South Central development project concerns neighbors



 

A new South Los Angeles development project drew sharp criticism from neighbors and health advocacy groups at a press conference Monday. A report released by Human Impact Partners found that “The Reef” development, slated to build two multi-use high-rise buildings, will place over half of renters in the site’s surrounding area at high risk for financial strain or displacement.

In September, the City Council released a 3,000 page environmental report on the development. The document has been has been a source of strain on attempting to be involved in the development process.

“In the immediate, we are concerned about the draft [environmental impact review] project that has only given us 47 days to respond to a 3,000 page document,” said Benjamin Torres of CDTech.

Beyond the environmental impact report, the community is concerned that the development will bring new residents into the proposed luxury apartments while pushing out lower-income locals because of rising rent and property value.

Read More: Neighborhood council to take action on Reef Project report

Los Angeles is the least affordable city for renters, and HIP found that the city lost 65 percent of state and federal funding for affordable housing between 2009 and 2014.

The South Los Angeles neighborhood surrounding the development is one of the most crowded areas in the city. In the community where 45 percent of residents fall below the poverty line, a rise in prices leaves many residents forced to compromise.

The Reef development

Residents hold a press conference in front of The Reef, which plans to develop two new skyscrapers in South LA over the next 15 years. | Caitlyn Hynes, Intersections South L.A.

Community members are worried that The Reef development will not include affordable housing, an issue that already exists. At the press conference, residents and community leaders urged developers and the City Council to consider their voices throughout the 15-year building process.  

Benjamin Torres of CDTech said he was concerned that the decisions made about the development would not include the input of the neighbors who currently live there.

“One [concern] is the long-term process and what the role of the community is, and making sure we have equitable community development that benefits the area,” he said.

Neighbors want South L.A. to attract developers. They also want development to reflect the neighborhood’s residents as they are now, not those who will move in to be a part of The Reef’s demographic.

“Let’s imagine for one minute what this project could be. Imagine if this was affordable housing for the residents of affordable housing for South Los Angeles,” said Jim Mangia, President and CEO of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center. “Imagine if that development was serving the people of this community, who have built this community with their blood and their sweat and their tears. Imagine if some of that retail space were community health centers that served this community.”

Read More: Some South LA residents express uncertainty with billion dollar development 

Dr. Holly Avey of HIP said that her organization was concerned about the negative impact that this development could have on the historic South Central L.A. neighborhood. The report found that community residents who are impacted by displacement and financial issues are at a high risk of a variety of health problems, including anxiety, depression, obesity and diabetes.

Beatriz Solis of the California Endowment said that some families are forced to make delicate tradeoffs, like choosing between healthy food or preschool.

Cynthia Bryant, the owner of a local ice cream shop, voiced her concern that when the development does go forward, the businesses in The Reef will push her out of the neighborhood. Bryant worries that the business space in The Reef will drive up rent prices across the neighborhood.

“I don’t want to be the first one to get on the boat if we get pushed out of this community, because they’re pushing us further and further. But where is the boat loading? Should I be the first or should I be the last, should I keep hanging on?” said Bryant.

The rising rents and subsequent displacement of residents worries Solis as well.

“At the community level, when people are forced out, the whole community fabric begins to unravel, and what cohesion and collaborative efficacy, or social and political power did exist begins to evaporate, making it more and more difficult to have a voice in community development,” Solis said.

Neighbors like Erendira Morales, a working mother of four children, say they want to be a part of this process to make sure that their concerns are being heard and addressed.

“We feel that they are playing with the life and the future of the people who live in this community. Our local representatives are not listening to us,” said Morales. “We have our interests, we have our opinions and we feel that they are not paying attention to us. We want to participate, we want to be part of this process.”

Call for ‘Black Lives Matter’ to Apologize



 

Pastors and community leaders came together at Mount Moriah Baptist Church to call for an apology from the Black Lives Matter movement. The actions of members of the local chapter upset leaders last week after a meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti took an ugly turn.

“We say today to Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, do the right thing,” Rev. Xavier E. Thompson said. “We are not against you. But certainly, you have offended not only a house of worship but you have offended the entire faith based communtiy.”

