Doing Well While Doing Good : Sunny signs of rebuilding amid the near-constant drizzle of economic rain
There have been many disappointments in the slow-going effort to rebuild and renew Los Angeles. But last week, for a change, there were signs of pleasant developments coming the city’s way.
Thrifty Corp., operator of Thrifty Drug, announced that it will rebuild three of its stores destroyed by the riots last year. Thrifty, the oldest and largest drugstore chain in Los Angeles, was hit hard by last spring’s burning and looting. Thrifty also was a victim of the 1965 Watts riots, losing four outlets; it rebuilt each one. Now Thrifty is planning to rebuild three of the four stores it lost last year--one at Crenshaw Boulevard and Rodeo Place, one at La Brea Avenue and Rodeo Road, another at Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw. All three stores were key shopping stops in South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles, where few drugstores and pharmacies can be found. (A fourth store will not be rebuilt because of an expiring lease, company officials said.)
Just as important as the decision to rebuild the stores is Thrifty’s decision on who will participate in the effort. Company officials said that African-Americans and contractors based in South Los Angeles will get at least half of the construction work.
The prime contractors for the $1.3-million Crenshaw-Rodeo operation will be Long Beach general contractor Har-Bro Inc. and an African-American partnership involving L.A. contractor William J. Collins and a trade group called the Southern California Black Carpenter’s Assn. In addition, 14 of the 15 subcontractors are black-owned operations.
The decision by Thrifty to reopen the stores is not one of altruism; too often it’s forgotten that many businesses make healthy profits in underserved urban areas. So Thrifty, by rebuilding stores in areas where they are very much wanted and needed, likely will do well while doing good.
In another bit of good news on the rebuilding front, a major U.S. insurer and the nation’s only Latino-owned life insurance company announced a $10-million joint venture to market group life insurance nationally. The venture between Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co. and Gulf Atlantic Life Insurance Co. is being touted as a first-of-its kind example of major corporate support for minority business enterprise within the insurance industry in Los Angeles.
A week of economic miracles for Los Angeles? Hardly. But a few steps of economic progress amid dour predictions of doom and gloom surely can’t hurt.
