-
Downtown Crenshaw published Los Angeles Times: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall to be sold to New York developers in Press 2021-06-26 07:18:17 -0700
Los Angeles Times: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall to be sold to New York developers
“The bottom line is that this battle is not over, it is simply the latest saga to wrestle control of the Crenshaw Mall out of the hands of those who would do the Crenshaw community harm and into the hands of the community,” according to a statement by Downtown Crenshaw Rising released by Goodmon. “We’re going to focus our energy on continuing to organize the people, further strengthening our offer and the people-supported plan.”
-
Downtown Crenshaw published New York Times: Black Empowerment Outside the Headlines in New York Times: Black Empowerment Outside the Headlines 2021-06-26 00:04:01 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published New York Times: Black Empowerment Outside the Headlines in Press 2021-06-26 07:18:41 -0700
New York Times: Black Empowerment Outside the Headlines
Essentially the plan — which has the slightly pared-down name of Downtown Crenshaw — is about building and keeping Black wealth within the community. It calls for reinventing the mall as an “urban village” that would build on some things that already exist and include retail, park space, offices, affordable housing, a boutique hotel, a cultural center and production studios. For the project, Downtown Crenshaw Rising has enlisted outfits such as SmithGroup, an architectural firm that helped design the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, and MASS Design Group, a Boston-based firm that helped design the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Alabama.
-
Downtown Crenshaw published LA Mall Purchase Would Be the Biggest Victory Yet for Community-Driven Development in LA Mall Purchase Would Be the Biggest Victory Yet for Community-Driven Development 2021-06-25 23:54:10 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published LA Mall Purchase Would Be the Biggest Victory Yet for Community-Driven Development in Press 2021-06-26 07:19:34 -0700
LA Mall Purchase Would Be the Biggest Victory Yet for Community-Driven Development
The solidarity economy is looking for a statement win. A headline-grabbing, underdog victory in prime time against a big, blue-blooded competitor. The Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza mall in Los Angeles could be that statement win.
They formed a nonprofit entity to take ownership of the mall, called Downtown Crenshaw. Over the past year they successfully rebuffed two bids from outside investors, and at a March 24 press event they went public with the $28 million in donations they’ve raised for a down payment on the property. Remarkably for a philanthropic effort, they’ve already got the $28 million in the bank, held in trust, ready to wire over at a moment’s notice. But now they’re saying the brokers for the property have stopped responding to them and have instead accepted another bid at a lower price. Downtown Crenshaw says they have enough investor interest to match any legitimate price offered for the property.
-
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Wave: Activists says they will try to block latest attempt to sell mall in Wave: Activists says they will try to block latest attempt to sell mall 2021-06-12 05:49:47 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Wave: Activists says they will try to block latest attempt to sell mall in Press 2021-06-11 22:15:36 -0700
Wave: Activists says they will try to block latest attempt to sell mall
“This is one of the last bastions of African American ownership and it needs to be African-American led. I say to the owners that before the transaction is done, reconsider. Downtown Crenshaw can merge with other groups, but this mall needs to be Black-owned and Black-led.”
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Wave: Mall sale sparks diverse community considerations in Wave: Mall sale sparks diverse community considerations 2021-06-11 11:48:10 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Los Angeles Standard Newspaper: Developer backs out of deal to buy Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles Standard Newspaper: Developer backs out of deal to buy Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza 2021-06-11 11:39:57 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Los Angeles Standard Newspaper: Developer backs out of deal to buy Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Press 2021-06-11 11:35:30 -0700
Los Angeles Standard Newspaper: Developer backs out of deal to buy Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
“This fight on the mall pushed us to make public what we’d actually been working on for the past year,” Goodmon said. “The launch of an impact fund to acquire apartments and single family homes in our community to take them off the speculative real estate market to place them into the Liberty Community Land Trust to make our community permanently affordable to us. With appropriate investment we can ensure that the residents who make up this unique community can stay in their homes and new housing is built that is affordable for us. It’s the only way we save Black L.A.”
-
Downtown Crenshaw published CalOZ: Republican Or Democrat, The Opportunity Zone Program Will Likely Change Next Administration in CalOZ: Republican Or Democrat, The Opportunity Zone Program Will Likely Change Next Administration 2021-06-11 11:32:44 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published CalOZ: Republican Or Democrat, The Opportunity Zone Program Will Likely Change Next Administration in Press 2021-06-11 11:31:07 -0700
CalOZ: Republican Or Democrat, The Opportunity Zone Program Will Likely Change Next Administration
A new group led by the Crenshaw Subway Coalition is raising funds to buy the mall in what CSC Executive Director Damien Goodmon said could be an all-too-rare example of the opportunity zone program being used for its stated purpose of benefiting underserved communities.
