Again, happy to be part of respectful back and forth and even though we disagree it is nice to find a way to present everything in a way that does not denigrate into stupidity.
I honestly do not know the history of this specific building, but landlords are well-known to hold out for high value tenants. It is worth more to them to leave it vacant for years or even a decade than letting a low-value tenant occupy the space.
This can be answered partly by my comment about the way money and capital works in the country from the previous post. But I absolutely agree with you that “cleaning up” any area is a good thing and leaving things “desolate” is not. But leaving these things to monied interests is where I think we disagree. These problems are worth solving for the current residents, not the residents people with money would rather see living there.
Maybe you are right and maybe the timing is not working in his favor.
The LA Tenants Union works with local residents wherever they fight, and for their opinion you should definitely reach out to them and read what they have to say about the matter since you do not agree with their tactics. I am also an “outside individual” when it comes to Glassell Park and maybe you are too… but I would probably defer to them before I defer to a chef who lives in Pasadena because it sounds like they are talking to residents more than the restaurant has (from Eater article by Mona Holmes and Cathy Chaplin).
If it always comes back to this, I think we will never find common ground. If residents of Glassell Park and their allies had not vandalized some windows and picketed the restaurant (fairly or unfairly), this conversation would not have happened in the first place. I get it, you do not think they have the right to use the world genocide and maybe you are right. But what drives people to the point of evoking such strong language? It’s worth talking about more.
