Inglewood Turns to a New Game

In the courtroom and in church, the Rev. Roosevelt Dorn earned a reputation for trying to save troubled youths and lost souls. His iron will and baritone oratory inspired some, but irked others.

Now, as Inglewood’s mayor, the First AME Church minister and former Superior Court judge is applying his pastoral and judicial skills to the city’s troubled economy, harmed in part by the loss of its two professional sports teams two years ago.

He gets mixed reviews for his campaign of redevelopment and corporate courting in the 10-square-mile city of 112,000--located between the Harbor and San Diego freeways and in the flight path of Los Angeles International Airport.

“Economically, we don’t miss the Lakers and Kings that much,” Dorn, 65, says. “What we do miss is the fact that the Lakers and Kings don’t play here anymore.”

Since the 1970s, Inglewood had been losing retail revenue to malls in nearby cities, and has increasingly relied on federal funds. When Dorn became mayor in 1997, the city was $8 million in debt, and soon had its bond rating downgraded. After his first year in office, city staff was cut by 25%, pay was frozen, and such city assets as a senior citizens center were sold. The Fire Department was disbanded and a fire protection contract was signed with the county.

If Dorn gets his way, the city will be reborn as a haven for big business. And increasing corporate interest in tapping minority markets might help. Since the city’s white flight 30 years ago, African Americans have dominated Inglewood politically, although Latinos are a growing presence; blacks now make up 46% of the population and Latinos 42%.

“Inglewood has to develop a tax base,” Dorn says. Business “will create a type of tax base that will keep the city running effectively.”

Last year, the city issued about 350 new business licenses; 42 have been issued this year, officials say.

Big-box stores such as Home Depot, Costco and Target have sprung up along Manchester Boulevard, which had been a route for out-of-towners to the Forum or Hollywood Park’s casino and racetrack.

New businesses have made up about half of the $1 million in annual city revenue once produced by professional sports teams, Dorn says. But sales tax revenues have improved only slightly overall, according to the State Board of Equalization. The city reported just under $6 million in 1998, $6.5 million in 1999 and then a dip to $6.4 million last year.

The Forum was recently bought by Faithful Central Bible Church of Inglewood for worship services, concerts and other public events. And there are plans to build a luxury hotel on the vast parking lot.

“Inglewood has taken a couple of blows,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “But it seems to be moving forward.”

Its access to freeways and LAX and to the South Bay work force in the biomedical and aerospace industries could be a recipe for success, says Joe Aro, executive director of South Bay Economic Partnership.

Backed by Inglewood’s business elite, Dorn was elected mayor in 1997 to finish the unexpired term of former Mayor Ed Vincent, who was elected to the state Assembly. Dorn was reelected the following year with 62.4% of the vote.

His job as mayor has cut into his duties as one of several ministers at one of the area’s largest black churches, but he still delivers a soulful sermon on occasion.

His air is one of a man long used to exercising authority and doing things his own way. At fractious City Council meetings, he often asserts that authority to call order.

“I’m the type of individual that certainly will speak my opinion,” Dorn says. He orates, every syllable timed, each pause a drumroll heralding what is to come. “I have a powerful voice. It took staff a time to realize that I’m not demanding something, I’m asking.”

Several Inglewood officials agree that working with him has proved easier than first anticipated. They add, however, that Dorn has had to adjust, they haven’t.

“There’s been a great improvement,” former Councilwoman Sandra Delahoussaye-Bonds said of the man, who, she added, has a “deep love” for the city. “He used to just slam down the gavel and that was it.”

His administration created the Office of Economic Development last year, and soon another department will bring services such as graffiti cleanup and property code enforcement together. Haggard downtown shops are slated for a city-subsidized face-lift.

Dorn is credited with getting Los Angeles World Airports to pay for noise insulation for homes in LAX’s flight path, without making homeowners forfeit their right to sue. He lobbied for the passage of a $131-million school bond initiative.

But Inglewood continues to be plagued by such issues as airport expansion and noise, and low standardized test scores by high school students.

If the city manages to pull itself up by its bootstraps, the outcome would match Dorn’s philosophy and experience.

One of nine siblings born to a poor Checotah, Okla., family, he climbed the rungs of Los Angeles County courts from bailiff to prosecutor to judge.

Beginning in 1982, he made unruly youths wards of the court and demanded good grades in lieu of incarceration. He was transferred in 1989 from Inglewood to the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Court amid informal allegations that he appointed only favored attorneys as public defenders. Dorn denied that, saying his move resulted from a disagreement with a presiding judge.

Community and civil rights groups lobbied for his return to the Inglewood court, which finally happened in 1993.

“I am all for my mayor,” said resident Willie Lykes, who also supported Dorn as a judge. “He’s really concerned about keeping [city] standards high.”

But not everyone agrees.

“Our city has deteriorated, and that’s why we have not moved forward,” said critic Michael Stevens, president of LAX Expansion No, a group against airport expansion. “It has to do with the decisions and policies of our elected officials and so-called leader.”

Stevens and some others say redevelopment has helped new businesses but not residents, who pay special taxes for police, parks and utilities. Dorn, they add, has no interest in their needs.

Among other things, critics protest officials’ disregard of an ordinance recently passed to reduce the mayor’s and council’s salaries--among the highest in the area at $94,500 and $47,244. Dorn says the city charter cannot be changed by an ordinance.

Last year, the California 1st Amendment Coalition gave its Black Hole Award to Inglewood, alleging that the council, which also acts as the redevelopment agency, violated public disclosure rules several times and sold city assets in closed meetings. Councilwoman Judith Dunlap, a coalition member, recently filed a disclosure lawsuit against Inglewood.

Dorn, who may run for another term in November 2002, denies the allegations. He says he relies on his faith in the face of such criticism. “When individuals attack me and the city, I just pray for them.”