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.

 

Activist and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson talks racial tensions



By Max Schwartz

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Photo by Angela Hoffman

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Photo by Angela Hoffman

Activist, author, columnist and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson called in to The Hot Seat to discuss his background, the case of Marlene Pinnock and the broad issue of racial tension in the United States.

The case of Marlene Pinnock, the woman who was beaten by a California Highway Patrol Officer, is in the news again because her attorney, Caree Harper, was held in contempt of court. Host Max Schwartz and Hutchinson disccused the issue of Harper making $600,000 from the Pinnock case, the resignation of the CHP officer involved and changes the agency has put into place. The two also talked about the results from the changes that have already been put into affect, and they talked about the remaining reforms Hutchinson expects the agency to make.

Schwartz and Hutchinson also talked about racial tension in the United States. Two key points of the discussion were the starting point for increased racial tension in the recent past and the reasons for the current racial tension.

Reach The Hot Seat here; follow Max on Twitter here. Please use #TheHotSeat and #ASCJ when Tweeting about The Hot Seat.  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.

LA County joins City in considering minimum wage hikes



Text and video by Kimberly Leoffler 

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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and United States Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez advocated to raise the minimum wage this week, arguing that it would benefit all residents. They also lashed out against wage theft.

“If all the people who lived in poverty in L.A. were an independent city, they’d be the tenth largest in America, the third largest in our state,” Garcetti said.

“In January of this year, seven million Americans got an increase in the minimum wage as a result of state and local action,” Perez added.

The pair was greeted with cheers at an event in Downtown L.A. where hundreds of people with United Service Workers West came out to support an increase in the minimum wage and greater protection for workers.

Tina Tran said she was a victim of wage theft. While she was able to file a claim and settle with her employer, many of her co-workers haven’t been able to do the same. She says she wasn’t paid for overtime and never received meal or rest periods.

“The biggest issue of all was that I was being misclassified,” said Tran. “As a result, that’s why I was not being paid for overtime.”

Minimum wage debates have sprung up across the city. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors commissioned their own study this week to examine the effects of raising the minimum wage. In addition, the City Council’s Economic Development Committee held a meeting Tuesday night to solicit public input.

Originally published in Annenberg TV News.

District 8 candidates eye economic growth for South LA



Leimert Park is one of the areas included in District 8. | Intersections

Leimert Park is one of the areas included in District 8. | Intersections

Council District 8 in South L.A. — which includes Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Leimert Park and West Adams — is the site of what many residents feel is an important council race that could set the tone for future economic growth in the area.

Current councilman Bernard Parks cannot run again because of term limits. After 12 years in office, the former Los Angeles Police Department Chief is stepping down after having earned a reputation for fiscal conservatism and fighting labor unions even if it meant losing City Hall allies. On a local level, Parks made strides to improve quality of life issues, such as launching a partnership with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative to repair more than 100 sidewalks.  [Read more…]

District 10 councilman Herb Wesson aims for another term



Herb Wesson speaks at a campaign event. | Kate Guarino

Herb Wesson speaks at a campaign event. | Kate Guarino

Correction Appended

The residents of District 10, a portion of which spans South Los Angeles, will vote for a new councilmember on March 3. Intersections interviewed the candidates ahead of the elections.

Standing among crowds of people chatting at his campaign rally, the man wearing black jeans, a collared shirt and grey oxford flats appears to be just another District 10 resident. In some ways City Council President Herb Wesson is just that, he said. Wesson has lived in the district for more years than he can count, and has represented the area since the beginning of his career in public service.

“I’m a very, very ordinary person who’s been selected to do extraordinary work,” he said.

As he prepared for the March 3 elections on a recent afternoon, Wesson said his inspiration for his work is never far from his mind. During much of his time at the historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in the 1970s, Wesson said he did not know what he wanted to do. (He did not graduate from Lincoln until 1999 because an illness in his family prevented him from finishing his senior year.) But, that changed the day he heard Congressman Ron Dellums speak.

