McOsker Brings Private Security Back to Businesses in Wilmington

On July 15, private security firm Peak Security resumed patrolling Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington, after being absent for about a year. There are about 250 businesses on Avalon, said Monica Diaz, CEO of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. To cover all these businesses, there are at least two unarmed guards on duty during these specific hours: 8 a.m. to midnight on Monday and Tuesday, and 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Sometimes there are four, as shifts sometimes overlap.

Jackuelin Correa, owner of LA Waterfront Pizza, noticed a difference when they were gone.

“When LAPD is just not going to come, or going to take a while, they would come and help out immediately,” Correa said.

Peak Security initially patrolled Avalon Boulevard from Water Street to Opp Street from August 2022 to July 2023. The Council District 15 Office paid for the security during this initial period, when Joe Buscaino was in office.

Diaz said that Councilman Tim McOsker inherited the contract that Buscaino started, and honored it when he took office. However, when that initial contract ended in July 2023, it was not renewed — but not for lack of trying.

“They did opt to extend it, but they missed the renewal of it,” Diaz said.

It had been about a year since Peak Security had stopped patrolling the area, and Diaz said that businesses were suffering.

“A lot of our street businesses, on Avalon, the storefronts, they keep their doors locked during business hours,” Diaz said.

Diaz said there was even a shooting in the alley behind the municipal building, which is also on Avalon.

The CD15 office is paying for this security with money from the AB1290 fund. This is money that comes from the state property taxes, but has been given to the Los Angeles City Council. These are considered discretionary funds, as it is up to each councilmember’s discretion how the money that is allocated to their district is used.

Diaz said she doesn’t actually know the details of the contract between the city and Peak Security.

“I am no longer privy to what agreement looks like for our security, since our new council office is funding that,” Diaz said. “So I don’t know what the contract is.”

When Buscaino was in office, she knew exactly what the contract said, because it was a collaboration between the city and the chamber.

“I mean, it’s still a collaboration, but contractually it is not,” Diaz said.

Tramell Mcwilliams, one of Peak Security’s guards, said that his job is to make sure that areas in front of businesses are clear of homeless people, and to escort them away if they are having episodes.

Mcwilliams said it was only his third day working in Wilmington, but that he had been working for Peak Security in San Pedro for seven months prior. He said that San Pedro is cleaner, and the unhoused residents there tend to be more respectful, as many of them are also Black.

“Versus out here, like, it’s a majority Hispanics,” Mcwilliams said. “I’m an African American, so when they see my skin, they get irritated real fast, like ‘oh my God, a Black man is trying to tell me what to do.’”

Mcwilliams said that unhoused residents in Wilmington would be more likely to argue with him, and he’s seen a lot of drug use. Since he is unarmed, he can’t really do anything if the people he speaks with get aggressive.

“All we can is walk away,” Mcwilliams said. “Because we don’t have pepper spray, we don’t have anything to protect us. All we can do is just walk away, record them, and call the police.”

On Fridays, the city conducts a cleanup of the area and police make the unhoused residents move — but there’s nowhere for them to go, so he often sees them just set up tents across the street, or go near the grocery store. Mcwilliams had had to escort a man with a tennis racket away from the front of the store.

“It’s a very big issue for the supermarkets,” Mcwilliams said. “Because that’s the reason why the guy was out there with a tennis racket, and swinging it at people, because the police and trash people, they went out and took these people’s tents, and their belongings and stuff.”

While the CD15 press release stated that the area is the Merchant Business Improvement District, or MBID, Diaz said this is technically incorrect. That area is actually a prospective Property Business Improvement District, or PBID. The chamber oversees the MBID, but it’s primarily from F Street to Opp Street.

Both a MBID and PBID involve paying a certain amount of money to use for the betterment of the area. The difference is that the MBID is only paid into by the merchants, while the BPID is paid into by all property owners.

“Depending on how … the PBID is established, it depends on how and what amount does property owner pay into,” Diaz said. “Certainly, a property owner that owns an empty parking lot might not pay the same into [as] a property owner that owns a large commercial, but the lot is small. There’s certain metrics involved in how much they pay.”

Diaz pointed out that the San Pedro PBID used to be an MBID, and that changing into a PBID can potentially go from a five digit pot of money to a six digit pot.

Sara Canas, business development manager of LA Beauty Treatments, said that they had only recently opened their doors, because the building was under renovation for a year and a half. The business has been having issues with security, and cleanliness outside its property. She says that she has even seen fires set in the alley.

“We have to manually open our gate right now because that’s the one part of the building that we just haven’t touched yet, is getting automatic gates,” Canas said. “There’s usually a lot of human feces and animal feces outside of our gate.”

Canas said this is despite port-a-potties being available. Canas said that when they have left the gate open, there have been thefts on the property. Other times people have set up tents.

“We’re primarily focused on a business that has to deal with women,” Canas said. “We’ve heard a lot of our clients just be like ‘oh hey, look, is it safe, can I go in the back?’ Or ‘are you sure nothing’s going to happen?’”

Canas said that homelessness is a really tough issue. 

“We don’t want to disregard that you know, these people also need help,” Canas said. “But it’s also asking the city to take in consideration that in order for our businesses to thrive in this area, we also need assistance.”

Canas said they usually don’t have the doors completely open, because sometimes people will come in who are having episodes. If someone knocks, they’ll let them in.

Canas said she has not noticed a difference yet, now that Peak Security is back to patrolling. She is relatively new to her position, so was not around when Peak Security was first working on Avalon. When asked if the security guards had made a difference already, Correa pointed out that it had only been a few days.