LA storytelling+data from Jimbo Times

I’m a fangirl of Jimbo Times, who tells Los Cuentos de (The Stories of) Los Angeles. Creator J.T. is a voice hailing from East Hollywood, and he speaks for people of color, immigrants and other working class folks who form the backbone of Los Angeles and are generally unheard.

J.T. weaves data and storytelling together, and his 3-part web series on East Hollywood – a predominantly immigrant community, almost 90% of whose residents are renters – is a must see. It relates the harsh impact of historic redlining on people of color. But it also cherishes a historic Black and Japanese community in the area eventually known as J-Flats, where Black residents came to the defense of their Japanese neighbors sent to concentration camps in the 1940s.

"The future of storytelling in Los Angeles depends on making specialized information, routinely kept from working-class communities, or people of color and immigrants, widely accessible and digestible.

That's what our panel series on redlining, gentrification and housing was. It's what our magazine for East Hollywood is. And it's what stories about those making policy in our city will continue to be." –J.T.

In this map, Echo Park is pinned in the dark-red area, but the majority of the marked areas represent donations to Mitch O'Farrell's campaign outside of the Echo Park neighborhood

Election funds, Mitch O'Farrell and the eviction of Echo Park Lake unhoused encampment

A few months ago, Jimbo Times collaborated with a data visualization expert to create a GIS map of contributions to Mitch O’Farrell’s 2022 reelection campaign. It’s pretty well known that O’Farrell was behind the dislocation of unhoused folks from Echo Park Lake in a disastrous event that reflected the giant homelessness mess that the City of LA has proved unable to address. One of the arguments to support the displacement was that the neighborhood wanted something done.

However, it’s no secret that financial donors greatly influence policy – and here we can see that most of O’Farrell’s financial supporters aren’t even from Echo Park! The map above might lead one to question who O’Farrell is representing. J.T. 's research shows that at least 75% of funds for O’Farrell’s 2022 reelection campaign come from outside his district*. Read the full report Who is Reelecting Mitch O'Farrell? and be sure to share and follow J.T.’s work on his site.

Gratitude to J.T. for his work!

Don’t forget to check out J.T.’s podcast – the most recent episode (#68!) is Metro’s Nextgen With Kenny Uong, a public transportation advocate. You can support J.T. or buy him a cup of coffee for his work on his Venmo too. Making Our Neighborhood was co-authored by Samanta Helou Hernandez, creator of @ThisSideofHoover, an on-going visual archive of gentrification and resilience in East Hollywood.

* Source: LA City Ethics Commission