During the "townhall" portion of a meeting of the Echo Park Improvement Association this evening, the feeling in the room was quite urgent that something be done about the informal/not legal every-Sunday flea market at Echo Park Lake. For about two years various neighborhood activists have been trying to get the city to shut down the open-air market, at which unlicensed vendors sell all kinds of unlicensed goods. Toys, clothes, batteries. Stuff. A majority (though certainly not huge) of the activists are white and middle class, and most of the vendors are Latino and probably poor. It's a zig-zag border between the two groups. Like so many land-use disputes, what looks on the surface like a racial divide turns out to be a class issue. It's one of those things where you choose sides no matter what you do, no matter what happens.

Last night, lots of strategies were discussed, including filing claims against the city due to blocked access to parkland. Senior Lead Officer Bobby Hill of the Northeast Division volunteered to increase police presence at the park, "because it's Echo Park," he said, even though the lake is technically Rampart Division's responsibility. The rep for Rampart was more subdued. Alejandra Marroquin, deputy for Eric Garcetti, at one point told the room she would not discuss specifics because there appeared to be journalists present (spies!).

At last night's meeting, at Barlow Hospital, a couple of residents brought pictures that they said showed a man with a machete, taken Saturday night in the park. (They gave the pics to the neighborhood attorney, Andre Quintero.) They said machete-man was extorting money to reserve park spaces. Ropes and string were being used as demarcation.

Someone pointed out that the park is closed after 10 p.m. Which makes machete-man's late-night presence in the park an enforceable code violation!

I also heard tell of hipsters who had started joining the paisanos, selling their hipster wares alongside the tube socks. Maybe they had black socks and bootleg Afghan Whigs cassettes.

The police officer from Rampart Division told the crowd that they should call 311 to report code violations in the park. But, he added, if you see a guy with a machete, call 911.

(Postcard image via the Echo Park Historical Society.)

It's all about the way people want to live. Everyone wants parks and green space. But some people want their green space as pastoral as the city will allow -- with extremely limited commerce; they want sporting behavior and picnics = leisure. And some people want to use it for selling; they thrive on the hustle-bustle, and the crowd. Some of the latter group come from countries, like Mexico, where it's traditional to buy and sell in the plazas. Perhaps some of these people literally do not have a day off to go to a park and do nothing but play. Others hew to the Anglo tradition of parks for recreation only, with exceptions for recreation-supporting sales like snacks and boat tickets. It's two traditions clashing, and the city caught between.

In all honesty, it's very hard to get the tone right on this story. My own feelings are all over the place -- there seems to be no getting around the fact that at the core of the park-use debate is a clash of cultural values. I feel great sympathy for people who are striving and struggling at the same time to get a foothold in this country. I think that being PC is a very good thing, and I want to be on their side. But I see at the mess in the park, the litter, the usurpation of leisure/recreational use, and I want to push back. I am an interested party. In the end I choose to believe that a great city has to "protect" its parks, maintaining the grounds, providing a refuge for urban wildlife, and for urban humanity as well, from the hustle and commerce that surrounds us so overwhelmingly in non-park areas of Los Angeles. The code word here is: Sanctuary. For the vendors, another place should be found and made friendly and affordable. Perhaps both sides could work together to make that happen, a diplomatic solution.

For the record, it kills me to see the park getting trampled every year at Lotus Fest, which in the past drew too many people and allows them by the many hundreds onto the island, where birds have ground nests. The difference here is that the fees (I presume) that the vendors pay to the city help maintain the park. But still...

*Edited post.