South Los Angeles

The plan to transform a vacant lot used as an illegal dumping ground into a youth center and soccer field for low-income residents in South Los Angeles seemed like a winner. The Los Angeles City Council allocated a $2.4-million community development block grant to the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles to buy the lot and develop the property in a community long bereft of recreational opportunities. Eight years later, with no youth center or permanent soccer field having been built, the Los Angeles Unified School District has seized control of the blighted six-acre site, with plans for an elementary school and soccer field.

Ronald Perkins and his neighbors were nearly outnumbered by the consultants and architects who showed up at the Jordan Downs community center. For three hours, they listened as a procession of planners depicted their home as an "island of poverty," and dissected it by "landscape character and typologies." But something puzzled Perkins as he studied the new homes that would replace their decrepit apartments. So when the tenants were asked for their opinions, he raised his hand: "How come I don't see no bars on the windows?"

Top Los Angeles law enforcement and elected officials Tuesday acknowledged a recent rise in the number of killings in South Los Angeles and announced plans to bolster anti-gang activity in the area. Speaking at a news conference at the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street station, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton said a task force consisting of officers from the LAPD, California Highway Patrol, the mayor's gang-intervention program and other agencies would be formed to focus on the swath of the city south of downtown.

It began, as mortal disputes sometimes do in South Los Angeles, over a girl. On one side were the Main Street Crips, one of the more muscular gangs in the neighborhood. Main Streeters commanded respect, if only because they had a bit of money to throw around, even their own small record label. On the other side were the Hoover Criminals. The Hoovers were big, with turf that stretched from Vernon Avenue down past Century Boulevard and into "the hundreds," as the streets are known locally.

Dorothy Carson figures her diet of frequent fried chicken and virtually no fresh produce finally caught up with her in July, when she was hospitalized for a stroke-like condition. After two months in recovery from blurred vision, Carson returned to church at First African Methodist Episcopal Church a few weeks ago. That very same day, she said, the church launched a new open-air fresh produce market to bring healthful foods and better diets to the residents of South Los Angeles.

A young mother who allegedly shot her two boys Saturday -- killing her 5-year-old and critically wounding her 1 1/2 -year-old -- shouted, "I've wasted my life!" from her balcony and threatened to kill herself before she was arrested, police and neighbors said. LaTonya Dixon, 25, called 911 about 8:30 a.m. Saturday and told the dispatcher that she had killed her children. When officers arrived at the three-unit apartment complex in the 7200 block of South Gramercy Place in South Los Angeles, the woman was standing on a second-floor balcony waving a handgun.

Tony Peterson was 15 when he planted a pine sapling outside of his mother's home in South Los Angeles. For years he watched it grow, but then life took over. Peterson found a girlfriend, got married and moved out. As for the tree, it grew on its own, Peterson said. Over four decades, the pine grew into a towering "y," its thick trunk stretching and leaning toward homes in the 4900 block of Wadsworth Avenue. Its roots had burst through the ground, exposing themselves. Neighbors, including the now 58-year-old Peterson, feared the giant tree would one day fall.

The Times' New Year's wishes do not have a good history of coming true. Last year at this time, we made 27 wishes for 2007, and scored on just 2 1/2 . Then again, we realize that when we ask for things like sensible immigration reform from Congress or for the Vatican to approve the use of condoms to fight AIDS, we're only setting ourselves up for disappointment. The victories: L.A.'s crime rate is still dropping, and officials are still arguing about why, just as we had hoped.

Times reporters Jill Leovy and Doug Smith crunched the 2007 Los Angeles County homicide numbers to determine how many cases were solved. They posted their findings on The Times' Homicide Report blog. Here's the details: -- An arrest was made in about 41% of slayings in Los Angeles County in 2007, according to data collected by the Homicide Report.

Besting eight colleagues, Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass secured enough votes Wednesday to become the next Assembly speaker, making her the first African American woman to do so. Bass, 54, is expected to be formally elected today by both the 48-member Democratic caucus and the full Assembly. She will be considered "speaker designee" until she and current Speaker Fabian Nunez, a fellow Los Angeles Democrat, agree on a transition date, said Nunez spokesman Steve Maviglio.