Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara makes first court appearance in L.A.

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, made his first court appearance Friday afternoon on charges that he stole more than $16 million from the Dodgers superstar to cover debts with an illegal bookmaker.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged Mizuhara with bank fraud, alleging the 39-year-old took advantage of his closeness with Ohtani to feed a spiraling gambling habit, accumulating $40 million in losses across more than 19,000 bets.

Authorities detailed in a 36-page criminal complaint how Mizuhara won some $142 million through illegal sports betting but lost about $183 million, placing an average of nearly 25 bets per day. As his losses mounted over about two years, prosecutors said, Mizuhara began making wire transfers from the bank account where Ohtani’s baseball salary was deposited to pay off his debts with an illegal bookmaking operation in Orange County.

Mizuhara surrendered to authorities Friday morning. He walked into a packed federal courtroom in downtown L.A. in the afternoon, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and shuffling under the constraints of shackles on his legs.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria A. Audero told Mizuhara he could remain free on a $25,000 unsecured appearance bond and said the conditions of his release include attending gambling addiction treatment. She agreed to have the shackles removed from his legs.

“You are not to engage in any kind of gambling,” Audero told Mizuhara.

When defense lawyer Michael G. Freedman said Mizuhara intended to seek addiction treatment on his own, Audero said: “I’m really glad to hear that.”

Mizuhara spoke only when the judge addressed him, confirming his name and that he had reviewed the criminal complaint. Freedman confirmed that Mizuhara had already surrendered his passport.

The judge noted Mizuhara’s “family ties to the district” and the fact that he has no criminal history, while ordering him released. Mizuhara is barred from traveling outside of the Central District of California, which includes the Los Angeles area, without permission from the court. He must submit to drug testing and was told to “avoid all contact directly or indirectly” with any victims or witnesses in the case.

The judge also ordered Mizuhara not to sell or transfer any assets valued at $15,000 or more without first seeking permission. Mizuhara did not have to put up any money for his bond, but he would be forced to pay the $25,000 if he’s found to have violated the conditions.

Mizuhara’s arraignment is scheduled for May 9.He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Freedman, a former federal prosecutor, said in a statement Friday afternoon that Mizuhara is “continuing to cooperate with the legal process and is hopeful that he can reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as quickly as possible so that he can take responsibility.”

“He wishes to apologize to Mr. Ohtani, the Dodgers, Major League Baseball and his family,” Freedman said.

E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference Thursday that Ohtani was an unwitting victim, not an accomplice, in Mizuhara’s gambling spree. Ohtani fully cooperated with a federal investigation and provided access to his digital devices and personal information, Estrada said.

“Our investigation has revealed that due to the position of trust he occupied with Mr. Ohtani, Mr. Mizuhara had unique access to Mr. Ohtani’s finances,” Estrada said. “Mr. Mizuhara used and abused that position of trust in order to plunder Mr. Ohtani’s bank account … to feed his insatiable appetite for illegal sports betting.”

The two met in 2013, when Ohtani was an 18-year-old rookie for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan and Mizuhara was an interpreter for American players. When Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2018, Mizuhara came too.

Mizuhara, who was born in Japan but attended middle and high school in L.A. County, served as Ohtani’s body man and de facto manager in Southern California, helping the star navigate an unfamiliar language and country.

Mizuhara had taken an unusual path to a job with Major League Baseball. After graduating from Diamond Bar High School in 2003, he tried his hand at several careers, including working at a sushi restaurant and for a Japanese company that imported and distributed sake. It had been widely reported, including in a biography provided by the Angels, that Mizuhara graduated from UC Riverside in 2007, but the school said there were no records of a student by that name.

After Ohtani joined the Angels six years ago, Mizuhara became a constant presence in his life, translating conversations and interviews, helping to manage his schedule and corresponding with his parents, friends and business associates in Japan. Whenever Ohtani did well on the field, Mizuhara told a reporter in 2018, “I usually get 15 to 20 texts.”

When Ohtani first arrived in the U.S., the complaint alleged, Mizuhara took him to a bank in Arizona to set up a U.S. account, where Ohtani’s salary was deposited. The account wasn’t accessed online at all between early 2018 and late 2021, about a month after Mizuhara was granted an account with the allegedly illegal Orange County bookmaking operation, the complaint said.