“When he spoke about civil rights and human rights and building coalitions at that moment that’s when I decided I wanted to be a public servant,” Wesson said, recalling the California Democrat’s speech at a fraternity sponsored event. [Read more…]

District 10 candidate Delaney Smith: “We can do better”



Delaney Smith stands in front of Moreton Fig restaurant at the University of Southern California, his alma mater.  | Hannah Vega. 

Delaney Smith stands in front of Moreton Fig restaurant at the University of Southern California, his alma mater.  | Hannah Vega.

The residents of District 10, a portion of which spans South Los Angeles, will vote for a new councilmember on March 3. Intersections interviewed the candidates ahead of the elections.

By Hannah Vega

“I know we can do better,” Delaney Smith repeated during a recent conversation about why he is pursuing political office. He is a candidate aiming to become the councilman representing District 10, one of the city’s largest and most socioeconomically diverse districts encompassing Baldwin Hills in South L.A., plus parts of Koreatown and Palms.

Smith faces incumbent District 10 council member and current City Council President Herb J. Wesson, Jr., who is running for his fourth term, and Grace Yoo, an activist and lawyer who works in Koreatown. [Read more…]

District 10 candidate Grace Yoo eyes an upset



Photo provided by Grace Yoo

Photo provided by Grace Yoo

The residents of District 10, a portion of which spans South Los Angeles, will vote for a new councilmember on March 3. Intersections interviewed the candidates ahead of the elections. 

It’s been a long day for Los Angeles City Council candidate Grace Yoo. Just hours after The Los Angeles Times endorsed Herb Wesson, the incumbent in Council District 10, Yoo walks into her campaign office frustrated about a neighborhood council meeting gone awry. It’s 8 p.m. and she still has hours left on her schedule; her campaign staff works to the soothing hum of laptops inside a small, narrow storefront near Western Avenue and Sixth Street.

But as quickly as the frustration mounts, it is easily dismissed. Yoo takes a seat and flashes a smile as she peels a clementine. Everything about her campaign, from Yoo’s fuchsia jacket to the hand-drawn pictures adorning the office walls is cheerful. She’s still hung up on the fact that the L.A. Times referred to her as ‘plucky,’ which she regards as a backhanded compliment (“Of all the words to choose?”), but even that fades quickly during conversation.

The former executive director of the Korean American Coalition is driven by a combination of faith and facts, her guiding compass to a seat on the City Council. Yoo, 43, a Los Angeles Unified School District alum, has been a strong advocate for both juveniles and the Koreatown community for many years. If she wins, she would be the second Asian American to ever win a seat on the City Council. [Read more…]

LA moves closer to legalizing street vending



By Emily Goldberg

Vendors at the Los Angeles Street Vendors Campaign rally chant "Si se puede." | Emily Goldberg

Vendors at the Los Angeles Street Vendors Campaign rally chant “Si se puede” as councilmen Jose Huizar and Curren Price take to the lectern.| Emily Goldberg

Street-side bacon-wrapped hotdog carts arguably contribute to L.A.’s identity just as much as its traffic and celebrity sightings. Although the delicious service that street vendors provide has remained illegal throughout the city, that may soon change.

In its meeting Tuesday, the Economic Development Committee approved a framework for citywide street vending regulations, moving the long awaited policy goal one step closer to completion. The framework outlines the tasks and responsibilities of several city departments including the Bureau of Street Services and the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I agree with my colleagues that this plan, as we would say in Sacramento, is not cooked yet,” said councilman Gilbert Cedillo. “But …this is an idea whose time as come. This process of legalization is a process that cannot be stopped.”

See also: South LA street cooks could soon go legit [Read more…]

Obama announces immigration reform



obama

Obama addresses voters | Flickr Creative Commons

President Obama announced Thursday executive actions that will remove the threat of deportation and grant work permits to as many as five million undocumented immigrants. This will apply to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for five years or more. Obama also expanded his 2012 action which authorized young people who came to the United States as children to remain legally in the country, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Since Congress has stagnated for years on creating immigration reform that changes laws and a path to citizenship, Obama issued the reform with his own presidential authority. [Read more…]