A homeowner in the Florence Firestone District next to Huntington Park is expressing frustration over parked RVs, trash and feces filling the street near his rental home.
Ernesto Quintero has owned the home, near 65th and Wilmington for nearly 15 years. He said the problems started before the pandemic, but since COVID they’ve gotten even worse.
“And not only that, these RVs have internal plumbing so what they are doing is dumping all their feces and all their urine on the street and I have to clean it up,” Quintero said. “I don’t think that’s fair, there’s millions of dollars being spent on homelessness, and I see nothing.”
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The home falls in the unincorporated section of LA County and it’s next to the city of Huntington Park, which does not have the problem nearby.
“Basically Huntington Park put up signs saying, 'No RV parking,' and that’s what we want. No RV parking and for it to be enforced,” Quintero said.
In an effort to get the street cleaned up, Quintero said he repeatedly reached out to Supervisor Holly Mitchell and the Board of Supervisors. He said he’s even met once with a member of Mitchell’s staff, but so far he hasn’t seen results.
“They don’t understand,” Quintero said. “They’ll understand if this was in front of her house. If she had urine and feces in front of her house, I’m sure something would happen.”
Mitchell’s office released a statement saying she recently helped launch a new RV pilot program focused on unincorporated LA County and it’s starting in the areas with the highest concentration of RV’s.
“While we work to scale the program to get to all our unincorporated communities, we are continuing with non-displacement encampment resolutions. This means we are providing trash pick-ups and connection to services aimed at supporting residents in RV’s with transitioning to appropriate housing options,” Mitchell said.
The Supervisor said between May and June they’ve helped nearly 200 people receive services in the Florence Firestone District.
“My team is working with residents across our entire district on the housing and homelessness crisis,” Mitchell said. “For this to be effective we cannot work in a silo and instead we must be inclusive of all voices and lived experiences of our unincorporated communities. This is why our community meetings along with insights gathered across the various ways you can reach my office are helpful.”
Quintero is hoping that the future brings the change he is hoping to see on the street next to his rental home.
“These RV’s have no tags, a lot of them are not even operable, but they still refuse to do anything about it. It makes no sense to me,” Quintero said. “My tenants are suffering, everybody in that community is suffering.”
