WILSHIRE CENTER, KOREATOWN : Group to Offer Redevelopment Ideas

Three members of the City Council whose districts include parts of Wilshire Center and Koreatown have appointed an 11-member committee to come up with recommendations for revitalizing commercial districts in those areas.

The Community Advisory Committee will carry out a yearlong study of the physical, social and economic conditions in the 1,720-acre area bounded by 3rd Street and 12th Street on the north and south and Hoover Street and Wilton Avenue on the east and west.

The committee will work with council members John Ferraro, Jackie Goldberg and Nate Holden as well as the Community Redevelopment Agency as it conducts its study of the area.

In April, the City Council directed the redevelopment agency to initiate studies and meetings in areas affected by last year’s riots as part of the city’s recovery and revitalization efforts.

This month, similar citizens committees will launch studies of several Mid-City commercial corridors and the area around the Midtown Shopping Center.

The committees will consider a number of options for improving their communities, including requesting the City Council to adopt redevelopment projects in the study areas.

The members of the Wilshire Center and Koreatown committee are Richard McDermott, president of the Wilshire Chamber of Commerce; Stuart Ahn, chairman of the Koreatown Redevelopment Committee; Duane Johnson, a Thrifty Corp. executive; Ki Suh Park, chairman of the Koreatown Specific Plan Community Advisory Committee; Marty Borko, architect for the Wilshire Center Plan; Gary Russell, member of the Wilshire Chamber of Commerce; Tae Hee Lee, an architect; Y. S. Kim of the Radisson Wilshire Plaza Hotel; Mike Mata of the First Church of the Nazarene; Y. B. Kim of the Korean Youth and Community Center and Leigh Taylor of Southwestern College of Law.

Information: (213) 977-2633.