Grassroot coalition takes on community cleanups in L.A.’s First City Council District

The CD1 Coalition, a self-described grassroots mutual aid group, is organizing community cleanup days in the upcoming month in neighborhoods located in Los Angeles Council District 1. 

According to coalition founder Raul Claros, the clean-up days were “formed out of necessity and frustration” with Los Angeles's First City Council district office's “inaction.” 

Earlier this month, the coalition publicly accused CD1 councilmember Eunisses Hernandez of not addressing urgent community concerns and mounting issues over the deteriorating conditions of streets and public spaces in the district.

“As local officials continue to do the good work of securing beds and housing, we call upon them to also prioritize and invest in safe and clean streets in L.A.,” Claros told CALÒ News.

Los Angeles Council District 1 encompasses neighborhoods such as Highland Park, Chinatown, Mount Washington, Echo Park, Elysian Park, Westlake, Pico-Union, Koreatown, Angelino Heights, Lincoln Heights and MacArthur Park and has a 70% Latino population.

The upcoming cleanup initiative is part of the coalition's Safe and Clean Streets LA initiative, which, according to the coalition, aims to create safe, clean streets and sanitize some of the district's hotspots. 

The coalition also commended the executive order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom in July, which mandated state agencies to develop policies for clearing homeless encampments from state property, such as state parks, freeways and recreational places.

Under Newsom’s direction, state agencies, including the California Interagency Council on Homelessness and the California Department of Transportation, as well as state parks, are required to prioritize clearing encampments that pose safety risks and give homeless people advance notice to vacate. In other instances, it requires state agencies to help the unhoused store their belongings for at least 60 days.

“This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” Newson said in a statement. “The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets. There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”

Even though this executive order does not apply to local and city governments forcibly, Newsom encouraged them to do the same. “No more excuses. We’ve provided the time. We’ve provided the funds. Now it’s time for locals to do their jobs,” he posted to X. 

Many local agencies, organizations and homeless advocates disapprove and remain critical of Newsom's new order, claiming that the sweeps only criminalize homelessness and are only a temporary and fleeting solution to the homelessness crisis that does not tackle the direct solutions to getting people permanently out of the streets. 

"Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work,'' Bass said in a statement on July 25. 

Claros said the coalition is doing more than cleaning up homeless encampments; it also hopes to connect homeless individuals with resources now that the coalition has received funding from the Reimagine L.A. Foundation and SocalGas. “We have received $40,000 from Reimagine L.A. and $100,000 from SoCalGas; now, with this funding, we are going to be able to come to different places in our city and provide these services at least twice a month in the next six months,” Claros said. 

However, Councilmember Hernandez has organized community cleanups in the district, including Highland Park, in July, August and September. 

Earlier in the year, in March, Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment (LASAN), Hernandez and other community leaders also announced their own initiative, known as the Clean Streets Initiative, in District 1's Westlake and Pico Union neighborhoods.

Hernandez announced the deployment of 90 new trash receptacles in Westlake and Pico Union along high-foot traffic corridors, including Alvarado Street, Venice Boulevard, Washington Boulevard and surrounding MacArthur Park. 

She also announced the installation of 30 automated litter bins and 60 metal slatted bins and they will be serviced six days a week, Monday through Saturday, as previously reported by CALÒ News.

According to Claros, complaints about unsanitary areas in the district continue. Claros said that despite the local officials’s work and level of commitment, the coalition will continue doing the work they have been doing to clean the streets of Council District 1. 

The next community cleanup day organized by the CD1 Coalition will take place on September 21 at 8 a.m. at the LAPD Olympic Station, located at 1130 S. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90006.