In response to several break-ins to shops on Colorado Blvd, the City Council of LA approved $100,000 January 2024 to increase foot patrols in Eagle Rock in a motion spearheaded by Kevin de León.
Luciano Alcorta co-owns Malbec Market, an Argentinian restaurant, alongside his brother. Alcorta said that no one has broken into his store since January. He said he credits the safety of his store to de León’s initiative.
“Mr. de León got involved very quickly,” Alcorta said. “I think he got the right message, and he jumped on it right away.”
Alcorta said he had an experience where several maintenance staff were working on the restaurant at 2 a.m., when police officers stopped by to check in on them to make sure they were safe.
“They were checking on them because it was after hours, and they wanted to make sure [everything was okay],” Alcorta said.
Alcorta said he feels like crime is not a problem specific to Eagle Rock, but one that is prevalent to the wider city of LA in general.
“It wasn’t like Eagle Rock was isolated,” Alcorta said.
He said he thinks the increase in crime over the last several years is due to Proposition 47 — a law classifying any theft under $950 as a misdemeanor.
“[Crime] was all around [the country] and mostly due to changing laws on how you punish people,” Alcorta said.
Arvin Parayno, manager at Found Coffee, said he has not noticed any additional foot patrols since the investment.
“It’s kind of just the same,” Parayno said.
Parayno said that while he has not seen any foot patrols, he did notice LAPD officers stopping by in the past but that they would only come early in the morning when the shop had just opened.
“[LAPD officers] would come at 7 a.m., just say hi, and then leave,” Parayno said. “They wouldn’t even park their car.”
Parayno said it has been months since the last time an LAPD officer stopped by the store.
“Even after all that, we had an incident where someone came in and then just sat inside here,” Parayno said. “[They] didn’t buy anything — just caused problems and took a shirt from the racks.”
Parayno said he called LAPD, and that the police did come, but only arrived after the issue had been resolved. He said that he felt like nothing had changed since the initiative.
Sham Miller, the lead salesperson at Native Boutique, said that though people do enter the store at times, there has never been a break-in or attempted thefts.
“This one time, this woman who was maybe unhoused, but definitely on drugs, was shopping here,” Miller said.
Miller said that at the cash register, the woman tried to pay him with nail polish.
“She was like, ‘Did you know that when you’re pregnant, if you don’t clip your bellybutton during the eclipse, your child will have a cleft lip?’” Miller said.
Miller said he hasn’t noticed any increased police presence in the area, but said that he prefers it that way.
“I’d be fine with police [coming in] if they buy stuff,” Miller said. “I don’t really love police vibes.”
Alcorta said he believes that Eagle Rock is a community with a lot of potential for business and that he hopes to see it continue to blossom in the coming years.
“I think Eagle Rock is in transition [and] is going to be better,” he said.
Contact Michelle Teh at teh@oxy.edu
