Inglewood Enters Contest for Enterprise Zone Areas

In hopes of creating jobs and more tax revenue, Inglewood is vying to become one of only five cities in the state to have certain areas designated as enterprise zones.

Businesses that open in enterprise zones are eligible for state tax credits to help pay for hiring workers and buying equipment. The state Department of Commerce will select the five cities in early 1993.

“There’s about 20 cities out there trying to get zones,” Deputy City Manager Norman Y. Cravens said. “It’s very competitive.”

Only 20 cities in California have enterprise zones, and the five to be chosen are the last authorized by the state Legislature, said Deborah Areson, a development specialist for the state.

The City Council voted Tuesday to send an application to the state for an enterprise zone that includes the downtown and the neighborhood known as Lockhaven.

The economically depressed area ranges from the downtown shopping district on La Brea Avenue and Market Street southeast through Hollywood Park racetrack and due south across Century Boulevard to Imperial Highway. It also includes the commercial area that runs west along Century Boulevard from Prairie Avenue to the San Diego Freeway.

For Inglewood, the most attractive feature of enterprise zones is that employers in the zones get tax credits for every worker hired from a federal or state job training program. According to the latest county statistics, Inglewood’s unemployment rate was 8.7%, and about 12% of the city’s population of 109,600 was receiving public assistance. Los Angeles County’s latest jobless rate was 7.8%.

“Jobs are almost more important in our community than (new sales tax revenues),” Community Development Director Tony DeBellis said.

Over a five-year period, an employer could get tax credits of up to $19,000 for each employee hired from a job training program. A firm could also get up to $1 million in state tax credits for equipment purchases.

DeBellis said the city would be delighted to attract more large retailers such as the Price Club and Home Club, which already have stores in Inglewood.

However, the chances are greater of getting a freight shipping company such as United Parcel Service because of the city’s proximity to Los Angeles International Airport, DeBellis said. In addition, he added, freight firms employ large numbers of unskilled workers and drivers, which would help curb the city’s unemployment problem.

Cities that have the best chance of winning enterprise zones have municipal marketing strategies, provide incentives of their own for employers, and can list the names of firms interested in moving to the zone, Areson said. Each city must submit a marketing strategy as part of its application. The first 10 enterprise zones authorized by the state were created between 1984 and 1986, she said. In 1989, 15 more were authorized, and this year’s competition is for the last five in that group.

March 2 is the deadline for cities to enter the competition. As part of the selection process, the cities will have to conduct environmental impact studies of neighborhoods that would be affected.