CRENSHAW DISTRICT : Redevelopment Project’s Expansion Wins Approval
After two years of study and debate, a plan to greatly expand the Crenshaw Redevelopment Project was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council.
The action, endorsed by the district’s councilman, Mark Ridley-Thomas, enables the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency to increase the project area by more than 150 acres to encompass Leimert Park Village, Santa Barbara Plaza and areas along Crenshaw Boulevard.
Including the area in the project zone will enable city officials to use bond financing for redevelopment and eminent domain to condemn commercial properties that block redevelopment.
The proposal arose after the 1992 riots leveled many neighborhoods in the city, including some properties surrounding the nearby Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.
Although city officials lauded the action as a way of hastening the area’s reconstruction, critics--including some residents and merchants--described the expanded redevelopment project as a land grab by the CRA.
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