Westchester residents protest against high-rise project

On Tuesday, dozens of Westchester residents rallied against potential high-rise projects that officials have billed as one of the only ways to address California's housing crisis.

"We are not going to be quiet," said one of the residents. "We are not going to let them get away with this and we've had enough."

The proposal aims to build hundreds of mixed-use buildings in the area's single-family neighborhoods. Dubbed "upzoning," the high-rises are part of Los Angeles' response to the housing crisis. They hope these will provide about 255,000 low and middle-income housing throughout the city by 2029. Most will be near major corridors or public transportation. 

The Westchester residents said that some of the buildings will tower over their homes, standing at about 15 stories high and holding more than 100 units. While they support the projects, the proposed high-density housing has raised concerns that the new residents will overwhelm parking and traffic as well as change the landscape of their single-family neighborhoods. In rebuttal, the protesters created a counterproposal with alternate Westchester areas that ripe for development. 

"We're absolutely saying that there are sites inside of Westchester that we are agreeing to," said homeowner Jolie Delja. We want to welcome affordable housing. We see that this is a crisis, but the crisis is going to be made worse if they upzone thousands of people's homes."

Among the protesters were Eric and Katrice Moore, whose home rests in the shadow of a high-rise.

"My backyard is in full view of about 16 or 20 windows that are out of this building," said Eric. 

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the area, said she has met with the group at least twice and is committed to collaborating with them to address the issues they've raised about the drafted plans.