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The September 2021 shooting at a “crime-attracting” motel, where two schools adjoin each other, embodied the immediate mission of the campus community.
A police officer shot and injured a motel resident, and an investigation forced the KIPP Academy of Opportunities middle school to close at the last minute for the day. Staff hastily notified parents and created waiting areas for students who had already arrived on foot or by car.
Principal John Coleman III said, “I got an early morning call that there was a motel shooting involving police. ‘The school won’t open. You can’t even get near the school.'”
Some parents couldn’t take it anymore – the screaming sirens, hovering police helicopters, rampant prostitution, drug dealing around campus. The shooting incident sparked a spike in exits from his well-established KIPP organization. KIPP generally deals with waiting lists, not departures.
A junior high school with a capacity of 490 students was reduced to 369 students, and its future was threatened. Somehow, one way or another, the motel needed to be cleaned up—or it had to go.
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Many sides of Figueroa Street north of Manchester Avenue look disproportionate to the school. Your back is on Highway 110. Oframps wind around campus. Figueroa, the boulevard, experiences traffic jams all day long. There is too little parking for staff and no room for a grassy playground or exercise area. In the middle of it stood the Palms Motel.
But around the 8400 block, working-class families live, raise their children, and work for a better life. This is like an urban environment where KIPP SoCal has 19 campuses and is part of a national network of 242 schools.
A primary school, KIPP Empower Academy, opened on the premises in 2014. Just north of the motel on what used to be a tow company. The middle school moved in 2017 to the south of the motel, where the church was located. KIPP’s colorful cube-like structures towered on either side of the motel. KIPP wanted to buy motel properties, but the owners were not interested.
Trouble started immediately. In 2017, an after-school shooting injured a passerby, bullets hit the school’s main pedestrian gate, and shell casings littered the ground.
The problem has been exacerbated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ruben Cardenas, LAPD’s Senior Principal Officer. “In and out of motels, we had problems on a daily basis with prostitution, gangs and drug activity…and these kids are going to and from school.”
This scene made an impression on fourth grader Giahnii Brooks.
“I’ve seen girls half-naked and getting into people’s cars,” said 9-year-old Giahnii. Other method. ”
And there were lockdowns on police calls, sometimes two or three times a week.
In lockdown, “Teachers turn off the lights. They have to put papers on the door windows and tell them to be quiet. So no one is going to come in. And when people are here thinking about.”
Palms Motel owner Maoson Young said the school had wrongly accused the motel of rampant crime that police believed were beyond their control. He has owned his two-story, 21-unit motel for about 10 years, and he has been operating it for at least 40 years.
“Everyone wants to blame the hotel owners,” said Young, who has run hotels in Los Angeles since the 1970s. “The problem is crime within the community.”
Young said his clerk and manager called the police for any signs of trouble, but it often took hours before the police arrived. By that time, the person wielding the weapon was gone. And officers advised him that he could not harass a resident for multiple visitors — where was the evidence of prostitution?Mr. said.
After the 2021 shootings, parents and school leaders signed petitions, garnered local support from other groups, connected with political leaders, demonstrated at city hall, and alerted the media. .
KIPP SoCal Chief External Impact Officer Joanna Belcher said:
Reports were received regularly from the beginning of 2022. An argument that ended with the driver backing the car onto the pedestrian and pinning him to a pole. A man who openly used drugs and exposed himself to women got into a fight with three others. A buggy with “a large amount of white matter” left in the planter. Wine bottles tossed from shattered motel grounds next to rows of children.
The parents reported their concerns to city officials.
“I am the mother of a 6 year old who attends KIPP Empower Academy,” writes Diana Ramos. “My child started crying when I picked him up from school today because he was so scared during the lockdown that he wanted to go home but he couldn’t. It’s time the neighborhood changed. rice field.”
Ariana Rodriguez wrote, “As a current student, I am signing this petition.”
KIPP and motel management entered into arbitration almost a year ago. Young said he made a sincere effort. Police have confirmed that the motel has installed more outdoor lighting, parking is for residents only, and signs warning other vehicles to be seized.
Neither the promised camera system nor the higher perimeter fence had been installed, Officer Cardenas said. I needed it because the motel resident threw supplies from his upstairs into the amusement park: bottles, syringes, condoms. The school installed him a 20-foot chain link fence with a green screen as a barrier.
Things went too slowly for dance teacher La Tasha Poster-Holbert, who left in June after six years at KIPP.
“During my time, I met some wonderful people and formed some deep relationships,” she said in her departure letter, which the school allowed to be published. … was so oppressive that every day I had to pray and listen to positive messages just to teach.”
Marquise Harris-Dawson, the city councilor who represents the area, said he remembers the motel in the 1990s as the leader of a community group that put it on a list of “crime magnets.” If you draw a circle around it, you can associate violent crime calls with that location. ”
He promised to assist in the process of reducing nuisances that could ultimately lead to forced sales.
Negotiation closed
KIPP officials were frustrated by the lengthy bureaucratic effort with no guarantee of success.
But the pressure was weighing heavily on motel owners. Young said he felt like the city was against him. He and his partner were ready to negotiate.
Could KIPP afford to buy a motel? KIPP SoCal had revenues of $140 million in 2020-21, but those funds were designated for education services and existing debt.
But how can you afford not to?
The parties met somewhere in between and agreed on a purchase price of $4.7 million. According to KIPP, the funds came from reserves, and KIPP also receives charitable support apart from the funds received by public schools.
Escrow was closed on September 9th. Demolition of Palms Motel began on October 28th.
There is a clean and quiet parking lot where the Palms Motel used to be.
Young moved on. He owns other hotels and is active in the local motel association. But he cautioned that prostitution and other crimes haven’t gone away at motels.
On a recent weekday morning, sex workers were roaming the campus blocks.
Officer Cardenas called the result a highlight of his career: “When we first started this process, I was a little skeptical. Can it be done? Parents, teachers, everyone.” Together we made it happen.”
Principal Coleman said the new parking lot is sorely needed, so why stop there? Why not raise more money and dream bigger?
“I’m definitely thinking about an underground garage. Then I’m thinking about having a gym, dance studio, recording studio and offices on the grassy fields on the second and third floors. Not necessarily if you have kids here.” No, we need to invest in the community.”
This story was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.
