Riordan Clarifies Strategy for Project

Mayor Richard Riordan’s office Friday clarified a new economic development strategy that it had mischaracterized earlier in the week.

Riordan’s office had said the initiative would channel tens of millions of dollars in private capital to 15 key projects in various stages of development. The focus on the projects was lauded as the strategy’s linchpin, but the key financial backers stressed Thursday that they had not committed funds to any specific sites.

A statement released by the mayor Friday said sponsors of the strategy--dramatically dubbed Genesis L.A.--have agreed “to invest up to $10 million each in one or more privately managed investment funds that are being developed to support inner-city commercial and industrial projects.”

Private fund managers will decide where the money goes, but the city is confident the 15 projects will prove “prime for economic development,” the statement said.

The sponsors--which include Washington Mutual, Bank of America and Wells Fargo--”have made a commitment . . . to generate economic activity in Los Angeles’ inner-city neighborhoods,” the statement said. “I believe the Genesis L.A. sites will meet the investment criteria that will be established by the private managers.”