Businesses May Join Special Tax District

A group of business owners is working to build a 125-acre industrial park and charge themselves a yearly assessment to raise money to fight graffiti, prostitution, illegal dumping and vandalism.

INCORE, a nonprofit organization formed to head the effort, has been working on the project for several months and hopes to present a plan for City Council approval in the next few weeks, said INCORE President Lewis Kramer, whose family owns two scrap metal businesses in South-Central.

The proposed industrial park would be bounded by Slauson Avenue on the north, Gage Avenue on the south, Central Avenue on the east and Avalon Boulevard on the west. Kramer said that unless all of the 180 business and landowners agree to participate in the plan, the proposal will be scrapped.

Kramer said the plan for a self-imposed assessment is designed to get businesses to pool their resources as budget cuts and hiring freezes have caused reductions in police protection and street maintenance services. He said the 180 landowners in the area would pay an estimated $1.5-million annual fee to support the industrial park.

The money would be used to hire 24-hour security patrols, fence the industrial park, maintain checkpoints and beautify streets with trees and shrubbery.

“People down here realize we can no longer wait for the city to help us,” Kramer said. “We have to help ourselves.”

Under the proposal, the city would collect the assessment and turn it over to INCORE, which would pay for the services. Still undetermined is how the assessment would be divided among the landowners.

Kramer’s idea is not new to central Los Angeles. Business owners along the downtown Broadway corridor have also proposed a plan to create an assessment district.

INCORE has been working on its plan with aides to Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents the area. Her planning deputy, John Sheppard, said Walters supports the idea, although she does not want the industrial park to become a fortified compound.