Start Here First, Then Move On

South-Central Los Angeles has become a national metaphor for all that is wrong with urban America. There are few jobs, few businesses, few stores and few avenues out of pervasive poverty. There is, however, an opportunity to rebuild.

During a meeting with President Clinton today, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown is expected to ask that new national economic and social efforts target the schools, joblessness and poverty of South-Central L.A. If the programs work there, where the problems are so severe, then similar federal efforts should succeed in other cities.

Brown’s request is particularly timely. Rebuilding is already under way. Private firms are starting businesses and expanding services. But private efforts, no matter how laudable, cannot sufficiently meet the needs. Government must share the burden.

Clinton’s proposals--tax incentives for small businesses, new job-laden public-works projects, significant job training for poor youth and a national service program to help students pay for college--would have a cumulative effect on a targeted area like South-Central L.A. The federal help would also make good on some old promises.

During the riots, then-President Bush and many congressional leaders promised a lot but delivered little. Meaningful aid was sacrificed to partisan and regional politics as everybody demanded a share. Help was parceled out to rural and urban districts, Democratic and Republican districts. In the end, those competing agendas weighed down the urban aid bill and helped kill it.

Politicians can again cripple urban aid if they insist on spreading federal aid too thin. Flinging a few thousand here and a few thousand there would have little impact. A united California delegation should set an example for Congress by uniting behind Brown’s proposal. Backing aid for South-Central helps all of California because significant federal success there would free up limited state resources for use elsewhere in the state.

Helping South-Central Los Angeles also helps the nation. Successful programs that boost employment would reduce the federal tab for welfare, food stamps, health care for the poor, housing assistance and education subsidies. Spending now to save more later always makes sense.