Deirdre Newman
"Where's the blight?"
This question was asked repeatedly Monday night by Westside
industrial property owners and by Redevelopment Agency members during
a heated discussion of whether 434 acres should be added to the
city's downtown redevelopment zone.
For the property owners, it was a question about physical
disrepair; for the agency, whether the economy on the Westside is
stagnant.
Because it is unclear whether the area's economy is lagging, the
agency voted 4 to 0 to postpone a decision for six months.
The six-month delay will give independent consultants a chance to
begin an economic study of a commercial area that runs along 19th
Street east of Monrovia. It also will allow the Community
Redevelopment Action Committee the opportunity to present its vision
and goals for the Westside next month.
Industrial property owners, who have been the most vocal critics
of the redevelopment plans, showed their displeasure by booing and
hissing the consultants from Urban Futures during their presentation
Monday. Many owners charge that their property is not blighted
physically or economically, and they have lambasted city officials
for not having a clear strategy for the future of the Westside. They
also fear the prospect of the city buying their property through
eminent domain if it is labeled blighted.
The Planning Commission had given preliminary approval to the
boundaries, which run roughly along 15th Street, Whittier Avenue,
West 19th Street and Pomona Avenue, in January.
While the owners were heartened that the agency did not accept the
proposed boundaries Monday, many fear the redevelopment train will
keep chugging along, enticing agency members to jump on board farther
down the line.
"I think it's better than having them decide to jut move ahead,
but I would have preferred to see them reject [the boundaries] or
send [them] back to the Planning Commission for downsizing," said Dan
Gribble, owner of Boatswain's Locker on West 18th Street. "The
problem is a lot of data provided by [the consultants] is either
dated or erroneous and I'm concerned they're going to continue on
with that, and that the redevelopment agency may be swayed that way."
Before the agency made its decision, 40 people spoke. Of those,
only three expressed support for redevelopment. One of them was Chris
Fewel, a resident of the Westside as well as a Costa Mesa business
owner.
Fewel tried to dispel what he considers some of misconceptions
about redevelopment.
