Column: What does L.A. do with corruption? Art

For many, the graffiti plastered along 27 stories of Oceanwide Plaza are an embarrassment to the city, a blemish to the L.A. skyline.

But to others, it is a statement on the corruption that former council member Jose Huizar was involved in. Huizar was sentenced in January to 13 years in federal prison for using his powerful position at City Hall to shake down real estate developers for at least $1.5 million in cash and benefits in exchange for help driving downtown real estate projects through the city's approval process, and for cheating on his taxes. 

Huizar represented Council District 14, which includes downtown Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, from 2005 until his resignation in 2020. According to his lawyers, Huizar was "an evangelist for robust development" in efforts to ensure Los Angeles was befitting of a "world-class city."

The vision of Huizar’s world-class city probably didn’t include taggers taking over the abandoned building in downtown L.A. 

Real estate developer Shenzhen Hazens, who paid a $1 million fine for his part in the bribery scandal, bought the Luxe Hotel which is the building next to Oceanwide.

Even though Oceanwide owners did not have to pay any fines, according to The Street, an FBI search warrant in July 2018 said Hazens, New World, Greenland and Oceanwide were all "parties of interest" in the Huizar bribery scandal.  

The Beijing-based company Oceanwide ran out of money and was sued for non-payment by its suppliers, according to Mingtiandi.

Graffiti, as a public form of art, free to enjoy or endure on many city landscapes, serves as the ultimate representation of corruption and gentrification in a city starved for low-income housing. 

The bright colors of the two spray painted Oceanwide buildings shine bright against the city’s sunshine (or over the past several rainy days, fronting the ominous clouds), like an ironic sign of the city’s corruption.