KTLA News: "Pico-Union community protests eviction of families" (1979)

[Silence]. [Protest Spokesperson] One person that I know of went from a $75 apartment to a four hundred and something dollars over in South San Gabriel. Dislocated out of the area. You are creating a hardship on these people and that's what we're concerned. We don't believe that Pep Boys should be able to come in there and, and, and take the property using public funds to accomplish this. If Pep Boys wants the property they should have dealt with the people as individuals. [Silence]. [Protesters chanting in Spanish] People, united, will not be defeated...People, united, will not be defeated... [Protesters chanting]. We need homes, not Pep Boys... We need homes, not Pep Boys... [Protesters chanting]. We won't move, we won't move, we won't move... [Protesters chanting in Spanish] Everyone, united, will not be defeated... [Protesters chanting]. We need homes, not Pep Boys. [Protesters chanting]. The people, united, will never be defeated...The people, united, will never be defeated... [Protest Leader shouting] What do we want? [Protesters] More housing! [Reporter] Kimberley, what is the problem? What is the dispute? [Kimberley] Twenty-six families, eleven small businesses are being evicted from the Pico-Union community so that the City can buy the land with HUD monies and sell it to Pep Boys and subsidize their expansion. We think that to remove small businesses that have served the community for years and to remove homes during a housing crisis in order to benefit big business is unconscionable and we intend to fight it. [Reporter] We've been watching you handing out these banners... beginning some of the chanting and so on... what's your role in all of this? Do you live in the neighborhood? [Kimberley] The Coalition for Economic Survival is a countywide community organization which organizes people all over around economic issues. The people from Pico-Union called one of our organizers. Amanda Perez has been working in that community to help the people organize. [Reporter] Is it possible then that this kind of a...this kind of a demonstration would never have existed without your involvement? [Kimberley] I think that the people were angry enough. They, they... I think if they didn't know that there was somebody to call it would be hard for them. It's a way of getting them united. [Reporter] Do you live in the neighborhood? [Kimberley] No, I don't. I live in the district but I don't live in the Pico-Union neighborhood. [Protesters chanting]. Funds for housing. [Protesters chanting]. People, united, will never be defeated...People, united, will never be defeated... [Crowd noise] [Reporter] What is the complaint against Councilman Cunningham? [Protest spokesperson] Well the complaint is that, that they're dislocating twenty-six families and eleven business to complement Pep Boys. Pep Boys a multi-million dollar corporation. Now the intent of HUD...the federal government is to create low and moderate income housing. Now at this time there has been over a hundred vacant lots in the Pico-Union community with no housing built on them and as property owners are concerned, the property taxes are coming up. Who makes up the lost revenue on those empty lots? So we're concerned. We don't believe the people should be moved to compliment a multi-million dollar corporation... [Reporter] Now those 26 families, where will they go? [Protest Spokesperson] That's what we don't know. Where will they go? [Reporter] With housing there's... somewhat a higher rate of crime in that area. Wouldn't cleaning that area out serve the larger community? [Protest spokesperson] No, I don't believe that. I believe the money that's been channeled into people, you know, should be used for innovating of the homes, not for the acquisition of property. What we're doing there, you're dislocating the people. Now, remember one thing- people in the Union area with over 15,000 people doesn't even have a health center in the area and here we're worried about making Pep Boys bigger. We don't even have a fire station in the area. We don't have these things. They're not exist in the Pico-Union community. [Reporter] Why? [Protest spokesperson] That's what we like to know, is why? We don't have, like I say, we don't even have health services. Any people that wants to use... to get their kids into the health center, they have to come down to Temple Street. That's how far they have to come. That is creating a hardship. Furthermore, there is stop lights that was supposed to be put in for the benefit of the people in that community have not been done, you know, and we had people run over there and, you know, run over across the street from the school and lights should have been put in using block grant money to do it with because that's in the federal guidelines. [Crowd noise].