PROJECT AS POLITICAL HOSTAGE; RIDLEY-THOMAS SPITEFULLY THREATENS TO HAMPER MAGIC JOHNSON'S CRENSHAW DEVELOPMENT PLANS.

Byline: EARL O. HUTCHINSON

THE public spat between Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and former Laker superstar Earvin ``Magic'' Johnson over a major development project is an ominous reminder that when politicians play politics with the still-unfinished business of rebuilding Los Angeles, we all lose. The project in question is the Santa Barbara Plaza in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles.

I have lived in the area for years and remember nostalgically when the plaza was a commercial garden spot. There were major grocery, retail furniture and department stores, as well as a number of boutique-style small shops. Sandwiched between the middle- and upper-income residential communities of Baldwin Hills, View Park and Leimert Park, the plaza in those days attracted a diverse racial mix of upscale shoppers from all parts of the city.

But not anymore. With the flight of whites and many middle-class blacks from the area, the economic recession of the 1980s; the development and expansion of Fox Hills, Century City, the Westside Pavilion, the Beverly Center, Glendale Galleria and the Sherman Oaks shopping centers; and the 1992 riots, business in the plaza closed down in droves. The plaza, which is a stone's throw from neighborhoods where some of Los Angeles's most prosperous and influential black business and professionals live, now stands as a major physical eyesore and an embarrassment to the community.

The Magic Johnson Development Corp., headed by Johnson, and a group of investment partners, want to change this. They have drawn up an ambitious $62.5 million plan to renovate the plaza. They have assigned leasing rights to Grubb & Ellis, and report that Kinko's, Target and Home Base are seriously interested in putting outlets in the plaza. The Johnson development plan is greeted with near universal applause by community activists, residents and local businesspersons in the Crenshaw area. They see this as a spur to minority business, a boost to local property values and a big step toward enhancing neighborhood pride.

Unfortunately, this idyllic story has a sad chapter, Johnson Development is seeking about $21 million in funding from the Community Redevelopment Agency to complete the deal. This is not another sweetheart deal in which a rich celebrity-athlete is seeking a public handout from the City Council and Los Angeles taxpayers. Johnson's business partnership has publicly guaranteed the loan. The funds will be repaid through sales and property taxes.

In any case, the money is a pittance compared to the $90 million subsidy that the City Council recently authorized the CRA to shell out for the $385 million Hollywood Redevelopment Project.

This apparently has meant little to Ridley-Thomas, in whose 8th District the plaza is located. Thomas is peeved that Johnson joined with a group of other celebrities to back the effort by Disney Chairman Michael Eisner to build a pro football stadium in the Carson area to lure a pro football team to Los Angeles. Ridley-Thomas has been pushing hard to put a pro team back in the Coliseum. In a series of stormy meetings in May with his Crenshaw Area Advisory Committee, Ridley-Thomas threatened to pull the plug on the Johnson/CRA deal.

It's no idle threat. Ridley-Thomas has proposed to the City Council that negotiations be completed with Johnson Development Corp. or ``an alternate'' developer. Is Ridley-Thomas seriously suggesting that he wants to start the process of negotiations all over again with some other unnamed, unknown developer? If so, this would be a foolish waste of time and money and dash the hopes of many local merchants and residents who are banking on the Johnson Development to revitalize the area.

Johnson's much stated and proven commitment to inner-city economic development is well known. His projects include the Magic Johnson theaters, a Starbucks franchise, the Ladera shopping center, and a major interest in the black-owned Founders National Bank. True, Johnson and his business partners are making money from their inner-city ventures, but they could have made money in Beverly Hills, Palos Verdes, Pacific Palisades or Woodland Hills if they had chosen to invest there.

The stadium battle should have absolutely nothing to do with a redevelopment project in the Crenshaw district. While I'm sure that the CRA will approve funding for Johnson Development, the sad thing is that a much-needed and desired economic project that can provide jobs, promote business, and economic growth that benefits poor and minority communities in Los Angeles can still be held hostage to the political whims of local officials. If it's the Santa Barbara Plaza and Johnson today, what's to stop another city official from putting his or her personal likes or dislikes ahead of sound business and stonewalling a vital economic development project in another part of the city tomorrow?

The City Council, of course, can prove that this won't happen by stepping in and ending this silly ego dispute between Johnson and Ridley-Thomas before more damage is done to an area of Los Angeles that desperately needs and demands revitalization. I'm waiting.