At Monday night’s forum, protesters turned their backs to the mayor as he spoke, and then surrounded his car as he tried to leave.

The mayor released a statement the next day saying “[I] will continue to be there to hear those concerns and find solutions to our most pressing problems. We must move forward and I remain committed to our shared concerns.”

Rev. Kelvin Sauls, the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church, revealed that he was threatened by members of the Black Lives Matter movement that night.

“I was there,” Najee Ali said. “I saw with my own eyes Pastor Sauls be physically threatened with violence in his own church. That’s unacceptable for Black Lives Matter activists to threaten anyone with violence.”

Although many people think this could cause division within the Black Lives Matter movement, Rev. Paulette Gipson, the president of Compton NAACP, believes they are together though their methods are different.

 

Content originally posted by Annenberg TV News.

 

Neighborhood council to take action on Reef Project report



The South Central Neighborhood Council and community members discussed possible courses of action on the Reef Project Environmental Impact Report on Tuesday, October 20, 2015.

The South Central Neighborhood Council and community members discussed possible courses of action on the Reef Project Environmental Impact Report on Tuesday, October 20, 2015. | Rachel Cohrs, Intersections South L.A.

With the deadline for public comment on more than 800 pages of documentation on the proposed Reef Project development approaching, the South Central Neighborhood Council said it needs more time to sort through the information.

“The language is hard to understand, and it’s just too much,” said council member Martha Sanchez. “I want to be able to understand what I’m reading. . .I want to have time for an expert who knows more to explain what this means to community members.”

The Reef Project is a $1.2 billion development of high-rise condos, commercial space, and a hotel to be erected in South LA. The project has received some pushback from community residents.

A rendering of the proposed $1.2 billion Reef Project development. | Courtesy of Gensler and PATTERNS

A rendering of the proposed $1.2 billion Reef Project development. | Courtesy of Gensler and PATTERNS

The paperwork under review is the Environmental Impact Report that describes the different community impacts the project could have on nearby residents. The Los Angeles Department of City Planning’s summary of the report describes that the Reef Project’s largest disruptions will affect local aesthetics, air quality, noise, traffic and transportation.

The report, released Sept. 17, is available solely in English, and is only available by either visiting the Department of City Planning office, visiting one of four library locations, or paying $7.50 for a copy on CD.

“Looking at this neighborhood, for [the document] only to be provided in English is absurd. We have lots of monolinguistic Spanish-speaking people around here. It’s hard enough for the average person to understand, not to mention if they don’t speak the language,” council member John Parker said.

The South Central Neighborhood Council has authorized a committee to submit a public comment before the Nov. 2 deadline. The statement will be based on community input the council has gathered since its town hall meeting last month. The exact content has yet to be determined.

A visual map of the location of the Reef Project south of downtown Los Angeles. | Courtesy of Gensler and PATTERNS

A visual map of the location of the Reef Project south of downtown Los Angeles. | Courtesy of Gensler and PATTERNS

The council also plans to submit a request to the city to extend the deadline, but the prospects of success look grim after another organization’s request was denied.

Reef Project representative Will Cipes said that although the official deadline for comment may pass on the report, the developers will still be open to community insight regarding a community benefits package attached to the project.

According to Cipes, however, the community benefits package with the city isn’t quite concrete.

“We have talked about the broad concept of an agreement [on a benefits package] but we have not talked specifics,” Cipes said.

Cipes estimated that the official city council vote on the development will likely be at least six months away.

The Environmental Impact Report didn’t measure how much potential displacement the existence of market-rate apartments could cause in the surrounding area. Preliminary analysis conducted by SAJE, a local nonprofit advocating for tenant rights and affordable housing, identified 4,445 individuals within a two-mile radius of the Reef Project who could be at “very high” or “high” risk for financial strain and/or displacement if the development is built.

To educate community members and provide a place for residents to voice concerns about the project, the South Central Neighborhood Council is organizing a community forum on gentrification Wednesday, Oct. 28 at Santee Education Complex at 6 p.m.

“We want to do something that is really going to benefit people,” South Central Neighborhood Council President Jose Reyes said. “We don’t want to do something just to say we did something.”

