Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spoke briefly at the event, cast a more optimistic view of race relations.
"Make no mistake, every single day you see people working together," he said. "People love to focus on the negative, on the conflicts."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday May 01, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 55 words Type of Material: Correction
Riots anniversary: A photo of the Community Coalition's Bettye Draughan that accompanied a story in Sunday's California section about the 15th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots was taken by Gary Friedman, not Carlos Chavez. A photo of City Planning Director Gail Goldberg that appeared in some editions also was taken by Friedman, not Chavez.
Villaraigosa left the forum after his remarks to attend a tree-planting for Big Sunday, a citywide volunteer effort, missing most of the discussion. One of the panelists, actor and author Hill Harper, suggested the mayor should have stayed.
"It's wonderful to plant trees," he said, "but I believe the discussion we're having here is more important than going to plant trees."
Around 5 p.m. 15 years ago today, after a Simi Valley jury acquitted five LAPD officers in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney G. King, looters spilled into Tom's Liquor at Florence and Normandie avenues, yanking beer cartons off shelves and igniting the Los Angeles riots.
Four days ago, George Graham, a Community Coalition employee, drove up to Tom's Liquor on one of his regular "liquor store patrols," intending to snap photos and take notes to give to Goldberg on Saturday.
He encountered an overhead helicopter, ambulances, police cruisers and yellow "caution" tape -- a scene that he said felt like "a reincarnation" of the riots.
Just minutes before, a shooting at the corner critically injured a man, who stumbled into the store and collapsed.
"I was appalled," said Graham, 58, who has worked for the coalition since 1993. "This goes on and on. It's a cycle."
Speakers at Saturday's events said they are paying close attention to how the 22-month-old Villaraigosa administration grapples with problems in South Los Angeles. Adding to their angst over the anniversary is that many of the new retail centers and manufacturing plants promised after the riots have not materialized.
At the meeting, Rice referred to a 1992 consultant's analysis for Rebuild LA, the private post-riot recovery agency. The study said that an infusion of $6 billion was needed to reverse decades of stagnation in South Los Angeles. When the agency shut down in 1997, corporate investment totaled only $389 million.
State records show that the area has 517 stores selling liquor. That is 150 fewer than the 667 stores in business when the riots began, but about 200 liquor stores burned down during the unrest.
