City to Vie for Federal Zoning Plan Designation : Urban agenda: Selection by HUD as one of the six zones would mean $100 million in aid for poor areas.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved an application to enter parts of the city--including Pacoima--into a competition to be named one of six federal “empowerment zones” later this year.

The empowerment zones are the showpiece of the Clinton Administration’s urban agenda and designation as one of the empowerment zones would bring $100 million in social programs and tax incentives for businesses to the poor areas, making it the most significant economic development program in Los Angeles in more than 20 years.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will designate the zones in September. Competition for the program is fierce, with more than 400 cities expected to apply.

The Pacoima area included in the application is home to 13,400 people and has a poverty rate that ranges from 25% to 40%. The two-square-mile area includes the Hansen Dam recreation area and the San Fernando Gardens, a low-income housing project with more than 2,000 residents.

Community development officials and Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes Pacoima, had to argue against community leaders from other poverty-plagued areas of the city to retain the small working-class Latino community in the zone.

Alarcon said other city officials who backed the inclusion of Pacoima realized that “helping Pacoima helps the Valley, and that helps all of Los Angeles.”

City bureaucrats have been scrambling to meet a June 30 deadline after being informed by HUD officials earlier this month that Los Angeles’ application was lacking in detail and not competitive. City officials said they were told they had to outline specific programs that would be funded with the $100-million grant.

“It’s going to be a lot of work, but it will get done on time,” said Marilyn Lurie, director of industrial and commercial development for the city’s Community Development Department.

Under Los Angeles’ application, the Eastside and South-Central would receive the lion’s share of the federal funds.

The application calls for dividing the 20-square-mile zone into three pieces, each of which meets federal guidelines requiring that at least half of the census tracts have poverty rates of 35% or more.

One empowerment zone would start in the industrial area of Boyle Heights, cross the Los Angeles River and encompass a section of South-Central along the Central Avenue corridor.

The second area would take in the Broadway-Manchester corridor in South-Central, stretch south and include Watts and unincorporated county areas in Willowbrook. The third portion would be in Pacoima.

Los Angeles also is applying for four of the 65 HUD-designated “empowerment communities” that will receive $3 million each in federal funds. Those areas would include portions of Pico-Union, Westlake, Koreatown, South-Central and the Eastside.

In addition, the county Board of Supervisors said it would support a joint application for one of the 65 zones by the southeast cities of Cudahy, Vernon, Huntington Park, Maywood, Bell and Bell Gardens.

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During Los Angeles City Council hearings, community leaders expressed concern that they would not be allowed sufficient decision-making input on how the money will be spent if Los Angeles’ application is approved. They were generally optimistic, however, that their concerns would be addressed.

Under federal guidelines, the city would be allowed to spend the $100 million for programs ranging from child care to job training. Also, businesses in the zone would be eligible for various tax incentives. They would include payroll tax breaks of as much as 20% on the wages of workers who live in the zone and accelerated depreciation of equipment, enabling owners to write off machinery upon purchase instead of the normal five- to seven-year period.

Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this story.

Pacoima Empowerment Zone An application for a proposed federal empowerment zone was approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council. It would include a 2.4-square mile area of Pacomia that has been plagued by poverty and high unemployment rates for years. The zone, the centerpiece of of President Clinton’s urban revitalization effort, is expected to provide tax breaks, grants and social services programs.