Redeveloping Downtown L.A.

Re “The Little Park That Isn’t There,” March 29: As part of a group that owns a building in the Spring Street National Historic District, and with many years experience in participating in the revitalization of the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, I suggest that Robert A. Jones’ essay could become the rallying cry. Let’s get together and make it happen.

The downtown historic core appears to be between 1st and 11th, Los Angeles to Hill streets, and includes 38 blocks of some of the best architecture in Southern California, let alone being the birthplace of Wall Street of the West and the Broadway Theater District, both of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, and essentially totally intact today.

These 38 blocks could be filled with live-work loft spaces that would rival San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver or Chicago and New York. The historic core includes parts of the fashion district, the toy district, the jewelry district, the financial district and the Civic Center. It also includes the recently adopted federal empowerment zone and two of the three Metro stations in downtown Los Angeles.

Downtown Los Angeles has many riches historically, culturally and entertainment-wise, and has access to many educational institutions, museums, etc. Thus it could be the neighborhood of choice for young families with children, if we all got together and made it so.

JAMES E. SCHNEIDER

San Diego

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One can imagine that planners in San Antonio were up against the same skepticism you express toward those who propose developing Taylor Yard into a dynamic center such as San Antonio’s Riverwalk (editorial, March 29).

If The Times can expect a park in the middle of downtown across from its offices (see Jones’ essay), then the adjacent communities of Cypress Park and Lincoln Heights can expect that officials will explore possibilities with the creativity that other cities have demonstrated. Instead, it seems you support going the traditional route, which for the local community would mean dead-end jobs instead of a vibrant center of commercial and social activity.

LUIS PEREZ REYES

Los Angeles