EDITORIAL FORGETTING `COMMUNITY' CRA COZIES UP TO DOWNTOWN ELITES.AS its name suggests, the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Community Redevelopment Agency ought to be primarily concerned with redeveloping communities. But that isn't the way it's worked for years. Most of the redevelopment money has gone into downtown, not the communities of Los Angeles. And now the CRA See Community Reinvestment Act. has approved the massive, taxpayer-subsidized Grand Avenue project, suggesting it's more concerned with serving downtown egos than with redeveloping the city. ``This is not a `downtown project,''' insists Carol Schatz, president and chief executive officer of the Central City Association of Los Angeles. ``This is a project of regional, if not international, significance.'' And that's the problem. The Grand Avenue project -- the vision of billionaires who, if they wanted to, could pay for it themselves in an act of tremendous civic philanthropy philanthropy, the spirit of active goodwill toward others as demonstrated in efforts to promote their welfare. The term is often used interchangeably with charity. -- isn't about serving basic local needs. It's about striving for ``international significance.'' It's about erecting an iconic i·con·ic adj. 1. Of, relating to, or having the character of an icon. 2. Having a conventional formulaic style. Used of certain memorial statues and busts. downtown skyline that gives glory to the civic leaders who will take credit and put their names on it, even though the taxpaying public will get stuck with much of the tab. Not that there's anything wrong with icons, or, for that matter, inspirational in·spi·ra·tion·al adj. 1. Of or relating to inspiration. 2. Providing or intended to convey inspiration. 3. Resulting from inspiration. civic architecture. But these symbols of public virtue ought to rate as distant priorities in a city whose roads and sidewalks are crumbling, whose poorer neighborhoods lack streetlights, whose freeways are jammed, whose schools are a disaster, and whose streets are overrun 1. overrun - A frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes by gangs. And surely if the Grand Avenue project is all its proponents crack it up to be, the idea ought to be able to pencil out without an infusion of $100 million to $200 million in corporate welfare. Billionaires make their billions by finding smart investments. So when they say they need a taxpayer handout for this project, it ought to be a huge red flag. But with its collective eyes fixed on the promises of monumental grandiosity grandiosity Psychiatry An exaggerated belief or claims of one's importance or identity, manifest by delusions of wealth, power, or fame. See Manic episode, Bipolar disorder. , the CRA is obviously blind to red flags -- as well as its core mission. |
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