the social media platform X, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster described Graham as "irreplaceable," adding, "We shall not see his likes again."

McMaster, a Republican, will appoint a successor to serve the remainder of Graham's term. A replacement Republican nominee for this fall's general election race will be determined by a special election in August.

NPR's Brian Mann and Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR

A program that helps connect schools and libraries to the internet at discounted rates is under review by the Federal Communications Commission. Educators and advocates are bracing for the funding to shrink or be eliminated.

The so-called E-Rate program, created in the 1990s, has considerable bipartisan support. The agency's recent focus on the program has left educators, including David Thurston, on edge.

Thurston oversees technology for the 33 school districts nested inside San Bernardino County. The area covers more than 20,000 square miles of Southern California: "We have mountain regions, far-flung desert regions, and then our urban and suburban areas. We're a really diverse county," Thurston says.

The county already built the infrastructure to get internet access from the edge of Los Angeles all the way to the state's eastern border, but the spending doesn't end once the fiber-optic cables are installed. Internet access bills come monthly.

"There's no doing without," he says. School districts "are gonna have to pick up the costs."

For San Bernardino districts, that's tens of thousands of dollars every month.

"Those are ongoing, essentially, utility costs," he says. "That's what E-Rate pays for."

A 'healthy' program 

E-Rate has had a notable impact since its founding. It was created by Congress in 1996, when only 14% of schools and libraries could access the internet. That number is now near 100%. The FCC has overseen the program through both Democratic and Republican administrations, so when the agency announced a full review of the program in late June, some were confused.

"By its own data and its own measurement, the program is healthy," Thurston says. "The program is doing what it needs to and is important."

Others saw this coming. The Project 2025 blueprint singled out federal broadband policy as a target for cutting agency spending.

Current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr helped write that chapter of the document, compiled by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which was meant to guide the second Trump administration.

Less predictable was the chairman's reasoning for reviewing the program: kids getting too much screen time. In the now-approved notice of proposed rulemaking, the FCC calls for a review "to better protect children when using E-Rate-funded networks, including to limit screen time."

His prepared statement at the commission's June hearing focused heavily on the dangers of screen time for kids and the growing body of research around it.

Since January, states including Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia have passed some form of legislation that calls for reevaluating technology's role in teaching and testing, and more than 10 other states are considering similar restrictions. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the country, recently approved a policy to limit screen time for its students.

Some advocates for limiting screen time at school say gutting E-Rate funding isn't the way to reduce how much time kids are spending on devices.

"We believe there are ways of strengthening school policies to promote more limited and privacy-protecting use of EdTech without taking away critical E-Rate funding," said Josh Golin, executive director at Fairplay, a nonprofit focused on digital safety for kids, in a statement to NPR.

Although states and districts are searching for ways to limit screen time, few — if any — are looking to operate without the internet altogether. Many schools rely on internet-based systems to track attendance, monitor school bus routes and give tests required by their state. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 48 states now have some kind of online component with exams.

Bob Bocher, a senior fellow with the American Library Association (ALA), says that because the program is written into the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC likely cannot fully eliminate it. And last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Universal Service Fund, which collects the money that schools and libraries in turn use to lower internet costs, is constitutional.

But the FCC could change the way the E-Rate program is run to make it more complicated, so the ALA is still worried.

Bocher, who helped work on the original law back in the '90s, worries the program could become so onerous it drives schools and libraries away by design.

"It's like death by a thousand cuts," he says, "death by a thousand rules and regulations."

Keeping up with the rest of the world

While internet access has expanded significantly since 1996, internet pricing and options haven't changed the way Bocher or his contemporaries expected.

"A common assumption that a lot of people had [was] … competition will evolve," he says. "And then drive down the price."

In cities, this may be true, but for many rural and remote areas, competition for internet service providers, or ISPs, is nonexistent.

"In rural Alaska, we don't have numerous options," says Patrick Mayer, superintendent for the remote Alaska Gateway School District. "We have one provider."

His district, where some students rely on planes to get to school in the winter months, has just under 400 students. Still, the district spends more than half a million dollars per year to ensure it has internet access at its six schools. The price tag is high, but the connection is what allows them to keep up with the rest of the world.

"It means the difference between having a school in the 21st century," Mayer says, "or a school in the 20th century."

The expansion of connectivity in his district allows students to take dual-enrollment courses online with a local college and access virtual speech and occupational therapy.

"To backfill that funding," he says, "would be very, very difficult."

He imagines there would be no way around cutting down on staff and student services to find money to pay the district's entire internet bill. For now, he's focused on making some noise.

Once the FCC officially publishes notice of its planned review, the public can comment for 60 days. After that, there will be a reply comment period of 30 days, followed by a full review of all of that input by the agency. The process can take a long time, but Mayer and other advocates are already working to draw attention to the issue.

