Nearly 40
years ago in a historic turning point, Tom Bradley was elected mayor of
The
narrow-minded bigots who had wielded so much power for so long were toppled and
a new liberal leadership took over with values and a vision that was far
different on many levels.
Instead of
a city sprawling far beyond its boundaries into the deserts to the north and
east and along the coast and satellite centers like Century City and Warner
Center, they rebuilt downtown with towering skyscrapers that were heavily
subsidized public money and took the city’s wealth and poured it in a subway
and train system to nowhere but downtown.
Then, they
did the same thing for
as if the rest of the city didn’t exist. And it might just as well have not
existed for the billions of dollars in Community Redevelopment Agency subsidies
was money drained from property tax revenues that could have been used to hire
cops, pave streets, revive dying neighborhoods.
LA had
become less a city than a scheme to enrich developers by lining the
thoroughfares of suburbia in the
with cheap apartment buildings even as the defense industry collapsed and banks
and major corporations fled the city and with them middle-class jobs and
families.
The schools
became overwhelmed with poor and needy students. Gangs took over whole
neighborhoods. The tax base eroded even as the cost of city government soared
out of control because of sweetheart contracts with public employee unions that
along with developers supplied the cash to elect nearly every official in City
Hall.
None of
this was an accident.
The state
of
today with high unemployment and soaring poverty rates is the direct
consequence of the vision that has guided – misguided actually – the city for
decades.
What has
been lost along the way is respect for the city’s four million residents and
why they are here.
It was the
perfect climate and the unlimited freedom and the lifestyle that brought people
from all over the world to LA, that turned the Valley into the largest enclave
of middle class life in history, a place where barbers and mechanics could own
homes and parlay their growing equity into real wealth and security.
It was the
ultimate fulfillment of the American dream, a paradise for the common man and
woman who yearned for nothing more than a place in the sun to call home.
The vision
that has driven public policy for so long ignored what it was that attracted
ambitious people and good businesses to LA. Instead of capitalizing on the
virtues of
have tried to turn the city into New York West and damaged the quality of life
in the neighborhoods almost beyond repair and turned LA into a dense and aging
city with a 100-year backlog for infrastructure repairs.
The
principal instruments for carrying out this destruction are the DWP and the CRA
and nothing will change into their huge resources are channeled into
rejuvenating the neighborhoods and restoring the quality of life for the
citizenry.
It will
take a new vision for an LA that works for its people and businesses and that
will only happen when the professional politicians and government functionaries
who hold public office are replaced by people who have achieved something in
their lives and preserved their honesty, integrity and independence.
Staying the
course, accelerating the densification of the city, will not turn LA around. A
revolution in our thinking and in our political culture is needed and it’s
needed now because what is going on at City Hall is only making matters worse.
Amen!
Ditto Walter’s Amen!
Humpty Dumpty took a great fall, and so will downtown L.A., because it’s built upon a fractured eggshell.
Humpty couldn’t be put back together again, but maybe L.A. can. Right now it’s falling apart as well as falling down, and not from the Big One. But before that’s added to the mix, someone — or a lot of someones — better wake to fact that downtown is a bad investment; one I never understood.
And for all the money that’s been invested there, the financial “wizards” haven’t been smart enough to figure out how to clean up Skid Row.
The time has come to convene a blue ribbon committee of civic-minded people with input from Neighborhood Councils and other stakeholders about a vision for LA. We cannot continue the way we are, and we can’t allow one man, Beutner’s vision to shape the entire city.
Ron,
I heard you on the radio last night. You sounded like Obama when he was campaigning the way you read off a Christmas wish list of all the good that will happen by electing Clean Sweep candidates. “We need someone who can balance the budget, fix the infrastructure, keep the parks and libraries open” — and it continued from there.
REALLY? Steven Box is going to do all of that? You never sounded like more of a joke.
Obama WON.
So did Antonio. What’s you point?
You raised it that Ron sounded like Obama. Anyway, that is not the thread.
The problem with LA is that there are no jobs.
Why no jobs?
Because the liberals’ tax and spend policies have literally driven away every Fortune 500 company we had. Arco is gone, B of A is gone, and so have all the other money making, people employing corporations that could possibly move out.
And Hollywood produces other places…all for the same reason.
The LA City tax structure has not been revised in 40 years. Decisions by Rex Layton (anybody rfememeber him?)are still cited. Appeals are all denied 100%. I mean, they NEVER reverse the assesment.
Failure of leadership is correct. There is enough blame to go around and every single elected official, starting with the Council should be ashamed of themselves.
Urban blight is what they have done given us.
Change the tax structure; make LA business friendly, stop all the give away programs and stop overpaying your employees (that includes pensions) and see what happens.
I heard that some State Pension Funds may be immune to a possible State Bankruptcy…Is this true?
During the late Eighties and early Nineties, LA Downtown real estate losses that big Japanese organizations incurred helped create a push/pull factor. The small firms who could not afford to pay for the increases in their rents were pushed out…capitalism misfortunes?…or BAD local, county, state official economic policies?…Who is playing who? The so called economic gurus for the City better start working harder and begin to foster a Market Model that is comprehensive and takes into account the small fries and LA’s 4 million plus consumers…because all the small fries make up the Big Potato! Or, do the current policies of RE-gentrification have a “catch-up” purpose? To what end? Ask the Mayor if he knows how to prepare Lyonnaise potatoes…
Turning the city into “New York West” has damaged our quality of life? Ha! At least America’s biggest and richest metro area has managed to fill its millions of square feet of office space over the past 25 years.
LA, by contrast, is such an economic backwater that comparable space here has been begging for tenants. In the meantime, Northrop and the Hilton Corp, among others, have relocated their headquarters to the East Coast.
Go East, young man!
But apparently a lot of underachieving males (and females too) of Latino — and undocumented — background favor Los Angeles. So that combined with the weirdly populist and generally hayseed-yahoo mentality of people like Ron Kaye guarantees the city of LA is headed straight for the toilet.
The reason corporations move out of LA, for reasons, most of us may not know about, but can guess, is to a certain extent, the high taxes that sustain the huge and highly paid government employees and maybe quality of life issues. The traffic caused by unsustainable densities with no supporting infrastructure or viable public transit, which even if and when ever developed will exclude most areas, is reason enough to move to areas where life is less stressful. Add to that, vast swaths of the city that look like wastelands with high crime & gangs that are left in that state, and you start getting the picture.
As for the yahoo mentality, spare us that nonsense. Both the CRA and developers are in areas where they are not needed, cause that is where the money is. What has CRA done in South LA, Pacoima or the other poverty stricken areas where they are needed. Nothing, cause the developers need to make a fast buck and get out. LA is filled with out of town developers who are here to get rich, mostly through our dumb and corrupt politicians, and CRA. They densify and destroy our neighborhoods while they live in well-planned cities such as Portland or Hidden Hills where they are from.
Unless you are a developer or politician toadie, lay the blame where it belongs, in that corrupt City Hall, which continues to sell the city piece by piece to get rich carpetbaggers.
What has CRA done in South LA, Pacoima or the other poverty stricken areas where they are needed.
And why don’t you relocate your residence to those parts of town? Why don’t you try to move your business to such neighborhoods? Or find a place of employment or pursue leisure and recreation in those parts of the city?
Oh, you don’t. Hmm, how come?
Greed on your part? A desire to make a fast buck? Selfish self-interest? A case of racism!?
You make no sense.
Good post, thanks