South L.A. Structures on Shaky Foundations



Thousands of South L.A. homes are at risk for collapse during a large earthquake.| Flickr

Experts say thousands of  Los Angeles homes will collapse in a large earthquake.| Cameron23, Flickr Creative Commons

Imagine the Los Angeles skyline in its entirety. Include the apartment and commercial buildings; the houses old and new. Now, imagine 50 percent of those buildings gone—collapsed either partially or completely.

That is the bleak picture that U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones painted for attendees during the 2015 Great California ShakeOut Breakfast Leadership Summit on Sept. 30.

Los Angeles has not experienced a major earthquake in 20 years. The last large temblor to slam the region was the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Since then, California faults have been in a quiet period that Jones and other experts on her team insist won’t last.

The period of smooth sailing has caused home and commercial building owners to relax their approach to protecting structures against the damage they could sustain in the violent shaking during a substantial quake.

Lack of action to strengthen structures, however, renders the millions of people who live and work in the city’s 300,000 unstable buildings susceptible to displacement from work or homes, and even disaster-related death.

[Read more…]

Fifty years after Watts Rebellion, residents commemorate in vacant lots



Watts recently commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Rebellion.

During the commemoration, the Watts Reimagined team, which includes Grant Housing & Economic Development Corporation, the Natural Resources Defense Council Urban Solutions Program and Kounkuey Design Initiative, brought people together in an abandoned lot on 103rd Street and Central Avenue.

During the event Watts residents came together for entertainment and healthy living activities like Zumba and food cooking demonstration.

Though the 50th anniversary events are winding down, the Watts Reimagined team hopes to keep these community building activities alive and continue creating impactful changes throughout the area.

Learn more about the Watts Reimagined mission here.

Watts Village Theater Company founder dies



Lynn Manning 2

Lynn Manning, founder of Watts Village Theater Company, dies at 60. | Photo provided by Watts Village Theater Company

Lynn Manning, co-founder and artistic director of Watts Village Theater Company, died of liver cancer Monday at 60.

[Read more…]

Additional neighborhood safety comes with Price



Councilman Curren Price looks up at the new traffic signal on the corner of Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street.

Councilman Curren Price looks up at the new traffic light on Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street. | Photo by Marisa Zocco

 

Alysia Busher did not notice the new traffic signal near her daughter’s daycare as she navigated the pair’s way from the bus stop at Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street, having to cross the busy six-lane intersection.

The struggle to cross the street had become so routine that Busher dropped her daughter off before noticing Councilman Curren D. Price standing on the corner July 22 poised to speak to a dozen community members gathered to celebrate the new safety measure.

[Read more…]

South LA residents march to protest neighborhood oil drilling



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By Diana Lee, Intersections South LA and Pierce Larsen, Annenberg TV News 

South L.A. residents protested against oil company Freeport McMoRan yesterday by marching through Jefferson Boulevard in their fight against disruptive – and potentially hazardous – drilling operations.

This isn’t the first time Freeport has clashed with residents over their concerns about noxious fumes, truck traffic and health hazards. The company, which runs 34 wells in Jefferson Park near the University of Southern California, faced numerous criticisms from residents when it tried to get a permit to expand its site last November.

The oil and gas group announced yesterday that it would be conducting a “routine cleanout,” according to issue advocacy group RALLY. In response, locals traveled to the drill site on Jefferson while holding signs and singing, “Stand together!” Others followed with: “…against neighborhood drilling.”

But the trucks didn’t come rolling in like the residents expected. In a gathering before the march, community organizer Niki Wong told residents that 15 minutes before the scheduled 7 a.m. visit, she got a notification that Freeport had cancelled.

“There is no maintenance work planned for today,” Freeport told Intersections in a statement.

Wong, who represents the Redeemer Community Partnership, decided to continue with the protest.

She said what the company calls a “routine cleanout” essentially refers to acid drop, in which they bring tens of thousands of gallons of hydrochloric acid and corrosive liquids to put into the area’s wells.

“The process for why they do it and how they do it is not very clear,” she said.

Wong believes the company has not been transparent about its practice to the residents, who only began getting work notices since 2012 through the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the agency in charge of air pollution control for Los Angeles. She wondered if the company got tipped off about their planned march and decided to call off their visit.

