Pall Over a Mall

The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, a major new shopping mall in Southwest Los Angeles, has been billed as a showcase of business opportunity in Los Angeles’ black community. So why was the experienced black manager hired to run the place suddenly ousted and replaced by a white person with no mall experience?

Alexander Haagen, the developer of the mall project, insists that the dismissal of Louis George after only four months on the job was not racially or politically motivated. But the cold facts of the case raise troubling questions. George came to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza after managing three other major malls over the last 16 years. He has been replaced by Janice Hahn Baucum, an assistant manager at the plaza who had no experience in mall management before joining Haagen’s development company late last year. Her co-manager is Leo Ray, a black architect who is also an associate of Haagen.

Questions about George’s removal have been raised not just because Baucum is white and inexperienced, however. She is also the daughter of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who represents the South-Central Los Angeles area. Haagen is a friend and political supporter of Hahn and other members of the county Board of Supervisors. No one is suggesting that Hahn had any role in his daughter’s sudden promotion. In fact, given the supervisor’s long record of service to the black community and his reputation as a savvy politician, such an egregiously tactless move would be uncharacteristic. But what is going on?

Local civil-rights leaders are understandably upset by the decision to replace George, who gave up a position managing a large mall in La Jolla to come to the Crenshaw district. John Mack, president of the Urban League, said that the black community “deserves some straight answers to some serious questions” about George’s firing. We agree.