A Giant Project Examined

Posted: 01-May-2001; Updated: 02-Aug-2007

Grand visions of urban redevelopment often overlook the people whose lives they disrupt. When Staples Center, a city-subsidized entertainment complex, sprouted in downtown Los Angeles in 1994, low-income Latino residents around the site were the losers. Their compensation packages for moving out often proved inadequate. And those left behind had to cope with constant noise and traffic.

Now developers are proposing a massive expansion of the Staples Center. The expansion envisions two huge hotels, a 7,000-seat theater, luxury housing, offices, malls and 5,300 parking spaces. This time, the neighborhood is getting involved. The Figueroa Corridor Coalition for Economic Justice comprises some 20 organizations including the Los Angeles office of Environmental Defense. We are the only national organization and the sole environmental representative in the coalition.

We recently pointed out that the development plan fails to address energy, solid waste, transportation and air and water quality problems adequately. The developers have agreed to negotiate solutions to our environmental concerns.

"When public funds are used, public concerns about the environment need to be taken into account," said our attorney Jerilyn Mendoza