Federal officials said Mizuhara arranged wire transfers from the account without Ohtani’s knowledge or permission, impersonated Ohtani during phone calls with bank employees and used biographical details from Ohtani’s life to pass security questions.

Ohtani told U.S. investigators that when he wanted to get a sense of his financial portfolio, he would ask Mizuhara to talk to his agent, bookkeeper, tax preparer and financial advisor. But when Ohtani’s team inquired about the bank account containing his MLB salary, the complaint said, Mizuhara told them that Ohtani wanted the account kept private.

Bank records reviewed by investigators showed that the contact information on the account was changed to link it to Mizuhara’s phone number and an email account also connected to the interpreter.

More than $16 million was sent from the account via wire transfers from November 2021 to January 2024 to accounts controlled by people linked to the bookmaking operation, the complaint said. Most of the money — about $15 million — was moved between February 2022 and October 2023.

Investigators said they seized Mizuhara’s phone at Los Angeles International Airport on March 21 after he returned from South Korea, where the scandal had erupted during the Dodgers’ season-opening series in Seoul.

Investigators compiled 9,700 pages of text messages, including those in which the alleged bookmakers asked Mizuhara to pay his gambling debts, and Mizuhara asked for “bumps,” slang for increasing his borrowing limit with the gambling operation.

In November 2022, Mizuhara texted a person identified in the complaint as Bookmaker 1: “I’m terrible at this sport betting thing huh? Lol … Any chance u can bump me again?? As you know, you don’t have to worry about me not paying.”

But by November 2023, Bookmaker 1 appeared to be impatient to collect what was owed, writing in one message that he was frustrated that Mizuhara wasn’t returning his calls.

“I’m here in Newport Beach and I see [Ohtani] walking his dog,” the message said. “I’m just gonna go up and talk to him and ask how I can get in touch with you since you’re not responding? Please call me back immediately.”

By January, the messages had grown more ominous, with Bookmaker 1 writing: “You’re putting me in a position where this is going to get out of control. If I don’t hear from you by the end of the day today it’s gonna be out of my hands.” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-12/shohei-ohtani-former-translator-ippei-mizuhara-gambling-theft-charges-court-appearance

Earthquake: 3.8 quake shakes about 20 miles from Coachella

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was reported Saturday morning at 9:08 a.m. Pacific time 15 miles from La Quinta, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake occurred 19 miles from Palm Springs, 20 miles from Coachella, 21 miles from Indio and 21 miles from Palm Desert.

In the last 10 days, there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 7.3 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.

Are you ready for when the Big One hits? Get ready for the next big earthquake by signing up for our Unshaken newsletter, which breaks down emergency preparedness into bite-sized steps over six weeks. Learn more about earthquake kits, which apps you need, Lucy Jones’ most important advice and more at latimes.com/Unshaken.

This story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-13/earthquake-3-8-quake-shakes-about-20-miles-from-coachella

Son of top Hollywood agent in custody after woman’s torso found in dumpster

The 35-year-old son of a Hollywood talent agent whose clients included Dolly Parton, George Clooney and a British prince, has been taken into custody in Los Angeles after a bloody torso authorities say probably belongs to his wife was discovered in a strip-mall dumpster.

Sam Haskell, who was booked on suspicion of murder on Wednesday, is also suspected of killing his wife’s parents who are missing, detectives have said.

Capt Scot Williams of the LAPD’s robbery-homicide division said the torso discovered in an Encino mall, five miles from Haskell’s home, was assumed to be Haskell’s wife, Mei Haskell.

The grim discovery was made after workers at Haskell’s home reported seeing what appeared to be human remains in his driveway on Tuesday that later vanished. The following day, an unhoused man searching for recyclable material in a dumpster between a restaurant and a hair salon found the female torso stuffed in a duffel bag.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the suspect, Haskell, his wife, Mei, and her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, lived in a single-story home in Tarzana, California, where detectives said they had found blood and evidence consistent with killing and dismemberment.

The LAPD told reporters that efforts to reach Mei Haskell or her parents on Wednesday had been unsuccessful.

“They would normally be home in these hours, and attempts have been made to contact them by phone, by cellphone, and no answer. And the same with Mei. She is unaccounted for,” said detective Efren Gutierrez.

