Rebuilding Progress Noted on Anniversary of Riots

Marking the seventh anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, city officials, community leaders and business owners said Thursday that more than $300 million in new developments have been built in South Los Angeles in the past seven years.

“Progress has been made and continues to be made,” City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents parts of the area, said at a news conference.

He released a list of commercial and housing projects built or rebuilt in his district since the riots, including 12 new housing projects and six new supermarkets. Some of the projects were built on the sites of businesses that were destroyed or damaged during the riots.

The projects have created more than 1,200 jobs.

Another $981 million in developments, including the new Coliseum project in Exposition Park and the Lanzit Industrial Park on 111th Street, are expected to be completed in South Los Angeles over the next five years.

Ridley-Thomas conceded that the progress made citywide has fallen short of most expectations because corporations failed to make the investments promised shortly after the riots.

He chided Rebuild L.A., the organization dedicated to rebuilding the community, saying “it did not do what many had hoped.”

The riots, which were sparked by the acquittals of four white police officers shown on videotape beating black motorist Rodney King, caused 55 deaths and $1 billion in damage.