QUICK SUMMARY: a new gate has been put up – illegally – on one of Echo Park’s historic stairways. Read the full report, below, to find out what you can do about it.
Click for more pictures.
Friday, November 27. Working on new stairway routes with a bunch of friends; we take a late-afternoon walk that mainly runs north and south of Sunset Boulevard, through Silverlake, Echo Park, and Angelino Heights. When we get to the Effie/Mohawk stairs – they’re just wast of Glendale Blvd., where Effie and Mohawk reach dead-ends – the 111 steps are free and clear. (See the map, below, for more info on the stair location.)
Less than 48 hours later, I’m on a run and approach the same staircase from the bottom, only to find a set of iron gates – one low, where Effie dead-ends east of Glendale Blvd., and another at the top, where Mohawk Street reaches a cul-de-sac – have been put up. The cement is so fresh that I can still get it on my fingers (the pictures above were taken that day.)
BACKGROUND: There are over 20 closed stairways in Los Angeles; a few may have been legitimately shuttered, but others have clearly been appropriated by private individuals. Last year, I complained to the city’s bureau of street services about one of them – the Fargo Street stairway, between Apex and Rockford, east of the Silverlake Reservoir; an investigator was sent out, who told me that the closure was likely illegal, but that doing anything about it would be a low priority. Nothing has happened (we called the Fargo stairs the “Stairs of Darkness” on 2009′s walk. See a gallery and map of that closure here.)
ANALYSIS/OPINION: I’ve been asked – several times – why simply going up to one of these stairways and opening it DIY-style isn’t an option. The answer is simple: legally, stairs are public streets in Los Angeles. They should be maintained and respected the same as any street. The city has a responsibility to keep these thoroughfares open, and prevent them from being taken private, just as it does any residential street that happens – by quirk of fate and history – to also accommodate non-pedestrian traffic. Nobody should have to take the law into their own hands to keep a public asset within public grasp. (As far as crime problems on the stairs, if that was the cause of the appropriation, I also believe that nobody should have to worry about their safety in Los Angeles – but blocking a public street isn’t correct, legitimate, or legal. My sympathy drains quickly…)
UPDATE: Diane Edwardson, who runs the Corralitas Red Car Property blog, got my initial email blast and contacted the office of City Council president Eric Garcetti (Garcetti’s district, CD 13, includes the stairways in question.) We got an almost immediate – reply from Mitch O’Farrell, the councilman’s District Director of Constituent Services. He checked with the Bureau of Street Services and reported this:
“I heard back from the bureau of street services about this gate. They will first try and determine who installed it. If they cannot, then they file a board report for the Board of Public Works for approval. They told me they would expedite this report.”
That’s super encouraging. The stairway blockage should go down – legally – as fast as it went up illegally.
YOU SHOULD: Contact Garcetti’s office directly – here’s list of local field operatives – and encourage haste in this matter. A call to the Bureau of Street Services hotline would be a good idea, also: the number is 800-996-2489. Be polite, but forceful; let them know that the stairway is located at 1692 Mohawk St. (bottom; east side) and 2219 Mohawk (top; west side.)
HERE’S WHERE THEY ARE:
- On last year’s Big Parade route (Day One), they’re Stairway 46, mile 15.7.
- Bob Inman’s stairway guide shows them as Silverlake North/Stairway 21.
- They’re Stairway Seven on the Echo Park Historical Society list.
And here’s an ordinary map:
View Illegally Blocked Stair – Effie/Mohawk in a larger map
