WEST ADAMS : CRA Outlines Its Accomplishments

Officials of the Community Redevelopment Agency last week called for residents to keep working together to revitalize the West Adams-Normandie area.

The community and CRA commissioners were briefed on the agency’s accomplishments over the past two years in the Normandie 5 Redevelopment Project, a 210-acre area that was designated for redevelopment by the City Council in 1969. The project area, bounded by Adams and Jefferson boulevards and Western and Normandie avenues, is one of the area’s oldest communities.

Eight businesses in the district were destroyed or damaged during last year’s riots. The CRA immediately issued seven emergency grants, totaling $141,000, to help property owners on a short-term basis. The Jefferson Boulevard 99-Cent Discount Depot, built on land acquired by the CRA, became the first new business to open in the district after the riots.

The agency has also proposed a program that will provide long-term loans and technical help to merchants who want to rebuild. The CRA also created a commercial facade and sign program to revamp existing retail buildings.

And, in keeping with the residential goals of the redevelopment project, CRA helped build three new single-family homes on Brighton Avenue. The units were sold to first-time low- and moderate-income home buyers.