Today's LA Times: Section A and Section B

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Both front page stories. One on the main page, one on the "california" section.

 

[barfo]

Amusing. But does the budget gap and the spending refer to the same time period? Does Watts need a face-lift? Haven't been there in a few decades; when I last saw Watts it needed a a tummy tuck, and a boob job.

barfo

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

they've apparantly tried to redevelop this area in the past but everyone kept on embezzling apparantly. dunno, people are wondering if putting up coffee shops, retail and making a nice area is really appropriate at this juncture. people aren't spending, why pour in tons of cash to redevelop an area in the ghetto where people are probably going to have less money, be unemployed, etc?

 

[ABM]

Does Watts need a face-lift? Haven't been there in a few decades; when I last saw Watts it needed a a tummy tuck, and a boob job.

barfo

Now that's a riot.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jordandowns28-2009feb28,0,527830.story

Los Angeles officials are embarking on a $1-billion plan to tear down the notorious Jordan Downs housing project and turn it into a "new urban village" -- an effort aimed at transforming the Watts neighborhood that would be one of the city's largest public works projects.

By creating a denser community that serves people of different incomes, officials hope to draw businesses to the complex, such as coffee houses, supermarkets and eateries. Officials believe this would help reduce the influence of gangs in an area that has long been the base of the Grape Street Crips and create better lives for Watts residents. Included in the price tag is a proposal to turn Jordan High School into what officials describe as a cutting-edge model campus.

"This will have a transformative impact not just on the Jordan Downs housing project but on the surrounding community as well," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "In order to make these communities thriving, you have to have a . . . retail component."

What remains to be seen is whether Los Angeles and its housing authority, which until recently has been plagued by scandal and mismanagement, can carry out such a bold transformation, especially in such grim economic times. Past efforts to modernize Jordan Downs have ended badly, with housing officials fired or forced to resign amid allegations that they broke rules or embezzled funds.

"The question is, are you going to find retailers who want to go there?" said Tracey Seslen, a professor at USC's Marshall School of Business. Another big challenge is building attractive enough --and safe enough -- market-rate units to attract people who could live elsewhere.

Jordan Downs is among the city's oldest housing projects -- and long one of its most troubled. It was built as temporary housing for factory workers during World War II and was taken over by the housing authority in 1955. Over time, poverty and neglect took their toll. By the 1980s, Jordan Downs had become a bleak, often dangerous place -- so rundown that some City Council members said residents should not have to pay rent. Today it houses about 2,300 residents, most of them single women and their children who live on an average annual income of about $15,500 and pay 30% of their income in rent.

yeah, lets build a fucking starbucks there!

 

[maxiep]

This is what you get when politicians and urban planners decide what should be built instead of private developers.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

well, LA Times is going to eliminate the California section. Its equivalent to Oregonian's Metro section. that paper is fucked...elminating a section then jacking up the price to 75 cents per day.

buh bye.

 

[barfo]

well, LA Times is going to eliminate the California section. Its equivalent to Oregonian's Metro section. that paper is fucked...elminating a section then jacking up the price to 75 cents per day.

buh bye.

All newspapers are fucked.
Oregonian is cutting back on the comics

barfo

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

still like the Post.

 

[barfo]

still like the Post.

Washington? New York? Other?

barfo

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

NY POST.

its fun to read.

 

[maxiep]

The Rocky Mountain News just printed its last copy on Friday. It was just a few months shy of 150 years old. Of course, there's no way a town Denver's size should have two major newspapers.

 

[Draco]

The internet has hurt print media. It's revolutionized the way people get their news.