The suspect and his wife have three children, authorities said, who had been at school on Wednesday and are now with family members.

The Times reported that in December 2008, Haskell was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He pleaded no contest to battery and was placed on three years’ probation.

A neighbor told ABC 7 News that something seemed strange about Haskell. “Something seemed so weird. I thought maybe he was sick, or something was wrong,” the woman said. “All I said was, I kept saying to my family, something is wrong with him.”

The suspect is the son of Sam Haskell, a former talent agent and the worldwide head of television at William Morris, now known as the William Morris Endeavor Agency, who represented A-list stars including Dolly Parton, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg and Prince Edward, a brother of King Charles. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/10/sam-haskell-torso-arrest-los-angeles

‘I was crying, screaming, praying, terrified’: A Gaza resident reports on life under siege

Israel’s month-long siege and bombing campaign of Gaza

It was early morning on Oct. 7, a Saturday, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas mounted a devastating land, air and sea assault from Gaza on Israel, killing some 1,400 people (most of them civilians) and kidnapping more than 200 others in what was the deadliest attack Israel had suffered in 50 years.

The Hamas operation was unprecedented in scale and complexity — using drones, powered paragliders, bulldozers, and some 1,500 commandos. It upended Israeli leaders’ years-long belief that the Gaza Strip — the Palestinian territory, crowded with 2.3 million people, that Israel has blockaded for 17 years — could be contained.

As Israeli families scrambled for word of their loved ones while others mourned their dead and took stock, Israel began bombarding Gaza, vowing to invade and destroy Hamas.

This isn’t Israel’s first war on Gaza — by some counts, it is the 14th —and decades of shrinking Palestinian territory and increasing despair in any notion of statehood preceded the Hamas operation. Yet it seems clear there can be no return to the status quo.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli air campaign on Gaza has killed more than 10,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry. The United Nations estimates that more than 40% of the dead are children and that two-thirds of the population are now displaced. Though aid is trickling in, it remains minuscule compared to the need. There’s a dire shortage of drinkable water, and the lack of fuel — Israel has so far refused to allow any fuel deliveries — means hospitals are on the verge of shutting down.

Israeli tanks, meanwhile, have entered the territory’s north and are engaged in point-blank confrontations with Hamas militants within the maelstrom of rubble the strip has become.

With all eyes on Gaza, tensions have spiked across the other Palestinian territory inside Israel’s borders, the West Bank, which has been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967. Israeli settlers, who were already enjoying greater support under the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have increased their attacks on Palestinian communities in recent weeks. https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2023-11-07/i-was-crying-screaming-praying-terrified-a-gaza-resident-reports-on-life-under-siege-essential-california

Massive fire destroying landmark World War II-era blimp hangar in Tustin

A massive fire that started early Tuesday was burning the historic north blimp hangar in Tustin, an Orange County landmark that dates back to World War II.

Officials said an investigation into what caused the fire is underway.

“It’s a sad day for the city of Tustin, for all of Orange County,” Chief Brian Fennessy of the Orange County Fire Authority, which responded to the fire, said at a news conference early Tuesday.

Fire was reported near the hangar just before 1 a.m., Fennessy said, and firefighters arrived to find it “fully involved.”

Seventy OCFA firefighters on 11 engines and five fire trucks responded to the fire, which was so large and complex that officials deployed helicopters, including a Chinook used in wildfires, to drop water on the huge structure.

“That’s unheard of,” Fennessy said of deploying the aerial resources. “But we thought we would throw everything we could at it just in case we could stop it midway.”

But because of the “dynamic nature of the fire, and the imminent danger of collapse,” firefighters plan to allow the flames to collapse the mostly wooden hangar before ground crews move in to try to extinguish the fire.

The fire could burn for several hours, if not days, Fennessy said.

“It’s so deep-seated right now that it’s run up the side, and where oxygen is feeding the fire right on the edges, [it] is just eating its way back slowly,” Fennessy said.

There will be “large crashes” and a “pretty spectacular collapse” as the fire progresses and the structure fails, Fennessy said.

“We expect it to likely continue to do that possibly until [the fire] gets to the other end of the hangar,” he said.