The company said it provided notice to the management district to conduct “routine and conventional well maintenance work,” comparing the task to what might be performed on water supply wells in Los Angeles, as well as all over the world.

Freeport said in a statement: “The work is designed to remove calcium deposits from building up inside the well bore. Rumors and assertions that hydraulic fracturing or well stimulation work are being planned are not accurate.” The notice given to the SCAQMD shows there was no plan for hydraulic fracturing, a process of using high pressure to pump liquid down a well and fracture the rock.

The agency received 29 order complaints about the oil company’s practices in 2014, according to spokesman Sam Atwood. After investigating these claims, SCAQMD issued two violations to Freeport over air pollution and odor.

Atwood said he thinks the oil company was told about the protest, but is unsure if that was the reason it called off their plan for maintenance acidizing.

Whether the trucks carrying toxic chemicals are responsible for health problems is still unproven.

But Kathryn Wiley, co-founder of Church of the Redeemer, said her sons now experience asthma and bloody noses. She worries that air pollution caused by oil sites is the culprit.

“I physically have seen these trucks come in and out around 6:30 or 7 in the morning,” she said. “They have people standing out, rushing them in before anybody could see them.”

Like Intersections on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for the Newsletter to stay in the loop on news and views from South L.A. Follow the author on Twitter at @atdianalee.

Also see this story at Annenberg TV News.

Healthcare fair comes to South LA



Volunteer Carmen Abalos enjoyed a healthy snack during a break.

Volunteer Carmen Abalos enjoyed a healthy snack during a break.

Los Angeles Trade-Tech College was abuzz with crowds, booths, colorful displays, food, and games being played under large white tents last Saturday afternoon. In one corner, children bounced in an air-filled castle, taking occasional breaks to drink bottled water and eat fruit cups. The adults moved from table to table, chatting, carrying reusable shopping bags filled with paperwork and hand sanitizer.

In spite of the carnival-like atmosphere, the event’s purpose was serious: to provide hundreds of L.A.’s lowest income families with healthcare before the day’s end. [Read more…]

Metro fare hike hits South LA



Metro Local

Day passes have risen by two dollars. | Amanda Scurlock/Neon Tommy

The Los Angeles Metro increased the fares for its one-way, weekly and monthly passes last week. A one-way pass went from $1.50 to $1.75, a day pass rose by two dollars while the weekly increased by five dollars. The monthly pass has now reached the triple digits, according to a news release on Metro’s website.  In exchange for raising prices, Metro will give riders two hours of free transfer rides for one-way travel if they use Tap cards.

“We have some of the lowest fares in the country, even with the change,” said Dave Sotero, a spokesman for Metro.

In order to raise the fees, Metro conducted several public hearings before presenting the recommendation to the board of directors. The public transportation company raised the fees in order to gain revenue.

The majority of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Mayor Eric Garcetti, approved of the increase, which effects both buses and rail lines.

“We currently get about 26 percent of our revenue from the fare box,” said Sotero. Part of that money will go to the operating deficit. Metro needs funding to maintain 2,228 buses and 87 miles of rail within the county, according to Sotero.

“As we continue to expand the transit system and make transit more useful for more Angelenos, our operating costs increase accordingly,” he said.

Click to hear the opinions of South L.A. bus-goers:

However, Metro has long needed to persevere through deficits according to Lisa Schweitzer, Associate Professor of the Price School of Public Policy at USC.

“They’re always scrambling for revenue,” she said. “Raising fares can be a dangerous thing to do.”

Eric Romann, an organizer at the Bus Rider’s Union believes the raise will have a negative impact on working class people.

“It will hit hard for people who are earning less money,” he said.

The fee hikes could encourage people to opt out of taking the bus, he added, which could boost street congestion, he added.

“It’s essentially discouraging people from using mass transit.”

Sotero, however, predicts that even people who stop taking the bus due to the cost increase will eventually gravitate back to Metro.

“I anticipate a dip in ridership for about six months,” he said. “Ridership has traditionally come back normal after a six month period.”

See also from Intersections: Bus Riders Union superhero El Pasajero protests proposed fare increase

This article was originally published on Neon Tommy. Reach Staff Reporter Amanda Scurlock here. Follow her on Twitter here.