Residents of Los Angeles’ Crenshaw and Baldwin Hills communities are split over a proposal to update and revamp the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.
This would include building and adding more than 900 new apartments and condos, a hotel, an office building, and an open-air shopping plaza (think The Grove or The Americana). As part of the proposal, the mall developer would have to make 10 percent specifically for people within a specific income range. Half of that ten percent would be reserved for families making 50 percent of median income in the area.
Both supporters and detractors were out in full force at an L.A. City Planning Commission hearing on Thursday. Proponents say that in order to fight the giant that is online shopping, malls need to be a place where people can not just buy stuff, but live and work as well. But opponents worry that in addition to increased traffic, a development like this will send the neighborhoods in the directions of many other L.A. communities that have seen rampant gentrification that has priced out longtime residents of those neighborhoods.
Guests:
Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Los Angeles Councilmember representing the 8th District, which encompasses parts of South Los Angeles and spans from Baldwin Hills to the border of Watts; he tweets
Damien Goodmon, founder and executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition; he tweets