Firefighters cannot get close to the building because the structure might collapse on them, which has made extinguishing the fire impossible, officials said. No injuries have been reported, and no other structures appeared threatened.

Tustin Police Chief Stu Greenberg said road closures are in effect on Valencia Avenue between Kensington Park Drive and Lansdowne Road, and on Armstrong Avenue between Bell Avenue and Valencia. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/massive-fire-burns-landmark-17-story-blimp-hangar-in-tustin

California’s extreme weather whiplash: So long, drought. Hello, El Niño

Less than a year after facing historic water shortages, California this week was declared drought-free thanks to a year of epic rains, with an El Niño forecast that could keep wet conditions going into 2024.

The U.S. Drought monitor’s latest data show the vast majority of California reporting no drought as of Oct. 17, though pockets in the northernmost and southeastern parts of the state are still considered abnormally dry.

“For the most part, California had been drought-free” for weeks, but “a little smidgen” remained, said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska.

A smidgen, indeed: On Oct. 10, only 0.7% of the state was in drought. And that area — a slim portion of Del Norte County in the upper left-hand corner of the state — had been getting consistently less dry since mid-September.

Just a year ago, 99.8% of California was in some level of drought, and 43% of the state was in extreme or exceptional drought, the two most serious levels.

California hasn’t been completely drought-free since two fleeting periods in 2019 and 2020, which were preceded and followed by prolonged dry spells.

The state was drought-free from March to September in 2019, then experienced moderate drought in 1% to 2% of the state before being officially free of drought from November 2019 to February 2020, according to U.S. Drought Monitor data.

Before those instances, “it was all the way back to December 2011” when the state was completely drought-free, Fuchs said.

Part of the reason for the prevalence of drought in the state is California’s size and varied geographic makeup: “The odds of drought somewhere in the state during a [given] time period,” Fuchs said, “doesn’t seem that uncommon.”

Even taking into account size and range of geography, drought has had an outsize effect on the state. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/california-is-drought-free

Elizabeth Hirschhorn moves out of Brentwood Airbnb after 570 rent-free days. She said she had a right to stay

Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the Brentwood tenant who did not pay rent for her luxury Airbnb rental for 570 days, moved out of the unit on Friday.

The move was exactly one month after The Times chronicled Hirschhorn’scontentious tenancy, which began with a cordial stay on Airbnb and ended with her and Sascha Jovanovic, the landlord and property owner, suing each other.

“I’m a little overwhelmed, but I finally have my home back,” Jovanovic said. “I had such a peaceful weekend once she left.”

During her stay, which began in September 2021, Hirschhorn said that the lease was extended off Airbnb and that the unit was subject to the Rent Control Ordinance, so Jovanovic would have to evict her if he wanted her to leave. She also argued that she didn’t have to pay rent since Jovanovic never obtained an occupancy license for the guesthouse.

Jovanovic, who lives on the property, was at the home on Friday being interviewed for a documentary detailing the battle between him and Hirschhorn when he saw three men, who turned out to be movers, walk into the guesthouse.

He said he asked why they were there, and they didn’t clearly say why. He suspected she could be moving out but feared it also could be a home invasion, so he called the police.

The police arrived, and once all of Hirschhorn’s belongings were packed, they escorted her off the property, Jovanovic said.

Jovanovic and his attorney, Sebastian Rucci, knocked on the door to confirm she was gone and then entered the guesthouse and found it empty. Within an hour, a locksmith arrived and changed the locks.

As of now, it’s unclear whether Hirschhorn moved out permanently, or if she’s planning to return to the property.

Jovanovic and Rucci said they hadn’t heard anything from either Hirschhorn or her legal team, so they assumed she had moved out for good. On Saturday, Rucci emailed Hirschhorn’s attorney, Amanda Seward, to figure out the next steps regarding Jovanovic’s eviction lawsuit against Hirschhorn.

“My review of the case law is that once a tenant abandons the unit, the unlawful detainer is dismissed. If you wish, I can file the dismissal, or we can file a joint dismissal,” Rucci wrote.

Seward replied that they “may have jumped the gun,” according to the email exchange reviewed by The Times.

