A lot of things happen when a real estate booms leads to gentrification and an influx of relatively upscale European-Americans setting up residential lofts in a neighborhood that has been home and a center of jobs for working-class folks of different ethnic backgrounds.
Some are good, some are bad — and some are violent.
Violence appears to have cropped up amid the gentrification trend of Downtown Los Angeles lately, leading to accusations that one of the owners of a retail store that gears its selection of furnishings to loft dwellers punched a woman during an altercation over the recent Fiesta Broadway.
Authorities recently said that the Los Angeles City Attorney's office has filed charges against Ronald Senger, a co-owner of the Loft Appeal store, which operates one location on the 900 block of S. Hill Street and another on Hewitt Street in the Arts District.
Senger and his partner, Rich Reams, have long been vocal critics of Fiesta Broadway, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city's center to revel amid music and vendors on closed-off streets during its annual one-day run. The two have complained in the past that the event blocks customers from reaching their store for an entire day.
Much of the discord over Fiesta Broadway has come down along racial lines, with European-American loft dwellers expressing dissatisfaction with the event, which enjoys significant support in the Latino-American community. Reams, Senger and others have complained about a loss of access to parking in the Downtown area during Fiesta Broadway. Some complaints have come from loft residents in buildings that are entirely surrounded by street closures during the day of the event. Staffers of All-Access Entertainment, which produces Fiesta Broadway, have pledged to work to ensure access for area residents during the event, although there have been some mix-ups in recent years.
The discord seems to have come to a head with an altercation that led to the assault charge against Senger, an event that occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. on April 26, hours before Fiesta Broadway got up and running for its 2009 edition, according to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Lieutenant Paul Vernon of the agency's Central Area. Witnesses said that Senger approached a tent that had been set up to serve as a headquarters for the event in a parking lot on the 900 block of S. Hill Street — just down the street from one of the two Loft Appeal locations. Senger's car had apparently been towed to accommodate the festival, and he and Reams began to direct foul and abusive language at Fiesta Broadway staff members as they tossed aside traffic cones being used as markers, according to witnesses. Reports indicated that Aileen Gonzalez eventually stood up and asked them to stop using abusive language, and Senger responded by coming to within inches of her face as he continued his verbal abuse. Witnesses said that Senger then pushed Gonzalez, and followed with a punch to her face. Several individuals then knocked Senger to the ground and restrained him, according to reports.
"Witnesses who saw it said that [Senger] was the aggressor — and the descriptions the witnesses provided were very consistent," Vernon said. "The accounts offered a clear picture that he was the person who provoked the whole situation."
Senger and Reams have offered a different account of the incident, and also discounted claims by other witnesses because they were employed by All-Access Entertainment. Vernon said that Senger had filed a cross-complaint, claiming to be the victim of assault. The City Attorney's office has not filed charges on that complaint, however, and appeared unlikely to do so, as of presstime.
Reams has said that he and Senger plan to close their store on Hill Street in coming months out of frustration over the loss of customer traffic for the day of Fiesta Broadway.
The partners apparently plan to continue to operate their other store on Hewitt Street in the Arts District.
Photo of Fiesta Broadway from www.hprala.org
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