Tara Pixley for The New York Times LOS ANGELES — Even as the post-George Floyd national focus on the grand battle against systemic racism and all things Black plateaus, ground battles for equity that have been fought for decades continue. One such fight here in Los Angeles is reaching a critical point. This battle is over redevelopment of the Crenshaw district, one of the last predominantly Black areas of Los Angeles. Crenshaw comprises both working-class and historic middle-class neighborhoods that sit about halfway between downtown and the ocean.
Redevelopment wars date to 1992, when many structures there and in neighboring South Central burned or were damaged during the unrest touched off by the acquittal of four police officers tried for the beating of Rodney G. King. The structure in question now is the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, a 40-acre mall that has been the center of economic aspirations in Crenshaw since the original 1947 open-air shopping center modernized and reopened as an indoor mall in 1988. The mall was not damaged in ’92 but has more or less struggled since, buffeted by two recessions, the collapse and consolidation of big retail, and general political lethargy around redeveloping Crenshaw in […]
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