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City Response To Botched LAPD Fireworks Detonation Has Now Surpassed $10 Million
A crowd gathers at the site of the June 30 firework explosion in South L.A.
(
Austin Cross
/
KPCC
)
Topline:
Since November, Los Angeles has spent an additional $1 million toward expenses related to the botched LAPD fireworks detonation in 2021. The blast injured 17 people in South Los Angeles, with at least 10 families still displaced.
Why it matters: So far, the city has spent around $10.5 million, but three years later, costs still mount. Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia shared with LAist that in the last four months alone, the city has spent around $370,000 on temporary housing and relocation costs, as well as roughly $570,000 on additional liability claims.
The controller’s office notes that the figures do not include costs incurred by the Los Angeles Police Department, which has not released its own numbers.
Update on the families: Ron Gochez with Unión del Barrio, an organization that has been helping the displaced residents, said that some families, mostly homeowners, have received cash offers toward the repair of their homes from the city and are in the process of receiving that money.
Renters who were displaced were asked to find new rentals. However, as rents have increased since the explosion, displaced renters are having difficulty finding units under $2,000.
Background: In 2021, the detonation in the 700 block of East 27th Street initially displaced around 80 people and destroyed homes in a predominantly Latinx neighborhood. Police arrived at the home after receiving a tip that Arturo Ceja III was storing fireworks in the backyard of his home.
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The bomb squad decided that it was unsafe to transport the fireworks and decided to detonate them in a total containment vessel, or TCV. Instead, the vessel exploded. Ceja has since been sentenced to prison.
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