Market Wins OK With Neighbors’ Aid

The city Planning Commission has approved plans to rebuild a riot-ravaged market at 4801 S. Avalon Blvd. after residents expressed support for the store’s Korean owners.

“They make sure the elderly people get home with their groceries,” said Louis Barnes, who lives near Lee’s Market, owned by Tae Chung and George Chung. “The people around here want the store. It probably has one of the best meat (selections) in the city.”

City Councilwoman Rita Walters had opposed the rebuilding plan because the Chungs intend to sell alcohol again when the store reopens in March, according to Walters’ spokesman Howard Gantman.

But residents said the Chungs have forged strong ties with the community since opening in December, 1990. Indeed, the Chungs have won praise for providing credit accounts and free delivery, among other services. They also have donated food, toys and money to local churches at Christmas, Thanksgiving and other holidays.

Although the 3,200-square-foot store sold beer and wine before it was destroyed, neighbors said the alcohol sales rarely caused problems in the area. “(The Chungs) are meticulous about taking care of those problems,” said Alfred Rowe, who lives next door to the market. “They can’t be responsible for people who buy beer and wine and take it into (nearby) South Park. “

Lee’s Market became the first store to be unanimously approved--the 11th overall--by the Planning Commission since the spring riots. About a dozen residents attended the commission’s Dec. 3 meeting, when it considered plans for the store, Chung said. Half of them addressed the commission and spoke in favor of the store, he said.

George Chung said he and his father look forward to renewing ties with their customers, noting that the family has done business in South-Central and Crenshaw for more than a decade. “I’m trying to make a good relationship, not store owner to customer, but person to person,” he said. “Our main concern is building a good relationship with the community.”

The Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, whose members have protested the concentration of liquor stores in South-Central, also raised no objections to the store’s reopening. Coalition director Sylvia Castillo said a door-to-door survey showed strong community support for the Chungs.

“In this particular case, people in the neighborhood spoke of an ongoing relationship with the operator and conveniences they had because he was there,” said Castillo, whose organization also is known as Rebuild South-Central Without Liquor Stores.

However, the Planning Commission did impose conditions on the store in an attempt to protect the neighborhood from alcohol-related problems.

For example, the store must post “No Loitering or Public Drinking” signs in English and Spanish, as well as additional signs indicating that it is illegal to drink alcohol in public parks. Cups and glasses must be sold in quantities of 24 or more, and ice must be sold in three-pound chunks or larger.