CRENSHAW : ‘Rebuild’ Group Gains Momentum

At Crenshaw and Adams boulevards stands a gutted Unocal station. About half a mile south, at Slauson Avenue, the Crenshaw Town Centre is a blackened hulk; only The Boys market and Pete’s Haven Burgers remain open in what was once a sprawling, bustling mini-mall.

Yet even as burned-out businesses await their fate along Crenshaw, a grass-roots group already has bigger plans. The Rebuild Crenshaw Committee wants to see the area made better than it was before the April-May riots.

“It’s up to us, but I believe Crenshaw will blossom,” said Ron Smothers, who owns four Burger King franchises in the area. “We’re coming back.”

Smothers, a Crenshaw resident, was initially skeptical of Rebuild Crenshaw and other efforts that he saw as focusing solely on physical rebuilding. Now, he said, he is convinced that Rebuild Crenshaw has its priorities right.

“I attended a meeting, and actually, it was useful, mainly because they were coming up with ideas and actions specific to Crenshaw,” he said. “This thing has to be citizen-based in order to work.”

In its three meetings, the committee has organized nine task forces, including ones focusing on human relations, homeowners, community development, youth and the arts.

The group presented task-force priorities to the community at an August meeting and from there will develop specific plans to implement, according to Valerie Shaw, an aide to City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Shaw said many of the 350 people who attended the meeting do not live in the Crenshaw area, but were eager to contribute.

“We’ve decided what things are most important in attracting new businesses and preserving or rebuilding existing ones,” said Gregory Love, president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce and head of the business task force. “Some of those things are security of the area, effective marketing and developing tourism of the arts community.”

Organized by Galanter and area residents, Rebuild Crenshaw is focusing not only on reconstructing buildings, but also improving its 13.5-square-mile back yard, which is roughly bounded by La Brea Avenue on the west, Arlington Avenue on the east, Adams Boulevard on the north and Slauson Avenue on the south.

Rebuild Crenshaw organizers said they launched their effort, in part, because they do not know how long it will take for Rebuild L.A., the city’s largest reconstruction effort, to begin work in their area.

Jackie Dupont-Walker, project manager for Rebuild L.A., said her organization is prepared to work with Rebuild Crenshaw. “We’re a receptor of their ideas,” she said. “Community participation is part of our philosophy. We can’t wait to work directly with them.”

Ted Lumpkin, a real estate agent and president of Crenshaw Neighbors Inc., said Rebuild Crenshaw and Rebuild L.A. will complement each other. “I see both a grass-roots effort and the larger effort as working together. Rebuild L.A. has access to dollars and a built-in credibility. We have the vantage point in the community they need.”