In the current redistricting debate, one of the most tragically ridiculous complaints by L.A. Councilmember Bernard Parks (among many) is that the new proposed 8th District “lacks economic assets” necessary to revitalize the district.
What amazing gall.
As the former chair of the now defunct CRA Crenshaw-Slauson Project Area Community Advisory Committee, I’ve watched Mr. Parks squander 8th District economic assets and opportunities for nearly a decade.
Since he came to office in 2003, Mr. Parks has failed to develop any strategy, push any policy, compose any plan or articulate any vision to leverage public resources to bring new quality development to the overwhelming majority of 8th district communities.
Instead, the district is littered with Mr. Parks’s devastating economic development failures:
● Vermont/Manchester.
● Broadway/Manchester.
● Slauson Corridor.
● Western Avenue Corridor.
● Industrial Hyde Park Corridor.
I could go on, but I think you get the unfortunate point, which is that the key milestone for economically revitalizing the district is the 2015 election when Mr. Parks will be prohibited from running for office because of term-limits.
Contrary to the perception of the 8th District that Mr. Parks would like to paint as an excuse for his past and continued failure, much of the district features stable middle-class residential communities with sufficient disposable income to support thriving commercial corridors. Take for example, Manchester Square where the median household income is slightly above Leimert Park, and Gramercy Park, where the median household income is higher than West Hollywood.
Even in the most economically challenged parts of the 8th District, like Broadway-Manchester, there are “density dollars” where high residential density leads to sufficient collective disposable income to support major retailers like Costco, Target, Ross, Bed Bath & Beyond, Chilis – you know the businesses that currently exist along Century Boulevard in Inglewood!
The Redistricting Commission has proposed moving Marlton Square out of CD8 and into CD10. Yes, that Marlton Square where it’s taken Mr. Parks more time to have a couple of buildings torn down than it took to rebuild all of Europe after World War II! The blighted Marlton Square that still looks more like an area in the worst part of crumbling Detroit than the foot of Baldwin Hills, one of America’s most affluent African-American communities.
The bottom line is if Mr. Parks had provided the type of focus on economic development in his district over the past nine years that he has recently given to redistricting, CD8 residents wouldn’t need to drive out of his district to access the businesses that we can support in our backyard.
Parks can’t even piggyback off the successes of his colleagues. Three years ago, in an attempt to leverage South L.A.’s two new light rail lines (Expo Line and Crenshaw-LAX Line) into new business investment along Crenshaw Boulevard, the CRA conducted an extensive visioning process and feasibility study to develop the “Mid-City Crenshaw Vision & Implementation Study.” The visioning plan evaluated current economic conditions, economic trends, land use, community needs, resident desires, and public resources to propose policy changes and a pathway to revitalize Crenshaw Boulevard.
You can read the detailed study here. The plan was soon thereafter adopted by the City Council. It serves as a basis for soliciting state and federal funds for public infrastructure improvements and development partnerships.
It is not a coincidence that the plan only includes the 10th District portion of Crenshaw Boulevard and ends at the 8th District border. We complained during the process that the plan should not end at the Council district line – that it should extend into the 8th District all the way to the Inglewood border just south of Florence. We were promised it would. Of course, it never was.
I and many other residents in the vast majority of Mr. Parks’s ignored district support the Commission’s proposed 8th District map. By trimming the Crenshaw Mall and USC out of the district, it ensures that our next Council member won’t be able to “phone-it-in” and rest his economic development hat on private projects they have nothing to do with at best (a la Crenshaw Mall) or thwart at worst (a la USC). Our communities need a Council member who will focus on bringing the jobs and businesses we need, want and can support to our neglected corners. We’ve waited long enough.
This essay originally appeared in Citywatch. Linda Ricks is a resident of the 8th District’s Hyde Park community, past chair of the defunct CRA Crenshaw-Slauson Project Area Community Advisory Committee, and Vice President of Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment.
