No More Riding Above L.A.’s Fray

In a Jan. 23 story headlined “LA awaits discovery by rerouted suburbanites,” the Boston Globe reported on the reactions of motorists who have been diverted through South-Central Los Angeles because of the collapse of sections of the Santa Monica Freeway. The Globe story said:

“In the coming year, tens of thousands of commuters are expected for the first time to cut through Southwest and South-Central Los Angeles to avoid repairs on quake-damaged freeways. They will take official detours and unfamiliar side streets through these predominantly minority communities, forcing them to see for themselves what had tended to frighten many from afar.

“ ‘The freeways allowed people to ride above the fray, but people are going to find out where South-Central is now,’ said Melvin Oliver, a sociology professor at UCLA’s Center for the Study of Urban Poverty. ‘People are going to make that daily commute and it may help people discover that, for all its faults, South-Central is a place where people work, live and go about their business like anywhere else.’ ”

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On Feb. 1, USA Today reported that for South-Central residents, “the Northridge earthquake is another reminder of how forgotten they feel.” The article continued:

“After the quake, residents complained they were being ignored. There were charges relief centers were slow to open.

“ ‘If you walk through Crenshaw and down Adams, you can see damage for miles,’ says Cedric Watkins, 38, an insurance broker. ‘It’s not being reported by the media, and . . . race has something to do with it.’ ”