Wide Expansion of Garment District Proposed : Clothing: Plan drafted by Mayor Bradley and Councilwoman Walters would also tighten safety policies. Officials say manufacturers are spreading beyond downtown without the proper permits.

In a move to generate jobs and improve Los Angeles’ downtown historic core, Mayor Tom Bradley and Councilwoman Rita Walters on Wednesday proposed a dramatic expansion of the city’s garment district and new safety policies for manufacturers.

Bradley’s announcement came at a news conference in a sewing shop in the 67-year-old Financial Center Building on Spring Street--once known as the Wall Street of the West.

Over the last 20 years, the offices along a one-mile stretch of Spring that once housed bankers, attorneys, real estate brokers and business managers have been replaced by hundreds of garment-making plants that are spreading east and west of the downtown corridor, often without proper permits, city officials said.

The plants have spilled over into neighborhoods zoned for condominiums, restaurants, offices and retail stores, raising fears they will choke city streets with trucks and pedestrian traffic and strain police and fire services.

Bradley’s proposal, which would require City Council approval, aims to nearly double the size of the existing 2,300-acre garment district while ensuring the safety of its workers and the integrity of dozens of downtown historic buildings.

“The old boundaries simply don’t apply anymore,” Bradley told reporters gathered in a 12th-floor sewing shop that employs 60 workers, most of them Latinos. “There are many garment manufacturers who either . . . have not been legally approved . . . or want to develop in the downtown core of the city.”

But Stanley Hirsch, who owns several buildings in the garment district, objected to the mayor’s proposal.

“I don’t hear a solution, I hear absolution for violators,” Hirsch said. “I’m shocked because there was no consultation on these issues. The problem is we don’t have enough police, firefighters or anything else to spread the garment district out.”

Essentially, the proposal would set new boundaries from 7th Street on the north to the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, and from Maple Avenue on the east to Olive Street on the west.

It would also amend the Municipal Code to create a limit of one sewing machine for every 100 square feet, and require that garment makers obtain five-year renewable conditional use permits, provide adequate parking for employees and comply with city health, fire and building regulations.

“We expect 100% of them to be in compliance when we get through with this,” Bradley said.

The proposal was drafted by Bradley and Walters after a controversy surrounding an earlier plan to convert the nearby historic May Co. building on Broadway into an industrial complex for 600 businesses and 7,000 workers.

Bradley vetoed the plan in November. He said it would have increased downtown traffic and lured away tenants from the existing garment district only a few blocks to the east.

“In taking this action, we recognize the natural expansion of the garment district,” said Walters, whose 9th District includes much of the area. “But with this policy, we will finally have a standardized, streamlined set of criteria for that expansion, which will be a benefit to us all.”

Walters’ predecessor on the council, the late Gilbert Lindsay, rarely opposed plans to open garment manufacturing plants in vacated commercial buildings. He said the empty buildings were depressing property values and attracting criminal activity.

“There have been some terrible things going on around here--drugs, prostitution,” said Carl Stone, a zoning consultant to the owners of the 13-story Financial Center Building. “Councilman Lindsay was in favor of these garment operations and did not enforce compliance (with city codes) because they give life to the area.”

A year ago, Stone said, fire inspectors found that 30 garment district buildings were not in compliance. The Financial Center was one of 10 buildings that applied for conditional use permits to continue operations, he said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department makes annual inspections of garment district buildings, but officials say they do not have the staff to ensure that cited businesses quickly comply with city codes.

“We can’t come in here and nursemaid them every day,” Deputy Chief Davis Parsons said.

Walters said compliance is necessary to “improve the working conditions of those who work here, make it a safe place to work and contribute to the vibrancy as we seek to rebuild the downtown.”

Walters’ enthusiasm was lost on the dozens of garment workers ordered to turn off their sewing machines for the 30 minutes it took her and Bradley to pitch their plan.

The workers, who earn $5 to $7 an hour depending on the number of garments they sew in an eight-hour shift, figured the news conference cost them about $2.50.

Garment Plan Mayor Tom Bradley has proposed expanding the size of the 2,300-acre downtown garment district and imposing new safety policies on manufacturers. The plan, which needs approval from the City Council, aims to create jobs and save historic buildings. RELATED STORY: D3