“Ms. Hirschhorn had discussed with me concern over the constant harassment and surveillance, and also the desire to get the things repaired that needed to be repaired. Subject to my discussions with Ms. Hirschhorn, please be advised that you have no authority to change the locks or to assume abandonment of the unit,” Seward wrote. “Further, you have violated the law by entering without permission and changing the locks.”

Neither Hirschhorn nor Seward immediately responded to a request for comment. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/elizabeth-hirschhorn-tenant-rent-free-brentwood-airbnb-moves-out

Jewish man in California dies after being hit in the head during dueling Israel-Hamas war protests

A 69-year-old Jewish man died Monday after suffering a head injury at a Thousand Oaks protest centered on the Israel-Hamas war, according to law enforcement.

The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office said an autopsy determined Paul Kessler died as a result of a blunt force head injury and called the manner of death a homicide.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said the incident was reported just after 3:20 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Westlake Boulevard and Thousand Oaks Boulevard, near the L.A. County border. Opposing protesters — pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian — had taken a stand on either side of the intersection when an altercation occurred, authorities said.

Kessler, of Thousand Oaks, was struck in the head, knocked backward and hit his head on the ground, deputies said.

Paramedics responded to a “fight in progress” and found the victim suffering a head injury, according to Andy VanSciver, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department. Kessler was transported to a local hospital, where he died Monday.

No arrests had been made as of Monday night, and the investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with details for authorities can contact Det. Corey Stump at (805) 384-4745.

Officials did not release further details about how Kessler was struck or whether there were any suspects in the case. The agency said it had not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.

A video of the aftermath shared on social media showed Kessler lying on his back on the corner of the intersection with blood dripping from his head.

Rabbi Michael Barclay, who leads Temple Ner Simcha, said Kessler and his wife, Cheryl, had attended High Holiday services at his synagogue, though they had not visited in several years. The synagogue is less than a mile away from where the protests were held.

Barclay said he did not know Kessler well but had exchanged email correspondence with him over the years and called him “a man committed to peace and committed to Israel.”

He added that he had been in touch with both Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff and Thousand Oaks Police Chief Jeremy Paris about the criminal investigation. He emphasized the need to allow law enforcement to do its due diligence and cautioned against sharing unconfirmed information.

“We need to let them do what they need to do,” Barclay said. “We cannot let our emotions dictate our actions, or justice isn’t going to happen.”

Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorell, whose district covers the location where the incident took place, said he’d been briefed by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.

“I’m heartbroken to hear of the tragic death of an elderly man today after having been struck at a protest in my district,” Gorell wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Kessler’s death has sparked mourning and alarm in Southern California’s Jewish community, with some leaders and public officials expressing outrage.

“We demand safety. We will not tolerate violence against our community. We will do everything in our power to prevent it,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League called on law enforcement “to launch a thorough investigation to determine who is responsible.” https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-06/man-dies-after-fight-at-protest-westlake-village-israel-hamas-war

Captain found guilty of negligence in Conception boat fire that killed 34

After a day of deliberations, a federal court jury in Los Angeles on Monday found former Conception dive boat captain Jerry Boylan guilty of gross negligence in the deaths of 34 people in the fiery maritime disaster.

The ship caught fire in the early morning hours of Sept. 2, 2019, while it was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, trapping 33 passengers and one crew member in the bunk room.

Prosecutors said Boylan, who had been a captain for 34 years, was negligent in failing to appoint a night watch or to drill his crew in fire safety. When the fire broke out — possibly originating in a trash can — chaos ensued among Boylan’s inexperienced, ill-trained crew. In the bedlam, a crew member twice ran right by a 50-foot fire hose.

Boylan, then 66, woke up amid the smoke and flames, called in a mayday and jumped overboard, actions that prosecutors said amounted to abandoning his ship. The 34 people crowded in the windowless bunk room lived for minutes after he did so, but they had no exit — the stairs and the escape hatch were blocked by flames.

Boylan’s attorneys with the federal public defender’s office argued that there was little he could do by the time he woke up to “an unstoppable inferno,” and that the fire hoses were unusable because they were ablaze.

Defense attorneys said Boylan learned how to run a boat from Glen Fritzler, the owner of the Conception and the company Truth Aquatics, whose boats did not use an overnight watch.

