Lincoln Heights Businesses Working to Restore District

Frustrated by the negative image of their community, business owners along North Broadway and other parts of Lincoln Heights are developing a plan to restore their aging retail district and lure shoppers.

“We sure get a lot of publicity when there’s a gang shooting,” said Steve Kasten, who has run a real estate firm on the street since 1968. “People think [Lincoln Heights] is filled with gangs and graffiti.”

“There are a lot of great restaurants, shops and educational facilities around here they don’t know about,” said Kasten, who is president of the Lincoln Heights Chamber of Commerce. “We want to market ourselves and attract more visitors.”

The community is adopting a tax credit-based business improvement district. Although other districts require a self-assessment to finance redevelopment, the Lincoln Heights plan would use a portion of the gross receipts tax from businesses to rebuild the area.

Under the plan, unanimously approved by the Los Angeles City Council a week ago, about $130,000 would be used in its first year to pay for improvements such as graffiti cleanup, security and parking. Business owners said they also would like to use funds to build a multiplex theater or attract major chain stores, such as Target or Mervyn’s.

For more than a year, the Lincoln Heights Coordinating Council, a nonprofit group administering the funds, has met regularly to discuss improvements.

The plan focuses on shops along North Broadway and North Main Street, and on businesses around the San Antonio Winery and an industrial sector around the site of a former jail. More than 260 businesses, or 40% of all the shops in the targeted area, signed a petition in support of the district.

Citing Old Pasadena as an example of a successful business improvement district, Marco LiMandri, a Los Angeles-based consultant developing the proposal, said the plan will not only affect the retail climate but also raise property values.

The proposal is expected to be addressed in a public hearing in April and then go before City Council for final approval in June.