February 23, 2017
LAWT News Service
South Los Angeles recently elected and community leaders stood together at the site of 150 units of affordable senior housing along the under-construction Metro Crenshaw line, urging voters to reject Measure S, which would freeze investment in South L.A. just as it’s taking off after years of under-investment.
Current zoning in Los Angeles’s South and South East Community Plans make it extremely difficult to site the high-quality and mixed-use developments that will yield the housing and neighborhood options that South LA residents need and demand.
“Measure S backers are trying to fool South LA, but we won’t let them,” said L.A. City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “Measure S will stop or slow the redevelopment of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, the redevelopment of the former Bethune Library site, and market-rate and affordable housing sites alike, costing the community long-sought commercial opportunities and much-needed housing and jobs. We must make sure these projects, with the good jobs, economic investment and affordable housing we need, go forward. We must vote No on S.”
“The stakes are too high and the drawbacks too great to sit out of the March 7 election,” said Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson while stumping in support of No on Measure S. “Angelenos have waited too long for quality workforce housing and Measure S will only prolong the wait and leave hardworking men and women in construction related industries jobless.”
Measure S’s so-called “affordable housing exemption” has repeatedly been shown to be a sham. Urban and environmental policy expert Mark Vallianatos of Abundant Housing LA has demonstrated that of the 2455 units of affordable housing that would need a zoning change or a General Plan Amendment proposed in Los Angeles over the past 5 years, 95% of it would be blocked by Measure S. This is on top of the 9 out of 10 city-owned affordable sites that would be permanently banned because they need General Plan Amendments. In a city grappling with a crisis of homelessness, rising rents and slow building rates that lag behind demand, losing those units would make the problems affecting affordability in the city even worse.
A historically diverse and broad coalition is standing up against Measure S, a deceptive housing ban that pretends to “save neighborhoods” but would actually raise rents, rob L.A. of more than $2 billion in economic activity, 24,000 good-paying jobs, and more than $70 million from the city budget, cost L.A. workers $640 million per year in lost wages, force development into neighborhoods by blocking construction on transit corridors, and deepen the city’s affordable housing crisis.
The measure’s hidden “silent moratorium” bans any general plan amendments indefinitely, persisting even after the two-year moratorium, with especially damaging effects on planned affordable housing.
“Measure S robs underserved neighborhoods while deepening the never-ending crisis of housing affordability,” said Robin Hughes, President & CEO, Abode Communities. “It bans the planning tools needed to shape the future of development in our city for two years, and it makes it next to impossible to receive general plan amendments, which are vital to the provision of affordable housing. With Measure S, two developments in Abode Communities’ pipeline couldn’t be built: Rolland Curtis Gardens, which will place 140 family homes across the street from the Expo Line, and Slauson and Wall, which would turn an industrial brownfield into a vibrant mixed-use community. Measure S would be terrible for South LA.”
“In Los Angeles, we are in the middle of reinventing our city to be more healthy and livable, for all of us--more bicycles and bike lanes, more public transit, more housing along transit so more of us can live, work and play without getting into a car,” said Tamika Butler, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. “We’re walking more. We’re spending more time with each other and less in our cars. But the people backing Measure S have a dangerous vision that locks out their fellow Angelenos and pushes them towards suburban sprawl and car-dependence as the only options for future development in the region. A housing ban doesn’t make people go away. Rather, it's some people saying we got ours, you can't have anything unless you sprawl out. Please vote no and let’s build a livable, inclusive city together.”
February 16, 2017
By Danny J. Bakewell, Jr
Executive Editor
“Measure S is bad for our community,” said Council President Herb Wesson and councilmembers Marquece Harris-Dawson and Curren Price.
For years, residents of South Los Angeles have been promised a reinvestment into their community. Now that the Expo Line is complete, the Crenshaw Line is fully underway and major projects which must have local and minority participation are about to begin at LAX, anti-growth and anti-development proponents are pushing a No Construction initiative called Measure S.
This ballot measure would completely stop any construction within the city of Los Angeles for the next 2 years. Many within the community think that it is ironic that no one complained when the revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles was under way. No one argued that there was too much growth when the city invested millions of dollars to completely renovate Hollywood and Highland and all of Hollywood, but now that the majority of plans in process are along Crenshaw and other major corridors in South LA people are saying “There is too much growth and we need to STOP”.
Both the city and county of Los Angeles have a major homeless problem. Measure S would completely put a stop to the building of any type of low or affordable housing for veterans, seniors, the homeless or those just wanting to improve the quality of the housing stock in the community for at least the next 3 years.
Members of the Build Better LA Coalition spoke out against the upcoming Measure S ballot initiative last week and said it would hurt affordable housing and jobs in the city.
