Global Courant
They gathered in the middle of East 27th Street, the spot where two years earlier – to this day – the Los Angeles Police Department botched the detonation of a stockpile of fireworks and blew up their lives.
Among the more than 30 people in attendance for this grim anniversary were displaced families who still live in the Level Hotel downtown. Another who had only recently returned to a renovated house. One that had moved twice since the blast.
They gathered in South LA, in the shadows of houses that remain uninhabitable, to talk about their lives – and their loss.
“They said it was going to be a short stay (at the hotel), but it’s been two years already,” said Maria Velasquez, who rented a unit from her parents on the street before the explosion drove them out. “We’re not even close to coming home yet.”
It was June 30, 2021, that the Los Angeles Police Department’s Bomb Disposal Squad botched the explosion of a fireworks cache discovered in the backyard of a 27th Street resident. The resulting blast injured 17 people, damaged 35 properties and displaced more than 80 residents.
The downtown hotel was intended as a place for families to stay until their homes were repaired or they could find other affordable housing.
As of this week, 15 families were still living there.
The city, along with partner agencies, nonprofits and a relocation consultant, has helped 12 tenant families move out of the hotel and into permanent housing, according to a joint statement from Councilman Curren Price’s office and the LA Housing Department. Another family has signed a lease and is about to move out.
“The city remains committed to working with each remaining household to ensure relocation and help them meet their needs,” the statement said.
On Wednesday night, Price met with residents who expressed frustration with moving services, the slow process of getting their homes repaired and the possibility of being evicted from the hotel.
Ron Gochez of Unión del Barrio, who helped organize community members affected by the blast, told Price they need to see work done on houses on the street by August 1 or residents in the city will go protest.
“I’m going to do everything I can for the residents of 27th Street,” said Price, who was recently charged with embezzlement, perjury and a conflict of interest, all of which he denies.
The city has received 414 claims related to the fireworks explosion and has settled 154 of them. According to the city attorney’s office, payouts to date have totaled $1.48 million.
Two people have been charged in connection with the case, including Arturo Ceja III, who lived on 27th Street. Ceja pleaded guilty in federal court in August 2021 to unlicensed transportation of explosives from Nevada to California.
Another man, Erik Ramos, pleaded guilty to the same charge on Monday, the US prosecutor’s office said. In his plea deal, Ramos admitted to transporting the fireworks with Ceja. The agreement did not state where Ramos was living at the time.
Two years later, little is known about how officers involved in the blast were punished. As of Friday evening, the LAPD had not yet responded to a request from the Times to detail what had changed within the department following the explosion and how officers had been disciplined.
An unnamed officer was suspended without pay for 10 days as a result of the fireworks explosion, according to department records posted online in April. That was the first disciplinary action to come to light against an officer involved in the disaster.
On Friday, local residents – some of whom had not seen each other for months – chatted at tables set up in the street.
There was music and burgers, as well as piñatas – one from a police car and one from the “total containment craft” used by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service to detonate the fireworks.
“We are here as a community to celebrate. Not to celebrate the explosion, but to celebrate the people… who have remained resilient, who have not given up, who have continued to organize,” said Gochez. “They won’t give up until they get justice.”
Among those in attendance was Juana Oceguera, who said she felt pressured to leave the Level Hotel just months after the explosion.
Her family salvaged what they could from their apartment and moved to Lancaster. But because of the high rent and a lack of work, they recently moved back to LA
“To this day, the explosion affects us,” Oceguera said.
