Eastside residents are understandably leery of redevelopment.
Decades ago, in the name of redevelopment, thousands of them were evicted from their Chavez Ravine and Bunker Hill homes, which were razed to make way for Dodger Stadium and office highrises.
Now comes the prospect of more change, with the L.A. City Council last month approving the sprawling Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Project Area.
This time will be different, proponents insist.
Joe Coria, chairman of Adelante Eastside’s community advisory committee, says he has spent hundreds of hours over the past few years convincing his Eastside neighbors that redevelopment could improve the community.
He believes the majority of residents now see the benefits of redevelopment, but some of the community’s old guard still believe their cherished way of life is threatened.
“I have no intention of seeing any homeowner lose their house,” Coria said. “A fear that a lot of people have is a fear of big government that the City Council, the Mayor, the CRA are not going to keep their promises. We’re not like the people downtown, we’re your people. It’s neighbor to neighbor.”
The Adelante Eastside redevelopment effort calls for $158.7 million in public tax-increment funding to be spent over the next 30 years. As with all redevelopment project areas, public money for Adelante will be used as leverage to complement private-sector financing to be supplied by developers. While specific projects and sites remain sketchy, the primary focus is expected to be on retail and light industrial development. Because little vacant land exists in the area, much of the work will involve rehabilitating existing structures.
“This one here is a real diamond in the rough,” said Al Santillanes, Eastside project manager for the Community Redevelopment Agency.
But selling residents on the benefits of redevelopment hasn’t been easy. Memories of Chavez Ravine and Bunker Hill persist.
“That wound is still there and it opens up every time you talk about changes in the community,” Coria said.
Santillanes said proponents of Adelante Eastside have taken care to work around the “scar tissue” of residents who were displaced years ago.
According to the plan, any use of eminent domain to seize properties will require City Council approval, and eminent domain cannot be used at all to seize homes located in areas zoned exclusively for residential use.
One of the biggest supporters has been Councilman Richard Alatorre, who is retiring from his 14th District seat. While his successor will not be determined until a June 8 runoff, Coria believes that community support is strong enough to carry the project forward no matter how much the political tides shift.
“Politics aside, we need to get some things done in this community,” he said. “Whoever is going to be on the City Council, we want to work with them. We’re going to stay here for the long haul.”
Areas being targeted for possible redevelopment include the Sears complex at Soto Street and Olympic Boulevard and the strip of stores along Cesar Chavez Avenue. Road improvements also are planned for the area’s major thoroughfares.
“True redevelopment is done block by block, lot by lot, plot by plot,” Coria said. “I don’t believe we have any single other agenda than how we can improve this community, turn it around and make it better.”
One project that’s envisioned, Santillanes said, is a shopping center that would cater specifically to Boyle Heights and El Sereno residents, who for years have been forced to spend their dollars at malls in neighboring communities.
Santillanes said studies have shown that the combined buying power of the two communities is almost $500 million a year, certainly enough to support a local retail center. The project currently envisioned is a 500,000-square-foot shopping complex with several anchor stores, Santillanes said.
Coria, who also serves as president of the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, said that the vast majority of businesses and merchants in the area support this kind of redevelopment.
“As corny as it sounds, it’s for the greater good of the community,” he said. “They can say we need this, this, and this and let’s get it done with pride.”
The redevelopment project is currently in a 90-day challenge period, during which any opponents are to file lawsuits challenging aspects of the plan. So far, no lawsuits have been filed, Santillanes said.
If all goes as planned, work on determining which sites will be the first targeted for redevelopment could begin as soon as this summer. Funding for the major projects could be available as early as 2001, he said.
Project Area: Adelante Eastside
Year Established: 1999
Acres: 2,200
Spending Cap: $158.7 million
Spent to Date: $0
Accomplishments: L.A. City Council approval of project area on March 24, 1999
