This is a seminal moment in the history of black Los Angeles.
Gentrification. It is a dominant topic of conversation in our community. It can be felt on the street. It is the greatest threat to the stability of the historically black Crenshaw community, and urban low-income and communities of color across the nation.
On Thursday night, we’re going to break gentrification down, discuss the current proposal to redevelop the Crenshaw Mall, plan our resistance, and provide assistance those who are at risk of being pushed out. (Please encourage anyone facing problems with their landlord or bank to attend so that we can help them keep their home. RSVP now.
Our Stop Gentrification: Town Hall on Crenshaw Mall Redevelopment & Self-Help Clinic, will start at 6:30 Thursday evening at Christ Temple Cathedral Church, 3125 W. 54th St., Los Angeles 90043.
One-hour Tenant and Vulnerable Homeowner Clinics will start at 5:30 and 8:30.
Co-sponsors are ACCE-L.A., Black Community Clergy & Labor Alliance, L.A. Black Worker Center, Crenshaw Subway Coalition, Eviction Defense Network, Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowermen
Below is the full text of our statement of opposition to the Crenshaw Mall as currently proposed (along with 50 references to articles, studies, books, and documentaries).
The full statement, which includes videos and a few more links, is on our website at http://www.crenshawsubway.org/crenshaw_mall
You can also download the statement to print: pdf (3 MB)
Gentrification is the greatest threat to the stability of the Crenshaw community. The biggest gentrification project we face is the proposed renovation of the Crenshaw Mall.
If this project is built as currently proposed, it would rise up a gentrification tsunami that will push out Crenshaw’s tenants, low-income residents, and vulnerable homeowners.
Accordingly, Crenshaw Subway Coalition opposes the Crenshaw Mall redevelopment project as currently proposed…and if you care about the community you should too.
Fact: At 2.1 million square feet of new construction, the Crenshaw Mall redevelopment is the largest proposed development project currently being considered by the city of Los Angeles.
Fact: The majority of the proposed new construction is not to renovate the mall. Rather, the 1.2 million square feet of the new construction is to add nearly 1,000 market-rate apartments and condos priced at a level that existing community members cannot afford.
Fact: The developers can renovate the mall and add the proposed outdoor shopping plaza at Stocker/Crenshaw without violating the zoning code. The mall’s requested violations to the zoning code are solely sought to add 961 market-rate housing units and erect a 135-foot tower, not to add or renovate the retail space.
We must make it plain:
Black L.A. is under attack.
The gravity of what is at stake demands that we be unequivocally clear: To stand in support of the proposed Crenshaw Mall redevelopment in its current form is to stand in support of the end of Los Angeles’s black Crenshaw community.
We must call the proposed development what it is, a part of a deliberate “urban cleansing” effort concocted by elitist leaders in the public and private sectors who seek to push out longtime Crenshaw residents to places like Victorville, Moreno Valley, Lancaster or on to the streets, and replace us with the more affluent (the “gentry”).
We must acknowledge that the proposed Crenshaw Mall redevelopment project is an attack on the security of black families, homes and small businesses, the preservation and cultivation of black art and culture, the sanctity of black space, the strength of black institutions, and the potential of black political power.
Mr. Goodmon, executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, may be contacted at info@crenshawsubway.org