Betting Heavily on Los Angeles : The optimism and sheer ambition of massive Central City West

When--and if--the Central City West project in downtown Los Angeles is finally completed, at least 25 years will have passed since it was first proposed. So the City Council took only one step in a long journey when it gave the massive project the go-ahead Tuesday. Still, given the controversy that attends most “growth” these days, there was remarkable unanimity among the parties involved. That’s encouraging.

Central City West is the largest revitalization effort ever undertaken downtown without any public funds. It will cover 22 blocks just west of the Harbor Freeway. Besides the usual office towers and stores, it will have 18,000 residential units. At least 5,000 of them will be set aside for low-income residents, including some of the families that will be displaced by the project.

The inclusion of low-income housing is a key reason initial resistance to the project by inner-city residents was overcome. Credit for the agreements that were hammered out between developers and community groups like United Neighbors of Temple-Beaudry goes at least in part to the area’s council representative, Gloria Molina. Before signing off on the project she insisted that her constituents benefit from the urban renewal effort, and helped them push for fair treatment.

Of course, the council’s OK doesn’t mean there will be nothing but smooth sailing for Central City West. With the economy in recession and downtown already overbuilt with unused office space, it may be necessary to scale it back or delay its completion. But if there are political or financial ups-and-downs for the project in the future, riding them out won’t be as hard as it might have been without the support of the people who will be most directly affected: the folks who live there.