Headlines: City Adds Traffic Barriers To Prevent ‘Fast & Furious’ Fans From Doing Donuts in Echo Park Neighborhood

Welcome to L.A. TACO’s daily news briefs, where we bring our loyal members, readers, and supporters the latest headlines about Los Angeles politics and culture. Stay informed and look at it closely.

—Echo Park: 20 years later and Fast & Furious fans are still doing donuts in front of Bob's Market, much to the displeasure of its neighbors. Now the city has added, in the words of Thrillist's Ben Meisrow, "a dizzying array of yellow plastic bollards... strewn all over the space, and two newly manufactured roundabouts and several one-way street signs... a disorienting jumble of yellow in unpredictable patterns in the middle of the asphalt" in an effort to stop them before the next movie comes out. [Thrillist]

—Downtown: As some Downtown landlords are selling at a loss or facing foreclosure, and one major asset manager has defaulted on three DTLA towers, economists see such economic challenges in downtown areas spreading to other cities. [Bloomberg]

—Woodland Hills: Police are looking for a male suspect who stabbed a 61-year-old Metro driver multiple times last evening in Woodland Hills around 5:15 P.M. The assault happened after a male suspect boarded the bus and began arguing with the driver. As the altercation escalated, it spilled out of the bus and onto the sidewalk where the MTA operator was stabbed multiple times in the upper torso by the suspect, who then fled. The driver was in the hospital in critical condition as of the last report. [KTLA]

—Downtown: Nickel Diner has announced its permanent closure, with its last day being Sunday. Owners Kristen Trattner and Monica May, who strived to keep prices friendly to their neighbors on Skid Row, wrote on Instagram, "We’ve stood strong and battled many things over the past few years. However, the margin for error is not as generous as it once was.” [Eater LA]

—Echo Park: Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who had run as a police abolitionist, had the windows of his Echo Park field office plastered with angry messages after he voted in favor of a city budget that increases the police force.  "You have blood on your hands," read one sign. "788 new cops = 788 murderers on the streets." [The Eastsider LA]

—Culver City: A former administrative assistant for a private school attended over the years by the children of many celebrities like Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Rob Reiner, and Demi Moore, has settled her lawsuit against her former employer in which she alleged she was wrongfully fired in 2022 because she is Black, female and had health problems. Attorneys for plaintiff Christina McCrary filed court papers on Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William F. Fahey stating that her case against Wildwood School was resolved the day before. No terms were divulged. McCrary alleged wrongful termination, race, gender and medical discrimination, disparate impact race discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation, while school attorneys stated in their court papers that McCrary was fired for a poor job showing. [City News Service]