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Over the past three years, an unknown number of homeless people have lived on the rooftop of Tahani Soliman’s medical practice in the town of Huntington Park, doctors say.
She says the group caused a fire, damaged the roof and dismantled the air conditioning unit for the parts.
To drive them away, Soliman said he installed an iron fence with razor wires and a metal cage around the outdoor faucet. She complained to the city and police about the vandalism, but said they were unable to deal with the issue.
“The police told me to put up a camera and I told them I had a camera,” she said. “They said I should put them on the roof. Roof, can you believe it?”
The city of Huntington Park told the Times that it had planned to reach out to Soliman to address her concerns.
Dr. Tahani Soliman says he spent tens of thousands of dollars repairing damage to the roof and air conditioning units installed there.
(Ruben Vives/Los Angeles Times)
The Huntington Park Police Department said it is working to address public safety concerns and is working with stakeholders to investigate not only the issues with the Soliman building, but also the broader issues in the neighborhood.
“In addition to our crime prevention efforts, the department continues to address challenges related to an unconformed population through a compassionate and balanced approach,” the statement read. “Our executives work with city and county partners to link them to mental health services, social support programs and shelter options and regularly engage in inappropriate individuals.”
Soliman’s Medical Practices – La Doctora – The Spanish word for “The Doctor” is one of three businesses surrounded by commercial property adjacent to a two-storey parking lot. She said the vandals used the top floor of the building to access the rooftop of her building and said she was in control.
She said it prompted her to install an iron fence with razor wires, but was eventually damaged by a trespasser.
On a recent warm Thursday afternoon, some of the razor wires were hanging from a black metal fence in a garbage container next to a caged water tap. A purple sweater was hanging from a branch of a Jacaranda tree.
Two doors from Soliman’s medical practices are the American BioClinical Institute. Passing the double-glazed door, employee Maria Pascual sat in front of a computer, her forehead covered in warmth.
“We couldn’t turn on the air conditioner,” Pascual said.
She said she noticed that the AC unit was not working when she tried to turn it on during the recent heat wave. She later learns from Soliman that the AC unit has been damaged again.
“It happened before,” she said.
Soliman said the homeless people have again disposed of the units for parts. Huntington Park Police said the theft occurred May 7th and officers were actively investigating it.
“We live a miserable life,” Soliman said.
The doctor said he expects he will have to spend thousands of dollars again to replace the air conditioner unit and do the necessary repairs to the rooftop.
She shared a handwritten, itemized invoice with the Times of forecast costs for installing AC units: $20,800, $2,300 for four AC units, and $6,000 for deliveries and using cranes to wind the unit.
The owner of the medical practice said homeless people were sleeping on the roof of her building. To stop people, Tahani Soliman installed iron fences with sharp wiring from damaged razors.
(Ruben Vives/Los Angeles Times)
The bill showed the cost of installing a new iron fence on the unit, bringing the total cost to $35,900.
She said the lack of costs and responses from the city and police led her to consider two things: retirement and the possibility of closing her business.
“I can’t take that anymore,” she said. “No one’s protecting me.”
Soliman said the problem was the two-storey parking lot next to her building, and it also caused many other issues.
Broken glass, human waste and burnt areas were visible on the parking lot floors and stairs on Thursday afternoon. On the top floor, the tire marks of a motorcycle with burnout were visible, and the metal rods on the iron fence that Soliman had installed were falling apart.
Across the car park is a residential building. Maria Louisa, 78, said she watered the plants on her balcony and saw the drug use not only by homeless people but also young people in the parking lot. She said the motorcycle was burning out and there were several fires.
She said the problem got so bad that the owners of the building had to set up gates in the building’s carports to keep people apart.
“They need to close that structure permanently,” she said. “That’s nothing more than a problem.”
On the other side of the street, walking to the apartment, 50-year-old Marta Becerra and 60-year-old Margarita Mota said people in the parking lot had wandered into the apartment and stole bicycles and other items from people’s pouches. There was also a car break-in.
“We’ve filed a lot of complaints,” Becerra said. “But nothing happens.”
“The police don’t do anything about it,” Mota said.
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