Campaign For Renter's Right's activist victim of arson attack

left: Inside of Art's car after the arson attack. Right: from the outside

At 4 am on Wednesday August 5th Arturo Velasquez' car was set on fire outside his home. Arturo is a leading member of the Campaign for Renters Rights and is on the Facts For Working People editorial committee; he is also an LMV supporter and an author on this blog . He as been organizing tenants in his building for two years. He is popular with tenants for helping force the landlord to make major repairs and considerably bettering the quality of the lives of his own family and all the tenants at his apartment building in his low income neighborhood in East Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Tenants used to live in fear of the landlord and were cautious about making any complaints. Now the tenants are organized and their lives are somewhat better. After helping lead the campaign, the landlord spent a lot of money taking Arturo to court to attempt to evict him and his family. The landlord lost this blatant retaliatory eviction attempt. Again, this year the landlord attempted to take Arturo's family to court on another made-up charge. Once again, the courts sided with Arturo and his family. Last week the landlord turned down Arturo's attempts to get them to enter into mediation. Two days later his car was set on fire.

Last year all of Arturo's car tires were slashed. The community, his fellow tenants, and the Campaign for Renters Rights raised a Defense Fund and paid for new tires. We let the landlord know that we would not back down.

We are attempting to get Councilman Garcetti's office to force the police to properly investigate the situation. The L.A. Fire Department have deemed that the car was burnt as the result of an incendiary attack and that the fire was arson.

If Councilman Garcetti's office does not sufficiently force a full investigation, then we will call on supporters to help us push them into action. We will not stand by and watch Arturo Velasquez and his family be intimidated by violence and allow that violence to escalate. This is a civil rights issue and needs to be addressed firmly.

PLEASE DONATE TO OUR DEFENSE FUND. Please send a check payable to the Campaign for Renters Rights to the following address: the Velasquez Family, 4225 1/4 Lockwoood Avenue, Los Angeles, 90029. You can also donate through PayPal using the button on left. Finally, you can put some dollars in the collecting can when you see us out on the streets. We will not allow tenants to be intimidated in to submission and any donation you can give will help all those fighting for tenants rights.

Rob Rooke, On behalf of the national office of the Campaign for Renters Rights (510) 595-5545