“There’s a real need for reform or repeal given that its current implementation has been disadvantageous for communities of color," Goodmon said. "It’s actually made it worse.”
Goodmon said a much better alternative to the current opportunity zone program would be one in which community wealth is built and maintained through projects.
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Our Weekly: Mall sale pending in Our Weekly: Mall sale pending 2021-06-11 11:26:59 -0700
-
Our Weekly: Mall sale pending
“That’s not what this community is looking for,” said Goodmon. “We’re not looking for a bunch of Trump towers on Crenshaw.”
Goodmon and his cohorts see the mall as the synergistic center for the Black community. They plan to organize and strategize to buy the mall, stabilize it and redevelop it into a 21st century sustainable, 40-plus acre urban village. Downtown Crenshaw’s rejected plans reflected the mall’s operating standards of community wealth building, including a job training center, preparing residents for 21st century jobs in healthcare, technology and entertainment.
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Wave: Fight for the Mall Isn’t Over Yet in Wave: Fight for the Mall Isn’t Over Yet 2021-06-11 07:36:39 -0700
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Wave: Fight for the Mall Isn’t Over Yet in Press 2021-06-11 06:37:11 -0700
Wave: Fight for the Mall Isn’t Over Yet
Jackie Ryan, a Downtown Crenshaw Rising board member and co-vice chair of the Black Community Clergy Alliance, has been in the community for 70 years.
“We have the right to determine what happens in this community,” she said. “We work here, worship here, play here, and have education here. We have the right to develop our culture. We can’t allow imperial, colonial entities to come in here and disrupt the space that we occupy.”
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Commemorating the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre by Fighting for Crenshaw against Racist Gentrifier David Schwartzman in Blog 2021-05-31 00:27:21 -0700
Commemorating the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre by Fighting for Crenshaw against Racist Gentrifier David Schwartzman
Today, May 31st, marks the 100 year commemoration of the two-day Tulsa riots by a racist white mob backed by the government in the city's Greenwood District, known as "Black Wall Street." Today's form of bombing Black Wall Streets is more subtle, but no less morally repugnant.
Gentrification/displacement/cultural erasure/urban cleansing is an intentional act by the state and private sector to price out and push out Black residents/merchants and destroy Black communities to create White wealth with bulldozers instead of bombs. It involves paid off politicians who deploy a variety of tactics, including trigger happy cops and special approvals. It involves banks implementing racist policies to deny Black communities the right to own their community spaces, and Black businesses and prospective homeowners financing.
One way to honor the memory of the many Black lives lost and the Black community lost is by standing up for Downtown Crenshaw RIGHT NOW!
Read more
-
NAACP SFV Initiates Complaint Against Deutsche Bank
Our community driven movement has many allies who will not let the racism that surrounds the sale of the Crenshaw Mall stand. Our brothers and sisters at the NAACP recently informed Deutsche Bank/DWS of their intent to file a complaint with the Department of Treasury due to DWS’ "blatant discrimination against Black-led development teams during the sale of the Crenshaw Mall."
We are grateful for the solidarity shown by our brothers and sisters at the NAACP SFV branch, Black Lives Matters-Los Angeles chapter, Clergy for Black Lives, Congress of Racial Equality-California, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Southern California, and the Los Angeles South Chamber of Commerce. And we will fully provide whatever documentation the oversight agencies require to investigate the claim.
Read more
-
Downtown Crenshaw published Downtown Crenshaw Commemorates Malcolm X’s 96th Birthday in Blog 2021-05-19 17:35:23 -0700
Downtown Crenshaw Commemorates Malcolm X’s 96th Birthday
Crenshaw District, Los Angeles, CA ━ Today, we remember the inspirational leader and activist Malcolm X, on what would be his 96th birthday. To honor his legacy, a broad coalition of local residents, activists, business leaders and property owners are urging the Los Angeles City Council to approve the addition of his name to the 5-mile stretch of Crenshaw Blvd south of the I-10 freeway. Co-naming Crenshaw Blvd with Malcolm X Blvd honors a profound Black leader, symbolizes the deep cultural significance of the area, and the importance of stabilizing the last major concentration of Black residents in the city of Los Angeles. Downtown Crenshaw is proud to stand with the Malcolm X Blvd Coalition in this incredible quest.
Read more