He spent a few days this month in Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators about the importance of keeping Alaska's students connected.

A park is a city’s heart and soul. At its highest calling, it’s a community’s conscience.

Such is the case with Ascot Hills Park, 93 acres of hiking paths and native habitats built 20 years ago in the Eastside neighborhood of El Sereno, thanks to a retired civil engineer and residents who wanted the land to return to nature — and to the community.

"There was nothing there," said Val Marquez, one of those residents, who's lived in El Sereno for more than 50 years. "It was just hillsides, fenced off for the most part."

Ascot Hills Park took 20 years to build.

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Ascot Hills Park.

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Today, dirt trails are molded into the hills. Some dip down to a lush canyon of native trees and shrubs fed by a small stream.

Others take you higher — way higher.

“On a foggy morning, you can go to the east ridge and you're above the clouds,” said Raymond Rios, another early resident behind the efforts. “Or you can go on a beautiful evening to the west ridge and look at what the Lord painted in the sky.”

View of downtown L.A. from Ascot Hills Park.

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Back to nature

The idea of a park came up as early as 1930 but never came to pass.

In the 1990s, Jerry Schneider was getting a master's degree in landscape architecture, a passion of his after retiring as a civil engineer. His thesis fieldwork took him to El Sereno. He and his colleague saw an ideal site in its dormant hillsides — a place to turn natural landscapes into hands-on classrooms for students from two nearby high schools.

"The area was the subject of a lot of political ideas and proposals that did not resonate with me or a lot of the community," Schneider said. Those ideas included a sports complex, proposed in 2000, that would have leveled the hills.

Jerry Schneider at Ascot Hills Park, with the amphitheater in the background.

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Jerry Schneider at Ascot Hills.

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At a community hearing attended by Antonio Villaraigosa — who went on to represent District 14 on the City Council and later became mayor — Schneider remembered, "We lined up all the students and science teachers and others and we all basically told Antonio the neighborhood wants an open space. In fact, nature — it could be the main theme of the park."

How to build a park

Ascot Hills Park.

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Money came through Proposition 40, a 2002 parks bond, and a lease was hammered out between LADWP — which has owned the site for over a century for water storage — and the Department of Recreation and Parks.

"Nothing happens by itself,” said Schneider, who lives in Mount Washington, of importance of Villaraigosa's buy-in.  "He was key because we needed political support."

The park opened in 2006 with little more than a gravel driveway and a few rocks to sit on — what old-timers call Phase 1.

Raymond Rios helped build Ascot Hills Park.

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Val Marquez helped build Ascot Hills Park. Later, he built the El Sereno Arroyo Playground, where he is at.

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"We were ready to have a ribbon-cutting and we were just waiting for the state to pay for the bill, basically," Marquez said. "And they came back and said, 'Where's the bathroom? You forgot the bathroom.'"

The full park — amphitheater, benches, picnic tables, a restored stream, new trails — didn't open until 2011, delayed three years by the Great Recession.

"Jerry [Schneider] made sure that it stayed as a natural habitat," Marquez said. "If it wasn't for him, that could've been a development. That could've been a regular park with soccer fields."

Slow, steady work

Today, the 86-year-old Schneider runs the park's monthly volunteering program and can still be found at Ascot a few times each week, pulling out weeds and checking in on the native plants and trees planted by volunteers over the last two decades. Students from Wilson High drop in to help out routinely for class credit.

Demian Willette chairs the park's volunteer advisory board. He is also conducting research on urban habitat restoration at Ascot.

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Since 2024, an experiment to grow a micro-forest of California natives has been underway over a 10,000-square-foot plot. It's thriving, despite minimal watering and upkeep, proving there's a cost-efficient way to restore habitat anywhere in this city.

"After two years, it's self-sufficient," said Demian Willette, a Loyola Marymount University biology professor who is leading the research. "You plant it, you let it go. You let nature take over."

Willette also chairs Ascot's volunteer-run Park Advisory Board, part of a new generation of stewards that include Lluvia Arras, who remembered what Schneider said when she first started to volunteer.

"He reminded me that it's slow, steady work," Arras said. "He's like, 'One day you're gonna look back and you're gonna see the progress and feel proud.'"

Lluvia Arras is among a new generation of volunteer park leaders at Ascot.

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Their advocacy didn't stop at Ascot. Marquez, an original Park Advisory Board member, went on to build the El Sereno Arroyo Playground in 2012, informed by his experience at Ascot.

Rios, the current secretary, is active at neighboring Hazard Park. In the mid-2010s he worked with residents to beat back a USC proposal to improve its Health Sciences campus that would take away parkland.

"Not only are we park advocates," Rios said. "We're community advocates."

They are one and the same thing.