“Last year, L.A. voted on good, local jobs. Measure S would cut off those opportunities for apprentices, who need the on-the-job training as part of their education. It will also be detrimental to residents looking for work,” said Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
Majority minority communities like South Los Angeles, The Crenshaw Corridor, Inglewood, Compton and Watts are all undergoing major revitalization. “Some people want to call investment in our community gentrification, but the truth is a lot of families still own their properties and eliminating any opportunity to build, remodel or renovate these properties would only reduce the value of the property not enhance it” stated Jamie Potter a local African American Contractor who’s worked on a number of projects in South LA including the Crenshaw Line.
Measure S supporters argue that spot zoning encourages cozy relationships between developers and City Hall, and that those developers often get their spot zoning requests granted after making hefty political donations. But those advocating against Measure S simply state, “our communities need jobs, we need construction, we need housing and retail services which have long been denied to many of the communities of color. We already are the last community to get any type of reinvestment and now that the city has committed resources to our community those people who don’t own property in the community, or have not been here in this community want to bring everything to a screeching halt.”
There are billions of dollars being invested into impoverished areas. Some of the people pushing for Measure S want to say that there are no promises for the hiring of African Americans or other local residents and that this measure would help insure that we get our fair share. But this is simply throwing the baby out with the bath water. We need to demand we get our equal share of the jobs, the development opportunities and the opportunity to own and operate the businesses that come from these construction projects, but to just say stop and do nothing will not empower anyone and only create more slum and blight, create no jobs, and reduce the value of real estate within our community even more.
Mayor Eric Garcetti has come out against Measure S and said it would hurt the city’s ability to construct housing for the homeless because the units sometimes require general plan amendments.
The Los Angeles Sentinel encourages everyone to Vote NO on Measure S. “It’s easy to say STOP but the question is, what do we say GO to?
February 09, 2017
By Jennifer Bihm
Assistant Editor
Forty-three year old Keith Jackson was known to his community as a kind hearted and giving person and for that reason, no one could understand what exactly happened in the city of Compton on December 27,2016.
“Someone walked up to his car and shot him,” Jackson’s mother Marilyn told the Sentinel.
“No one really knows why…”
Jackson did not survive the attack and was memorialized on January 21. But his family and friends are still looking for answers and are asking that anyone who knows anything could step forward.
“The senseless gun violence must end,” Jackson’s family members said.
“When things like this happen, the community should speak up because it’s not going to stop unless they do.”
Jackson grew up in the city of Compton, attending private schools there like St. Albert’s and Verbum Dei. He eventually graduated from California State University of Dominguez Hills with a degree in sociology. The degree brought him to Los Angeles County, where he worked as a counselor in the substance abuse program.
In his free time, Jackson had been a little league coach and worked with Compton’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“Sometimes, if he saw people hanging around the park and they needed things like shoes or money, he would give it to them,” said Marilyn.
“He would just do it out of the kindness of his heart.”
January 26, 2017
LAWT News Service
Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price, who represents the Ninth Council District of Los Angeles, kicked off his 2017 re-election campaign on Jan. 21 at Total Restoration Church alongside 400 supporters, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer, Council President Herb Wesson, California Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, Councilmember Gilbert Cedillo, and numerous other officials from state and local government.
Community, faith and labor leaders, as well as local residents, also joined the Councilman to formally launch his campaign.
Since taking office in 2013, Councilman Price has focused attention on critical issues affecting working-class families, such as narrowing the gap of income inequality, creating a steady pipeline of good-paying jobs and helping make neighborhoods in the Ninth District cleaner and safer.
In 2014 and 2015, Price, who serves as the Chair of the Council’s Economic Development Committee, led the fight to raise the wage for hotel workers in Los Angeles, and was the author of a landmark legislation to increase the minimum wage for millions of Angelenos to $15 per hour by 2020, respectively. He has actively supported local projects that promote economic opportunity, including the $350 million, state-of-the-art Banc of California soccer stadium for the Los Angeles Football Club, currently under construction at Expo Park; and The Reef Project, a mixed-use residential-retail development that will transform 1,100 parking spots into a vibrant place to live, work, and play. These catalytic projects, and others in the pipeline—most recently The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art—are helping provide thousands of good-paying jobs and job-training resources for neighbors. As a member of the Council’s Homeless and Poverty Committee, Price was also a sponsor of a $1.2 billion bond, which will provide much-needed funding to build up to 10,000 units of permanent housing and wrap-around support services over the next 10 years.
Councilman Price remains committed to enhancing the quality of life for all South LA residents. Under his leadership, more than 15,000 tons of trash has been removed from neighborhood streets and alleys, over 1,000 trees have been planted along residential and retail areas, hundreds of new trash bins installed districtwide, and $40 million invested into public parks.
For more information, visit http://www.currenpricejr.com/citycouncil/