Los Angeles Reconstruction

Inside his offices on the 30th floor of the downtown Wells Fargo building, John Bryant is surrounded by symbols of his success. Dozens of framed magazine articles, letters of gratitude and photos give testimony to the achievements of Bryant's Operation Hope Inc., a nonprofit investment banking campaign focused solely on the inner city. "Not bad," he likes to say, "for a little black boy from Compton."

The firm renovating the old Oakwood apartment complex, the largest such complex closed because of the Northridge earthquake, will hold a ceremony today marking the reopening of the apartments under a new name. After damage suffered during the 1994 temblor, the complex sat empty and untouched until Public Communications Services bought it in October 1997.

Jennifer Walsh, a senior at John F. Kennedy High, was certain she'd graduate before the school finished rebuilding from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. And who can blame her? It's been a slow process that has dragged out nearly five years and forced students to attend classes in bungalows scattered over the school's two parking lots. "I thought for sure I'd be long gone before the construction was done," Jennifer said.

The lengthy dispute between city and federal agencies over the cost of repairs to an El Nino-ravaged jogging path at Sepulveda Basin may soon be settled, representatives of Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski said.

When the Northridge earthquake destroyed their facility in 1994, employees of the Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center set up tents and trailers in a parking lot and stayed open for business. In May, they moved into a six-story building, just down the street from the original site. By mid-to-late November, county officials expect to begin construction of an $11-million replacement facility. The center will be finished sometime in 2000, said Ronald E.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday with an amendment that could prevent Kaiser Permanente from using at other company facilities federal earthquake disaster funds earmarked for the Kaiser hospital in Panorama City.

The City Council has given property owners along Laurel Canyon Boulevard permission to rebuild and expand their businesses under a program originally established to help with earthquake recovery. The council on Wednesday unanimously approved an amendment to the Laurel Canyon Earthquake Recovery Program to open up the rules of participation to include new and large-scale projects.

In a South-Central Los Angeles church not far from where rioters left a community in tatters five years ago, about 75 lawyers, executives, pastors, bankers, bureaucrats, activists and residents gathered recently to collaborate on what may represent the most significant step in the area's long, painful recovery. Their plans do not include acts of charity.

A politically connected developer who has failed to complete repair work in one of the San Fernando Valley areas most severely damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake got another break Tuesday. The Los Angeles Building and Safety Commission postponed acting on city inspectors' request that it declare as public nuisances three quake-damaged buildings owned by Neighborhood Empowerment and Economic Development (NEED).

Growing impatient with a politically connected nonprofit organization's failure to repair earthquake-damaged buildings in a North Hills neighborhood, city inspectors have cited three structures as public nuisances and ordered the owners to fix the problems within 30 days.