What It Will Take to Revive Figueroa Corridor

With the continued decline of federal money available as a catalyst to revitalize deteriorating urban areas, local governments are increasingly relying on public-private partnerships to stimulate new investment in run-down areas.

The Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Pasadena’s Old Town and downtown Burbank are three examples of successful efforts on the part of local governments to link with the private sector to achieve economic success in previously economically depressed areas.

Now a similar and even more ambitious effort is being considered in Los Angeles, revitalization of a four-mile stretch of the Figueroa Corridor, from Wilshire Boulevard to Vernon Avenue.

For the last two years, stakeholders--including residents, businesses and property owners--and various public agencies have been working together to create a new vision for the Figueroa Corridor and to produce an economic development strategy that will allow this vision to become a reality.

The vision, as described in a recently completed draft document, is that the corridor will reemerge as a vibrant business area consisting of a number of distinct districts linked together by a tree-studded median, drawing visitors and shoppers with coordinated signs, an abundance of benches, well-maintained landscaping and improved security.

*

What convinces the stakeholders that this vision can be realized is that businesses along Figueroa Corridor generate $1.7 billion in annual payrolls with annual operating budgets of $2.8 billion, and more than 6.5 million people visit the area each year.

The proposed economic development strategy prepared by a consulting team working with the stakeholders consists of five key components:

* First, if the effort is to be successful, there must be a balance between public- and private-sector investment. The public sector’s initial role will be to invest in transportation and streetscape improvements and promote cooperation and coordination among government agencies.

* There also needs to be greater economic integration, creating projects with economic spillover effects. That is, attracting people who might go to several places along the corridor. The proposed downtown arena and attracting a professional football team to the Coliseum are two examples that would generate business for hotels, restaurants and shops in the area.

* There needs to be a focus on strategic projects--a few carefully nurtured projects--that can enjoy quick success, such as successful restoration of the Seventh Street Marketplace or opening an upscale restaurant in the West Adams district.

* Every effort needs to be made to retain existing businesses as well as to recruit new ones.

* Finally, there has to be an appropriate economic development infrastructure in place. This includes the development of financing mechanisms, removal of impediments that make it difficult to retain and attract businesses (costly business licenses and high taxes, for example), the creation of an L.A. Business Team for the corridor, development of a business recruitment strategy, creation of a corridor-wide marketing campaign, event planning program and the establishment of district implementation teams.

Skeptics will argue that such an effort is overly ambitious and not likely to work. Such naysayers might be reminded that Third Street Santa Monica, Old Town Pasadena and downtown Burbank all exhibited characteristics similar to those now present along the Figueroa Corridor. Furthermore, not one of these areas had the tremendous economic base currently in existence along the corridor.

*

So what challenges must be overcome if Los Angeles is to enjoy the same success these other cities have?

A majority of the stakeholders will have to subscribe to the vision that is emerging for the Figueroa Corridor and become active ambassadors for it. For a number of existing small and marginal businesses, this is going to be a hard sell.

Second, the public sector will have to deliver on its potential to invest in the required infrastructure. In particular, this means that individual council members will have to be convinced that the approach is valid, even if it does not mean immediate, direct and tangible benefits for their particular districts.

Third, the emerging business improvement districts--or BIDs--that are being formed along the corridor will have to support projects that can come on line quickly.

Finally, there needs to be a clearly defined role for existing community-based organizations in the area to participate as full stake-holders so that residents in neighborhoods adjacent to the corridor can also benefit. After all, a complete partnership needs to involve not only the public and private sector, but also significant nonprofit organizations that for years have fought to improve conditions for residents in the area.

If all of these elements fall into place, then the benefits to Los Angeles should be readily visible to all who care to look and make the efforts of its sister cities pale in comparison.

*

J. Eugene Grigsby III can be reached by e-mail at jgrigsby@ucla.edu