A Sunset Junction Native's Thoughts on L.A.'s Decision to Deny Permit to Sunset Junction Street Fair

In my mind, the Sunset Junction fair was cancelled when it started exploiting our community in its marketing to attract more outsiders, in the process excluding much of the community because of high prices and its almost exclusive catering to bourgeois tastes without regard to the diversity of interests in the neighborhood.

I've been a lifelong resident of the Sunset Junction (minus the years I lived in the San Gabriel Valley; and my permanent address was still here even when I was away at Berkeley). My family has a strong emotional connection to this neighborhood, as it’s where most on my mom’s side of the family settled when they fled from El Salvador in the 70s and 80s. And though true, that most have left, some (like my grandma, mom and I) are still here, and so the family connection to the neighborhood is as strong as ever.

I remember when the Sunset Junction fair was about the community: it was free, and working-class families like mine felt that sense of community ownership to go in and out because...it's our backyard. But changes started happening, like the “suggested donation” that then became $25 entrances. Make no mistake, I saw a noticeable decline in the number of working-class Latino and Asian families, and even neighborhood youth.

Clearly neighborhood dynamics have changed as a result of gentrification (i.e. the movement of capital and the pushing out of low-income people of color). But many of us are still here. And it feels completely unfair to be left out of the one time in the year that the entire community comes together. It hurts me when I hear my mom saying she doesn’t belong, or that she can’t go because $25 is not affordable for someone who doesn’t make that much money. It’s unfair that because we don’t live within a block of the fair route (we live 1.5 blocks away), we weren’t eligible for the 4 free tickets per household…because, you know, the neighborhood stopped at 1 block away from the fair.

And realizing that things have changed, I’m totally for having tourists and folks from the greater L.A. area come into the neighborhood to enjoy themselves. The problem is that the fair has become all about them. The organizers have forgotten about the community that lives here—whether we’re black, white, latino, upper-middle-class, college educated, working-class, or whatever. We are all here. We live here. We have to deal with the trash and the public drunkenness from an event that we are excluded from. An inclusive fair would certainly make us more cooperative and tolerant.

I’m glad that the city of Los Angeles denied the Sunset Junction fair organizers to hold the fair this year. I hope that this has re-activated community members who became jaded after years of the fair organizer’s close-mindedness, and frankly, arrogance. I want us to come together and work to make sure that the Sunset Junction comes back next year, better than ever, and with community backing. I hope that the city’s decision serves as a wake-up call to Michael McKinley, to take these next few months to really listen and proactively engage and work with the community. We can forgive you. Lets work together to:

· Increase transparency and visibility (in terms of money and the non-profit's programs)

· Implement mechanisms to ensure inclusivity of the whole community

· Engage the community (Increase community participation in volunteer groups)