Boylan, who had been with the company for decades, did not know that doing things “the Fritzler way” was endangering people, the defense attorneys argued.

Federal prosecutors derided the argument as the “blaming your boss” defense, and said he had “rolled the dice” with his passengers’ lives.

The courtroom was packed throughout the two-week trial by families of the fire victims, who have followed the case closely during the four years it took to reach trial.

After the verdict, the families wept and embraced in the hallway, saying “we did it” and “we got it.”

“We’ve waited four years for the guilty verdict, and it’s just a feeling like we can move forward a little with our lives,” said Susana Rosas, 65, who lost three daughters and her ex-husband in the fire.

Rosas sat in the 9th floor courtroom in downtown Los Angeles for every day of the trial, at times listening to graphic testimony about the effort to recover the bodies from the charred wreck of the Conception, 56 feet below the surface.

She learned that one of her daughters, Evan Quitasol, a 37-year-old nurse, was found huddled tightly with two other victims, Charles McIlvain, 44, and Alexandra “Allie” Kurtz, 26.

“As hard as it was, it was comforting to know she died embracing someone else,” she said. “They weren’t alone. No one there was alone.”

Boylan, who did not testify, will remain free until U.S. District Judge George Wu sentences him on Feb. 8. He could face up to 10 years in federal prison.

Even the maximum sentence feels lenient for Boylan’s crime, Rosas said, adding that it seems “such a short amount of time for him to serve, for 34 people.” Boylan had ignored the Certificate of Inspection hanging in his own wheelhouse, which spelled out the need for an overnight watch in capital letters. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-06/boat-fire-verdict-expected

Proposed USC research facility revives worries of gentrification on L.A.’s Eastside

For some Eastside residents and local organizers, a proposed research facility at USC’s Health Sciences Campus in Boyle Heights is the latest example of a decades-long wave of gentrification spurred in part by the growth of the private university.

About 50 demonstrators marched last week in protest of USC’s proposed 202,000-square-foot, seven-story Discovery and Translational Hub, a research and laboratory space that would include a lecture hall, a “grab and go” cafe and vending machine area, a biorepository, a medical chemistry core lab and an array of collaboration, meeting and support spaces.

Protesters believe the project will help price out residents of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Ramona Gardens and El Sereno neighborhoods, worried about the effects of an influx of more affluent researchers and the university’s expanding footprint.

“For more than 100 years, USC has come into our communities of South Central and Boyle Heights expanding their campuses without any accountability to our laborers, workers or community needs,” said Cinthia Gonzalez, a community organizer with the anti-gentrification group Eastside LEADS. “We say, no more.”

Vetelio Frances, 73, a member of the California Gig Workers Union and a former Lincoln Heights resident, said he joined Wednesday’s protest because he wants the university to respect the community, especially the retired population. He still visits family in Lincoln Heights but said he moved to Lancaster because he could no longer afford to live in the area.

“They want to build their facility here that will bring in more people, and already houses and rentals are out of reach for the community that has lived here for years,” Frances said in Spanish.

“At this age it isn’t possible to move [to another city] and start over,” he said.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles city planning commission met and discussed USC’s application for a conditional use permit for the facility’s construction.

Dr. Thomas Buchanan, vice dean for research at the USC Keck School of Medicine, said the proposed building is part of the university’s commitment to serving local communities.

“We wanted to expand our ability to improve the health [and] address health disparities of our communities through research,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan noted that he has spent the last 30 years studying the evolution and prevention of Type 2 diabetes in young Latina women and is committed to biomedical research that will improve the lives of patients.

With the establishment of the research facility, Buchanan said, the university wants to double the amount of research in the next “seven to 10 years to make bigger and faster advances for patients and communities” in Los Angeles.

Supporters who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period included community members, construction unions including Laborers’ Local 300, USC medical staff, the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce and the Lincoln Heights Chamber of Commerce.

Luce Lopez, a survivor of cancer, said she received treatment from Keck Hospital and is thankful for the doctors who treated her. After recently losing her son to diabetes, she said, she feels her “grandchildren deserve a hospital like Keck Hospital.”

“They will grow up in a world that will have more medical options, and I know the research at this building will save many lives,” Lopez said. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-06/eastside-los-angeles-gentrification-pushback-usc-health-research-facility