Junior’s Discount Party Supply, a store owned by Sylvia Flores that has been located at 5001 York Blvd. for 20 years, is now facing eviction. Flores was unable to comment due to ongoing legal negotiations. The business remains operational at the time of this publication.
Chris Tyler is an organizer with the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU), a nonprofit dedicated to organizing tenants. LATU is assisting Flores with the eviction of her business.
“The best way to exercise power and get things done is to organize ourselves and build our power with each other,” Tyler said. “That [way] we can actually take on landlords and the predatory agencies that attempt to control our housing for the extraction of maximum profit.”
According to Tyler, the LATU is run entirely by volunteers, and their focus is on ensuring that tenants are working together and using collective organization to fight back against landlords.
“At LATU, none of us are taking salaries,” Tyler said. “We are not paid, but to me it is always worth it because I’ve seen the people’s power that can be built to fight against an illegal rent increase or to win back the money they are owed.”
Mercy Guevara is the owner of the Plus Bus boutique, which was previously located on York Boulevard.
“[Store owners] surrendered their keys, but Sylvia is trying to stay,” Guevara said. “That has been her store for many years. Do you know how much time and effort it’s going to take her to move?”
According to Guevara, she had to close down her own York Boulevard store because the rent went from $3,500 to upwards of $5,000.
“I had to close my brick-and-mortar because it became too expensive, and ultimately, it was not making sense,” Guevara said. “If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry; that’s the world we live in.”
Jeremy Kaplan is the owner of Read Books, a business formerly located at 4972 N. Eagle Rock Blvd. Kaplan said Read Books had to relocate after their rent was increased by more than 133 percent.
“The moment this happened to us, I started seeing that all these people were getting pushed out of their places too,” Kaplan said. “I knew something was going on, so I started asking questions, and when I figured out why it was going on, I knew this was just the beginning.”
According to Kaplan, he started working with Cyndi Otteson, a local activist, to organize with other businesses and political activists in the Northeast Los Angeles area, which led to the creation of the Save Northeast Los Angeles (SNELA) organization.
“We came up with the acronym ‘Save Northeast Los Angeles,’ and we started working to put together rallies so we could work together with other nonprofits that are working on this, in order to connect with the press and legislators,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said that with Otteson’s political experience, SNELA was able to create a movement that has organized many businesses and activists.
“We had a rally at the end of July in Highland Park [to support] the small businesses being evacuated,” Kaplan said. “We had about 100 people. We invited business owners, representatives from Nithya Raman’s office, Kenneth Mejia’s office and the office of Eunisses Hernandez.”
According to Guevara, running a small business feels very challenging at the moment. Guevara said she attended the rally, and found it valuable and impactful for the community.
“That meeting was really healing for me, and I would encourage anybody who wants to learn more about small businesses, or wants to open their own business, to go to the next meeting,” Guevara said.
According to Kaplan, a future goal of SNELA is to overturn rent stabilization ordinances for commercial property.
“Who wants a neighborhood with vacancies, places you can’t afford, and the businesses that you like struggling all the time?” Kaplan said. “If I had taken any of those places that are available in Eagle Rock, I’d spend the rest of my life basically working for the landlord.”
According to Tyler, organizing with other tenants who share the same struggle is a great way to build solidarity with your neighbors.
“Oftentimes, we find that organizing can help heal longstanding tensions, or just help move through them,” Tyler said. “We are alike in our struggles. That outweighs any differences that may have caused tension in the past.”
Contact Edgar Zatarain at zatarain@oxy.edu
