COMPTON

City Services City Hall 537-8000

205 S. Willowbrook Ave.

Police (business) 537-8585

301 S. Willowbrook Ave.

Fire (business) 631-1175

201 S. Acacia Ave.

Post Office 638-0394

701 S. Santa Fe Ave.

Library 637-0202

240 W. Compton Blvd.

In Emergency, Dial 911 Government City Council: Walter R. Tucker (mayor); Robert L. Adams, Maxcy D. Filer, Floyd A. James, Jane D. Robbins

City Manager: Laverta Montgomery

Fire Chief: Monroe Smith

Police Chief: Ivory Webb

Area Lawmakers Congress: Mervyn M. Dymally, Democrat, 31st District; 322 W. Compton Blvd., No. 102, Compton 90220; 297-1930

State Assembly: Frank Vicencia, Democrat, 54th District; 16600 Civic Center Drive, No. 233, Bellflower 90706; 804-1436

State Senate: Diane E. Watson, Democrat, 28th District; 4402 Crenshaw Blvd., No. 300, Los Angeles 90043; 295-6655

County Supervisor: Kenneth Hahn, 2nd District; Hall of Administration, Room 866, Los Angeles 90012; 974-1022

Statistics Population: 88,105

Area: 9.92 sq. miles

Incorporation: May 11, 1888

Median household income: $18,241

Median home value: $45,384

Median age: 24.3 years

Race: black, 77.0%; white, 4.1% ; other, 18.9%; (Spanish-Hispanic origin, 22.0%)

FOCUS:

Confident Hub City

Griffith Dickenson Compton led a wagon train of 30 settlers here to form a Methodist temperance colony in 1867. Over the next century, the tiny farming community evolved into one of California’s 50 largest municipalities, an urban Hub City, so nicknamed because of its position midway between Los Angeles and Long Beach. In 1965, race riots in nearby Watts began driving away affluent whites, leaving emerging black leaders to struggle with economic decline and rising crime. Compton was declared an urban “disaster area” and one of America’s most dangerous cities. In the last decade, however, the city has begun to rebound. The Walnut Industrial Park redevelopment area, along the Redondo Beach Freeway, is lined with corporate warehouses that pay millions of dollars in property taxes. Downtown, dominated by a 14-story county courthouse branch, has a new shopping center. And residents carry a new pride and confidence.

Statistics: Donnelley Demographics 91985 estimates)