A claim against the City of L.A. and a lawsuit against a major L.A. hotel owner alleges a small private school operating out of the Grand Hotel shut down because of trouble caused by homeless housing.
KNX News' Nataly Tavidian spoke with Dana Hammond, founder and CEO of the Academy of Media Arts.
"Now, we're always asked, 'hey, did you know that a shelter was there prior to signing a lease?' And the answer is 100% yes. We were told that the temporary Project Roomkey at the time would be relocating. The incidences that we were experiencing had calmed down, and then unfortunately, the city decided to extend into the Inside Safe program," he said.
They had a 15-25-year lease at the Grand Hotel, converting several floors into space for his school. He's alleging Mayor Bass' Inside Safe program made things dangerous for students.
The final straw, Hammond said, was January 15 when an intruder entered their space, an incident that has happened many times before.
"We still have our lease, and we're in litigation now to go through our damages and our loss that we have suffered," said Hammond.
In a statement provided to KNX News the mayor's office said:
The school moved to the LA Grand in August 2022, before Mayor Bass took office. At the time, more than 400 formerly unhoused people were living in the Grand. We know that the school was at risk of losing its public charter school accreditation in April 2023 due to academic performance, oversight and accountability concerns beginning before it moved to the Grand. For its part, the City took steps to help address the school's requests and will continue to support Los Angeles' young people while urgently bringing people inside to save lives.
Hammond said the Academy of Media Arts stems from 20 years of work, starting as an afterschool program exposing students from Black and Latino communities to internships and hands-on programs.
The school launched in 2019 and grew from about 30 students to approximately 200.
LAUSD discussed the academy during a meeting in April of last year, and according to the minutes, the board accused the charter of education violations.
The school switched over from a charter to a private school, and Hammond refutes the violation, saying the majority of students went to college after graduating.
Hammond says he wants to reopen the school if he finds the right real estate.
If you want to help Hammond continue his efforts to support the community's youth, check out their fundraising page here.
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