- More than a month after an arson fire damaged a Los Angeles freeway, security guards have been hired to monitor the scene beneath Interstate 10.
- No arrests have been made in the arson attack, which closed a two-mile section of the highway for a week.
- The fire damaged about 100 interstate support pillars and prompted the Biden administration to provide $3 million in aid.
More than a month after an arson fire at a warehouse yard damaged a major Los Angeles freeway, three more properties leased to the same bankrupt businessman beneath Interstate 10 have been cleared. A security guard was hired to watch out for smoke and other troubles.
Associated Press reporters visited the site and found wooden pallets and other dangerous and flammable materials similar to the ones that caused the Nov. 11 inferno beneath the highway, which is used by 300,000 vehicles each day. I saw this substance. As electrical wiring snaked across the ground, rats ran under cars, trucks and RVs in various states of repair.
According to court records, the state hired security services to evict Ahmad Anthony Nowaid and numerous tenants subletting through him, in violation of a contract with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). I am subcontracting.
16 people killed in Los Angeles freeway fire, leading to renewed calls to address homelessness crisis
They are scheduled to appear in court again this month.
Wooden pallets stored on a property adjacent to Interstate 10 in Los Angeles on December 7, 2023. Since the arson fire damaged the highway, the state has hired security guards to watch for smoke and other trouble at three other similar sites. It's dangerous under Interstate 10. (AP Photo/Damien Dovarganes)
No arrests have been announced in the arson attack, which forced a week-long shutdown of a two-mile stretch of corridor critical to the U.S. supply chain and commuters in the nation's second-largest city. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the land was in the hands of “bad actors.”
Despite mounting accusations against him, the state is leasing more and more land to businessmen, and there is a vetting process the government goes through before leasing land under California's highways and highways. There are doubts about this.
Nowaid leases the storage yard where the fire occurred and four other properties from Caltrans, all but one in the I-10 jurisdiction, and owns his companies, Apex Development Corp. and Metro. It was leased through Investment Group.
Arson-damaged Los Angeles freeways to reopen, Newsom says
Caltrans said guards from Treston Security Services are also present in the reception area where combustible materials are transferred from properties leased to Nowaid, as well as in the maintenance yard where Caltrans has set up a temporary office. .
On a December afternoon, one of the guards, wearing a neon-colored vest, sat in a folding chair outside a gated storage area stacked with wooden pallets leased to Nowaid.
Six tenants who sublease space under I-10 described Nowaid as a bully. They showed the AP receipts for their monthly payments. According to court documents, Nowaid owes the state about $223,000 for one property.
“Where did our money go?'' Alberto Mazariegos said he keeps a commercial washing machine for his business on the property where he pays $1,100 in monthly rent. “The state gave power to this man. The state also has a responsibility.”
A person who answered the number listed on Nowaid referred questions to lawyer Mainak Dattaley. The attorney did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment on either of the allegations. Mr. Dataley said in a statement in November that Apex was not responsible for the fire and had made improvements to its facilities, but said the company had no access to the premises immediately before the fire broke out.
The Nov. 11 fire spread quickly, fueled by wooden pallets, hand sanitizer and other flammable materials stored in violation of the lease agreement. The inferno damaged nearly 100 pillars on the interstate. 16 residents, including a pregnant woman, were safely evacuated. The Biden administration has donated $3 million to the state in response to the disaster, but CalTrans has not released the final price tag.
Records show the state was aware of problems at the sites managed by Nowaid, and inspectors had submitted scathing reports over the years identifying unsafe conditions.
Lawsuit documents involving Nowaid during his dealings with the state starting in 2008 include:
— A 2015 restraining order granted to a man who claimed civil harassment from Nowaid.
— A lawsuit filed in 2016 by a recycling business owner who said she was subletting from Nowaid and was illegally locked out “for having two attack dogs on the property and presumably attempting to greet anyone entering the property,” said stated in the court filing. The suit was ultimately dismissed.
— A $70,000 settlement in a 2019 lawsuit against one of his companies to cover unpaid wages for construction workers.
In 2017, Caltrans sold the Nowade property in Ceres, California, which was used as a mobile home park. Residents filed a lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the property was left in a filthy condition and overcharged for rent. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Caltrans said the agency conducts reference checks before leasing properties, but did not respond to other questions about Nowaid's history.
Nowaid's name is tied to at least 20 companies registered with the California Secretary of State, including real estate, property management and construction businesses. Two of his businesses filed for bankruptcy separately in 2016 and 2019, state court records show.
After the fire, Newsom ordered a review of all 601 so-called “airspace” lots Caltrans leases around roads. The program dates back to his 1960s, and most of the properties have been used as parking lots, cell phone towers, open piles and warehouses. Site sizes range from a few hundred square feet to a few thousand square feet and are concentrated in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas.
This airspace lease has generated more than $170 million in revenue for public transit agencies over the past five years.
The sites leased by Nowaid companies are “an outlier, with relatively few sites having identified safety or fire concerns,” Caltrans said in a statement.
State inspectors have visited the fire site six times since 2020 and repeatedly reported that flammable and hazardous materials were stored there.
In February 2020, inspectors noted multiple subtenants, wooden pallets, and a washing machine. Inspectors reported hazardous materials in September 2021, and during a surprise visit in August 2022, inspectors and fire marshals discovered solvents, oil and a returning homeless encampment.
“This is a filthy and unmanaged tenancy,” Inspector Darryl Myatt said in his September 2022 report. “This area has been occupied since the mid-1970s and looks that way.”
That same month, Caltrans warned that hazardous materials were found at two other sites rented by Mr. Nowaid, and inspectors were denied access to the remaining two locations.
Los Angeles freeways to fully reopen ahead of schedule after fire, officials announced
In the weeks before the fire, a tenant at one property said that Nowaid had not only locked him out of his business, but that he had shown up “with someone with a gun” and was worried that Nowaid would kill him. said. The case was dismissed because the tenant failed to appear in court.
Nowaid's tenants at another property flagged as unsafe said they installed lights, a large water tank, and purchased fire extinguishers that Nowaid was supposed to provide. More than a dozen people work there for a variety of companies, from maintenance shops to scrap metal recyclers.
This summer, California Trans officials visited and told the tenants they would be evicted because Nowaid wasn't paying their rent. The tenants said they wanted to rent directly from Caltrans and would abide by the rules.
“It's infuriating,” said Felix Hernandez Rubio, a mechanic who worked for seven years on a monthly salary. “I have plenty of credit. I shouldn't allow idiots to ruin my name. This is a violation of my rights.”
