An L.A. agency dedicated to the preservation of Olvera Street has been hit with a half dozen sexual harassment claims since the beginning of December. The kicker: it only has about 20 employees, most of them part-time.
The avalanche of sexual harassment claims at the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monuments Authority came to light in a recent report by the city’s Personnel Department. The agency has been ordered to track all cases of sexual harassment in the wake of a national reckoning on harassment and sexual assault.
To give a little more context, the City Attorney’s Office -- which has more than 1,000 workers -- has seen six sexual harassment complaints over the course of four years. Which begs the question, what the heck is going on at this tiny city agency?
According to the Los Angeles Times, five of the six claims involve a single individual, 68-year-old Scott Crawford. He was appointed to the El Pueblo Board of Commissioners by Mayor Eric Garcetti toward the end of 2016.
Crawford has downplayed the seriousness of the allegations against him and said they’re part of a targeted campaign to nudge him off the board. The retaliation effort began after a personal dispute he had with a staffer, Crawford said. Because the report did not detail the nature of the allegations, the Times could not verify Crawford’s claims.
Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar has confirmed that a personnel investigation is under way. The city would not comment any further.