Plains E.
Yelp
Besides the reports of rampant package and vehicle theft, a few incidents from my residence here really stand out.
In April, 2024, a person attempted to break down my front door while I was asleep. Management never followed up and security (we don't have dedicated security just a contracted intermittent roving patrol) brushed it off as a drunk resident. A few hours after the attempted break-in, a homeless person trespassed onto the property and set up camp in front of my door (I've since picked up a Ring and routinely capture all kinds of bizarre things). Several days later, a staff member casually mentioned that some other apartments had recently been forcibly broken into, at least one while the residents were inside.
More recently, strange events have become much more commonplace. Last month, a visit by police officers resulted in a resident (or guest) quickly exiting a 5th floor balcony onto the sidewalk on Cesar Chavez Ave. Just before that incident, in August 2024, I smelled smoke inside my unit. While it is not uncommon for homeless people to set up camp on Jia property and start little fires, this one persisted a little longer than usual. Directly below my unit, someone had lit debris on fire next to a power transformer, jeopardizing not only the building and its many residents, but the entire block (you can exerpts of video from this incident on youtube). Even though Chinatown security (CBID) had already responded to the fire/perpetrator and I emailed the LAPD senior lead officer assigned to my district, an Equity Residential employee named "Sam" assumed I did nothing and suggested on our residential messageboard that I call the police next time. Even though management was well aware of the situation (their response was to call the head custodian), the arsonist hung out at the building for the next two days and built an elaborate encampment. Ignoring the obvious logic that a request for LAFD is probably the first course of action, a renter has no legal standing to order police to remove someone from a property that they do not own. This responsibility lies solely with owners and/or management. While I understand that office staff are leasing agents and have little incentive to assist residents and prevent criminal activity, inaction that leads to the loss of life or damage to a valuable investment property represents the epitome of mismanagement that borders on psycopathy. As a desparate measure to at least elicit some sort of response by Jia, I have public posted photos and video of all incidents and tagged the names of Equity senior management in the metadata. This company is publicly traded, so I figure that its executive officers and investors might be curious to how their properties are run.
On a lighter note, for the month of September, 2024, clothing became optional. Pictured below, a gentleman stripped down to his boxers and rantsed and raved in front of the Ord Street entrance for most of the morning. By a stroke of luck, I found another jerk hanging out at the parking garage entrance. Even though the latter incident took place during the middle of a weekday (not on a closed Monday), the office was closed, they did not answer their phone, and the call forwarded to a security dispatcher who didn't even ask for a description of the person. A couple weeks later, a fully nude man ran through the hallways and parking garage and did not leave for many hours (although someone eventually threw him a blanket). If you have children or value your safety, keep in mind that individuals who exibit this sort of behavior lack inhibition and may even be convicted sex offenders (before you decide to rent at Jia Apartments, visit www.meganslaw.ca.gov and check the box to include transients just to see what kind of locals you may need to deal with).
