By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Contributing Columnist

“The city doesn’t do anything”

The storeowner in South Los Angeles I spoke with was absolutely livid that an abandoned, wrecked, partially burned-out car complete with an unhoused inhabitant homesteading in the back seat had sat in front of his shop for two months. He said he repeatedly called the police and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and reported the car. Yet, weeks later, the car remained there, not only attracting an inhabitant but also mounds of litter and debris.

This was not unique on several counts. The first was there is a labyrinth of rules and regulations to navigate to get a car removed on a timely basis. That frustrates many.

The second is that there are thousands of wrecked, burned, junk, and abandoned cars on South L.A. streets. The third and most confounding is the hazards these vehicles pose the longer they are camped in a spot on a street.

First, the numbers and then the reasons why they are there. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation removed 6,661 abandoned vehicles in 2025-26. The overwhelming majority of the broken-down vehicles were in South L.A.

The official figures do not give a true picture of the massive number of vehicles that are scrapped on South L.A. streets. Vehicles that are parked in the same spot for more than three days are regarded as abandoned. They are subject to citation and presumably being towed away.

In a one-mile area on South Normandie Avenue, I counted nearly a dozen vehicles which from their state of wreckage, disrepair and the accumulation of debris around them appeared to be abandoned.

So why the proliferation of these cars in South L.A.? In a comprehensive study on the problems posed by abandoned vehicles, the Arizona State University Center for Problem-Oriented Policing noted varied reasons for abandonment. They include theft, inability to make payments or repairs, the gutting of the vehicle for parts, damage that renders the vehicle a total loss, or simply needing a convenient place to get rid of a vehicle that no longer has value to the owner.

Despite the surge in abandoned cars in South L.A., city officials have been slow to recognize the serious nature of the problem. It’s not just a matter of a car taking up a small space on a city street.

A car that has nestled in a spot for weeks on end presents a host of safety, health and environmental hazards. They leak hazardous fluids such as gas, oil, coolants and battery acid. All of these are toxic materials and when released on a city street in an area with thousands of residents, the personal safety and health danger is markedly increased.

The proliferation of abandoned cars is an eyesore and also diminishes property values. The storeowner that complained about the abandoned vehicle sitting in front of his business for weeks on end also noted that it affected his business in the loss of customers because of the unsightly vehicle.

An unhoused individual inhabiting that vehicle certainly didn’t help matters or appearances. Various studies have found that property values in areas such as South L.A. with an overabundance of abandoned vehicles plunge anywhere from 15 to 20%.

Then there’s the economic cost. The rigorous, even cumbersome, tangle of rules and regulations to get an abandoned car removed come with a cost. There’s parking enforcement. There’s tracking down the owner. There’s towing. Theres’s storage. There’s the destruction of the vehicle. One study indicated that the average cost of hauling away a junk car can exceed $500. That’s just the cost of towing alone.

The single biggest worry of residents and business owners about the surge in abandoned cars in South L.A. is the increase in crime and vandalism. Studies have shown a heightened correlation between the number of abandoned cars and a crime increase.

That should not be a surprise. An abandoned car is a virtual advertisement for stripping parts, dumping drugs and contraband in, and a site for illegal garbage and debris dumping.

It’s certainly no accident that South L.A. has become a favored dumping ground for abandoned vehicles. There is almost no chance that a junk, wrecked, stripped, burned-out, abandoned vehicle would last a day in a West L.A. neighborhood. It would be promptly reported. It would be just as promptly towed away.

The owner would be quickly found and cited, if not prosecuted. Studies have shown that cities that vigorously enforce the laws on abandoned cars report marked drops in the number of abandoned cars in neighborhoods.

That could and should be the case for South L.A. as well. But for that to happen, it will take prompt action when residents report an abandoned car. It will take prompt city removal. It will take strong initiatives that warn that the abandonment of a car will result in severe penalties for the registered owner.

Anything less ensures that the storeowner’s complaint to me that “the city does nothing” will continue to be what more and more residents in South L.A. say.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is “The Garbaging of America” (Amazon ebook and Middle Passage Press)