Plan to Expand Crenshaw Redevelopment Nears Vote : Policy: Proposal is aimed at revitalizing riot-damaged areas. But some community members call it unwarranted government intrusion.

A long-debated proposal to greatly expand the Crenshaw Redevelopment Project--and spur new and controversial development to the area surrounding Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza--is scheduled to come before the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.

Under the plan, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency would increase the project area by more than 150 acres to encompass Leimert Park Village, Santa Barbara Plaza and areas along Crenshaw Boulevard. City officials would be empowered to use bond financing for redevelopment projects and eminent domain to condemn commercial properties that stand in the way of development.

The plan is backed by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes the targeted area. Some community members, however, oppose it as unwarranted government intrusion.

The redevelopment proposal arose after the 1992 riots leveled many neighborhoods, including some properties surrounding the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. City officials said rebuilding could be accelerated through redevelopment laws and financing. A survey of the area surrounding the plaza identified enough properties to justify a larger redevelopment project.

The project would extend along Crenshaw between Coliseum and 52nd streets, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Coliseum and McClung Drive, and along parts of Buckingham Road and Santa Rosalia Drive. Parts of Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Boulevard and 43rd Street north of Leimert Park would also be included.

Within the area, about a quarter of the buildings have vacancies and are deteriorated, said Bill Price, the agency’s project manager. The area’s crime, graffiti and neglected parcels also point to the need for redevelopment, he said.

“Santa Barbara Plaza, once a major commercial retail center for the community, exhibits deteriorating conditions and underutilization of buildings and land,” he told the city council last week.

During the discussion, Ridley Thomas urged colleagues to support the project. “Make no mistake about it, when we talk about the revitalization of this city, it seems to me that the effort aimed at revitalizing Crenshaw Boulevard and the surrounding areas is . . . simply essential,” he said.

His remarks were echoed by some area residents and business owners.

“The redevelopment process is more than being for or against a project for political, personal or philosophical reasons. The redevelopment process is for guarding the future,” said Aldrea Henry, part a 19-member citizens panel that reviewed the project. “And it is for this reason I stand before you . . . to say we need this project for the future of South Los Angeles.”

“We have tried . . . rehabilitation through private funds,” added Ray Clark, an area attorney and another member of the advisory panel who said he spent more than $150,000 to overhaul his law office building in 1983. “Redevelopment is needed in the Crenshaw Plaza,” he said.

But as surely as some see redevelopment as the area’s salvation, others have concerns.

“We applaud beautification throughout the Crenshaw Corridor,” said Rodney Rumelsberg, whose wife inherited a property in the corridor. “We have a concern though . . . to make sure the purpose of this redevelopment is not to take from middle class property owners--by emminent domain--their property and give (it) to wealthy developers,” he said.

Community activist Michelle Grumet said one goal of the project was to transform the area into a new transit corridor that--like Metro Rail’s Hollywood route--will bring haphazard development that blights a neighborhood while profiting a few landowners.

“This project is not about recovery. This project is about Metro Rail. This project is about the transportation corridors and the General Plan of the city, where they want high-density development,” Grumet said.

While the redevelopment agency says 19 properties in the area were damaged in the riots, it ignores the fact that the number is a fraction of the area’s 283 individual lots and 250 structures, Grumet said.

“There are very few buildings that are really blighted . . . most of the problems in Crenshaw could be fixed up. You don’t need the CRA,” she said. “But this is happening because the city and the CRA need the tax increment funds, they need the money. The city is in financial difficulty. And this is a way to bail it out.”