WESTLAKE : Developers Unite to Coordinate Plans

The Coalition of Neighborhood Developers will expand its efforts for economic development and housing construction, the group’s leaders said.

The multiethnic alliance, formed in 1990, coordinates planning efforts in 10 communities: Hoover-Adams, Crenshaw, Broadway-Manchester, Mid-City-Koreatown, Vernon-Central, Pico-Union, Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights, Vermont-Slauson and Watts, coalition Executive Director Gladys Lewis said.

“We’re organized across community lines,” coalition Chairwoman Juanita Tate said. “We’re getting people together as neighbors to build a firm foundation so that differences won’t make a difference.”

Member organizations such as Dunbar Economic Development Corp., Korean Youth & Community Center and Pico-Union Housing Corp.--which have their own development projects--help the coalition serve as “a conduit for information from residents to the city and the city to residents,” said Anthony Scott, chairman of the media relations committee.

The coalition of nearly 40 community groups is also working with the city Planning Department to gather information for the revision of city planning maps and materials in South-Central, Southeast and West Adams, city planner Herb Glasgow said.

The coalition is “energizing the community and getting the kind of feedback the department requires” to carry out the first revision of the community plans since the 1970s, Glasgow said.

The coalition has also conducted community workshops on planning issues and organized residents concerned about the rebuilding of swap meets, liquor stores and gun shops that burned during the April-May riots.

Sister Diane Donoghue of the Esperanza Housing Corp. said the coalition will be an advocate for low-income communities. “Affordable-housing developers haven’t had lobbying strength,” she said. “If you’re not represented, you don’t get heard.”

The coalition’s office is at 1052 W. 6th St., Suite 800B.

Information: (213) 250-1012.