Last night, The East Los Angeles Area Planning Commission was forced to postpone their public meeting on the Tiao Properties proposed development project on César Chavéz Avenue because of the lack of a Spanish interpreter. A largely Spanish-speaking Latiné audience crowded the auditorium at Ramona Park Community Center to comment on the plan that’s been years in the making.
The purpose of the meeting was to deliberate on whether to approve the Los Angeles-based real estate company’s project.
The crowd grew restless as the commission attempted to move the meeting along. “What do we want,” one of the attendees shouted to the audience. “Interpretation,” the crowd exclaimed in unison. Commissioner Michael Yap wanted to proceed with public comment while a last-minute effort was made to secure an interpreter.
Diana Salabria-Valenzuela, Director of Operations for Variety Boys & Girls Club in Boyle Heights, was one of the few attendees who chose to speak. Salabria-Valenzuela spoke highly of Will Tiao, the owner of Tiao Properties, who is also one of the organization’s board members.
“During his tenure on our board, Will has served on various fundraising committees and has helped to provide much-needed school supplies and toys to a thousand youth residing in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles communities. We would not be able to fulfill our mission of providing academic leadership development to the youth without the investment of individuals like Will,” Salabria-Valenzuela said.
Aaron Belliston, a real estate broker and representative for Tiao Properties, said that the company has complied with the city process and asked to move on with the proceedings as planned.
City staff indicated no requests for interpretation were made, although many in the crowd pointed out a similar request made for the canceled November planning meeting. The commissioners ultimately decided to postpone the meeting to January 10.
Several minutes before the abrupt cancellation, City staff told commissioners they determined the apartment project complies with standards set forth by the LA Municipal Code and the Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Plan.
El Apetito/ La Finessa Colectivo, a group of housing tenants and small business owners renting at the current building on César Chavéz Ave., made callouts on social media this week directed at residents to speak against Tiao Properties’ plans. Other organizations who attended the meeting included the Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Councils, the Brown Berets, the socialist Peace and Freedom Party, and more.
Collective member Viva Padilla, owner of Re/Arte Literario, spoke to Boyle Heights Beat before the meeting and said she was hopeful for a large turnout.
“We need as many people to come out today and make public comment,” said Padilla, “and I’m excited to get our input on record.” After the shocking turn of events, Padilla said she was relieved with the outcome.
Padilla’s neighbor Rosa Garcia, owner of the Mexican restaurant El Apetito, could be seen smiling and jumping up and down when commissioners made their verdict to cancel. Garcia was supposed to be the first speaker during public comment but wished to address the commission in Spanish.
“They got annoyed because we wanted to speak in Spanish,” Garcia said.
The postponement is another notable event in a housing development saga that’s been years in the making. In 2021, Tiao Properties applied to tear down the property at Brooklyn Avenue Historic Corridor and build a six-story apartment building. The project would include five stories of apartment units, a ground floor for commercial use, and an underground parking garage. Five out of the 50 apartment units are set aside for affordable housing.
A development project must receive approval from the planning commission before being placed on the LA City Council agenda. The public hearing comes after Councilmember Kevin de León read a letter at last week’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee meeting supporting Viva Padilla’s appeal filed in September against Tiao Properties’ application.
This story has been edited to reflect the crowd’s combined calls for the East LA Area Planning Commission to provide Spanish interpretation.
This is complete misinformation; myself, along with several other people from multiple communities in Los Angeles, were present, and Lalo did not make this request, and it’s extremely disturbing that he would take the credit for it.