A stretch of Hollywood Boulevard just east of the famous Walk of Fame had been covered with homeless tents for years, until LA was about to host a huge event that brought thousands of people to the area.
Now that stretch of Hollywood Boulevard and Gower Avenue, and another large homeless encampment down the street at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Avenue, is completely free of tents.
"I don't think it's a coincidence. I think that they [the city of LA] probably did it because they knew all the eyes would be on this area," says Levi Freeman, a realtor and Hollywood resident.
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Freeman and his neighbors had been pleading with Mayor Karen Bass' office and with their City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez to remove the encampments because they brought drug dealing, trash, and fires to the residential area, which is full of apartments and new condos.
"It really was horrible to be ignored again and again when we're crying out about safety. Most of my calls and emails to our councilman were not answered," Freeman told the I-Team.
And then, three days before the city of LA closed off Hollywood Boulevard to thousands of families and cyclists for the bicycling event called "CicLAvia," the tents were removed, including the encampment at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Avenue.
When the I-Team asked Councilman Soto-Martinez if the encampment was removed because of CicLAvia, he said, "We don't know what happened to that encampment."
But LAPD officers told the I-Team what happened: They say the councilman's office requested a clean-up of the Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Avenue encampment, which took place two days before CicLAvia.
And, the officers said they were allowed to tell the homeless there they could no longer pitch tents during the day in accordance with an LA ordinance.
But Councilman Soto-Martinez insisted to NBC4, "We don't know what happened to those folks."
Those LAPD officers say some of the homeless moved into an abandoned house around the corner on Wilton Avenue, until police ordered them to leave.
Soto-Martinez said about 5,000 of the unhoused moved into a new transitional housing project in East Hollywood.
And down the street, that large encampment at Hollywood Boulevard and Gower Avenue was also dismantled the week before CicLAvia, as part of Mayor Karen Bass' "Inside Safe" program.
Residents of the area tell the I-Team they hope the changes are permanent.
"Our sidewalks have become toilets and drug dens for the homeless," says Hollywood resident Keith Johnson. "Businesses and community members like me are just pleased the encampments are gone."
Other residents like Levi Freeman say they'll continue to be speak out, even protest, if the tents return to their neighborhood.
"Everyone wants the same things. We want safety," Freeman told NBC4.
