Boyle Heights Ca Development And Redevelopment

Public housing across the United States is entering a new era. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants 100,000 substandard American public units destroyed before century's end. The hope: to end the warehousing and isolation of the poorest poor, while creating mixed-income communities where role models abound and stereotypes explode.

Sears Roebuck & Co. in July will begin gutting the first three floors of its former catalog distribution center in Boyle Heights, clearing the way for the economically depressed neighborhood's first major retail development in decades, company officials said Wednesday. The 250,000-square-foot store, scheduled to open August 2002, will replace an aging store in Boyle Heights that last received a major face lift during the 1970s.

Sears Roebuck & Co. in July will begin gutting the first three floors of its former catalog distribution center in Boyle Heights, clearing the way for the economically depressed neighborhood's first major retail development in decades, company officials said Wednesday. The 250,000-square-foot store, scheduled to open August 2002, will replace an aging store in Boyle Heights that last received a major face lift during the 1970s.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the first step in the largest construction project in county history, even though a Los Angeles City Councilman has pledged to hold up the work until his concerns are met. Supervisors unanimously approved plans for site preparation for the replacement to quake-damaged County-USC Medical Center. They did so after making sure a pedestrian bridge, demanded by Councilman Nick Pacheco, is included in the project.

In an effort to ease parking problems, a city zoning administrator last week approved construction of a second parking facility in the congested Chicago Street commercial area. The surface lot will provide 47 metered spaces from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily to serve neighboring businesses, said Patricia G. Cunningham, senior management analyst with the city Bureau of Parking Management. The parking lot will be on St. Louis Street. Drivers will be able to enter it from Chicago Street.

The public part was noisy and fun. There were speeches, free food, balloons, mariachis and even a modest theatrical production--all designed to draw attention to the programs of the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse and the opening of a substance-abuse center at the Aliso Village housing project in Boyle Heights. The private part was quiet and grim.

City officials on Monday announced the launching of a yearlong study to determine ways to revitalize the communities of Boyle Heights and El Sereno, two of the city's oldest and most densely populated neighborhoods. The $160,000 study will focus on the physical, social and economic needs of a 5,400-acre area on the Eastside.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the first step in the largest construction project in county history, even though a Los Angeles City Councilman has pledged to hold up the work until his concerns are met. Supervisors unanimously approved plans for site preparation for the replacement to quake-damaged County-USC Medical Center. They did so after making sure a pedestrian bridge, demanded by Councilman Nick Pacheco, is included in the project.

To the delight of community leaders, one of the oldest Eastside furniture stores announced a plan Wednesday to expand its facility into a shopping plaza, including a supermarket, drugstore and an auto parts store. The 68-year-old Angelus Furniture Warehouse on Olympic Boulevard has entered into a partnership with a local development corporation to raise $9.5 million to renovate the facility, and bring in Food 4 Less, a Sav-On drugstore and Chief Auto Parts, officials said.

Try as they might, members of an advisory committee representing the community in an effort to revitalize areas of Boyle Heights and El Sereno could not convince more than 100 people who attended a meeting last week that their homes would not be targeted for demolition. "We want it on paper! We don't believe anything else!" said Paula Ramirez, who said she has lived in Boyle Heights for 40 years.

In an effort to cut down on drive-by shootings and reduce crime in Boyle Height's Aliso Village, city Housing Authority officials will install iron fences and gates in all but one of the housing project's entrances. There were more than 35 shootings in Aliso Village last year and six people were killed, Housing Authority Police Chief Ray Palacios said. About half of the incidents were drive-by shootings.

Public housing across the United States is entering a new era. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants 100,000 substandard American public units destroyed before century's end. The hope: to end the warehousing and isolation of the poorest poor, while creating mixed-income communities where role models abound and stereotypes explode.

The commercial stretch of 1st Street in Boyle Heights is looking brighter and greener because of a redevelopment project that is in its second phase. The project focuses on improving pedestrian walkways, public transportation and community parks in commercial zones. It is administered by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, a 2-year-old community-based program that infuses federal transportation funds into eight areas of the city.

Residents, business operators and community organizers in Boyle Heights and El Sereno have formed a 24-member committee to advise the city's Community Redevelopment Agency on community revitalization efforts. The Project Area Committee, whose members were chosen in an election this week, will advise the CRA on the proposed Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Project.

Eighteen Marengo Terrace residents have agreed to county offers to buy and demolish their homes to make way for construction of a new hospital at County-USC Medical Center. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved seven agreements, totaling $1.2-million in buyout, relocation and moving costs.

Colorful murals have gone up and a new sign proclaims "Mariachi Plaza," but little else has changed in the last year at a grimy, litter-strewn asphalt trangle in Boyle Heights. With pomp and circumstance, Mayor Richard Riordan and other city officials heald a ground-breaking ceremony last November for the plaza where Mariachis in Los Angeles have plied theor talents for years.

The commercial stretch of 1st Street in Boyle Heights is looking brighter and greener because of a redevelopment project that is in its second phase. The project focuses on improving pedestrian walkways, public transportation and community parks in commercial zones. It is administered by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, a 2-year-old community-based program that infuses federal transportation funds into eight areas of the city.

In an effort to cut down on drive-by shootings and reduce crime in Boyle Height's Aliso Village, city Housing Authority officials will install iron fences and gates in all but one of the housing project's entrances. There were more than 35 shootings in Aliso Village last year and six people were killed, Housing Authority Police Chief Ray Palacios said. About half of the incidents were drive-by shootings.

To the delight of community leaders, one of the oldest Eastside furniture stores announced a plan Wednesday to expand its facility into a shopping plaza, including a supermarket, drugstore and an auto parts store. The 68-year-old Angelus Furniture Warehouse on Olympic Boulevard has entered into a partnership with a local development corporation to raise $9.5 million to renovate the facility, and bring in Food 4 Less, a Sav-On drugstore and Chief Auto Parts, officials said.

Try as they might, members of an advisory committee representing the community in an effort to revitalize areas of Boyle Heights and El Sereno could not convince more than 100 people who attended a meeting last week that their homes would not be targeted for demolition. "We want it on paper! We don't believe anything else!" said Paula Ramirez, who said she has lived in Boyle Heights for 40 years.