When Mixed Use Is the Best Use : Development: The housing component garnered federal funds, which made the project at 81st and Vermont viable.

For the last three years, Mayor Richard Riordan has all but ignored South Los Angeles. When he does turn his attention to this community, it is as a destructive force, not as a force for revitalization and renewal. By attempting to kill the mixed-use development project at 81st Street and Vermont Avenue, the mayor seems to be playing petty power games. The problem is, community residents and business owners aren’t pawns but people who have been waiting far too long for economic investment in a community abandoned both by private commerce and public commitment.

South Los Angeles shouldn’t have to choose between housing and retail development. Vibrant urban communities need both. Moreover, no community should have to choose between its mayor and its City Council representative.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has spent a great deal of time listening, collaborating and delivering on projects that will improve the quality of life in the 8th Council District. The mayor’s record, by contrast, is disappointing. His administration bumbled the empowerment zone application for federal funds specifically designed for communities such as South Los Angeles. He has been silent during the dialogue about race relations. He prefers to count cops, viewing public safety in only the most shallow terms, instead of supporting efforts to reduce the causes of crime. As community residents discuss methods of eliminating crack houses and reducing nuisance alcohol outlets and motels catering to prostitution, the mayor is absent.

It is unfortunate that misconceptions about the project, largely financed by First Interstate Bank, continue to exist despite efforts to inform residents, and it is doubly unfortunate that the mayor has chosen to become part of the disinformation campaign. The plan calls for 36 single-family townhomes to be owner-occupied, not rental housing as has been implied. The project also includes 26,000 square feet of commercial/retail space. And rather than utilizing only public funds, the project will leverage more than $2 million in private capital.

Clearly, the housing component has become the center of the controversy. The dispute over this project is not one of development versus no development. Rather, it is a question of mixed use, which includes housing and retail, versus all retail.

But resources drive development. This site has been vacant for more than 20 years because the resources to develop it never materialized. Now, with sponsorship by First Interstate, the project is viable because it is linked to federal housing funds, dollars that are only available for housing. Adding a retail component to a housing development is a creative way to bring financial resources to a long-neglected area. In fact, not only are mixed-use projects gaining popularity, but the two developments that opponents refer to as preferable models for the Vermont Knolls area--Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Old Town in Pasadena--both include housing.

Vermont Knolls is but one segment of a community made up of many interdependent neighborhoods. While there is vocal opposition among some homeowners in Vermont Knolls, there are other community members who support the First Interstate proposal.

It will take more than just this project to renew and revitalize this area. Plans are pending for the neighborhoods adjacent to Vermont Knolls, such as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency’s Broadway/Manchester Redevelopment Project. Its focus is retail development. A CRA revitalization project is under way for Vermont/Manchester, just five blocks away. Caltrans is upgrading the Harbor Freeway at Manchester for a mass-transit line.

None of these projects can be viewed in a vacuum. Community input is being sought for each project, most notably through the Empowerment Congress, a forum for residents of the 8th District formed by Ridley-Thomas and citizen advisory panels. The First Interstate development will stimulate the interest of investors in the other projects.

If, as has been suggested, Riordan has connections to retail developers eager to do business in this community, there is plenty of space on the Vermont corridor and on Manchester or Figueroa or Broadway to accommodate them.

During his campaign for the mayor’s office, Riordan often cited his donation of a computer lab to residents of public housing as evidence of his personal commitment to South Los Angeles. After three years in public office, he is still citing the same example. The mayor must demonstrate his public commitment to South Los Angeles with something more tangible.

While there are valid concerns on all sides, all agree on at least one point: Development is sorely needed. Rather than delivering another dead end and driving a wedge through this community, a better role for the mayor would be that of a facilitator, ensuring that the $15-million investment that the First Interstate project represents is a new beginning.