GENTRIFICATION BUMPS INTO TRADITION-“Our First Suburb” is how some refer to Boyle Heights, a community of 90,000 tucked between downtown and East Los Angeles. But others in the community see it as a “target for gentrification.”
Over time, this area has had its ups and downs but now it’s poised to be a model of the new urbanism -- at a price. The prospect of gentrification is very exciting to many planners but is of great concern to many Boyle Heights residents.
Boyle Heights’ natural setting along the banks of the bone-dry Los Angeles River, could soon be flooded with urban development. It has the real possibility of becoming one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in the city. And that’s exactly what worries people!
The “new urbanism” is defined as a more manageable lifestyle with neighborhoods that feature walkability and connectivity, transit corridors that help residents move about, a diverse mix of shops, offices, apartments, and mixed housing – all reflective of quality architecture and urban design combined with traditional neighborhood structures.
These attributes easily describe the Boyle Heights neighborhood, according to a Boyle Heights’ senior at Boyle Heights’ Roosevelt High School named Edgarwho wrote about Boyle Heights’ history in BoyleHeights.biz, noting that the community began “about 150 years ago, way back before California had entered the Union of the United States of America.”
Now 95% Hispanic and Latino (according to a 2011 report by the LA Times,) Boyle Heights has been home for over fifteen decades to very diverse populations including Japanese, Latino, Black, White, Russian and Jewish peoples, all fully integrated, living side by side. Diversity in population is another important hallmark of the new urbanism.
A deterioration of that mixture in Boyle Heights began during the internment of the Japanese during World War II, totally removing them from the community. Banks began to redline the area, making it nearly impossible to obtain home loans, which is why so many residents fled to other parts of the city where home financing was more readily accessible.
Boyle Heights also lost its reputation as a home for a broad community when several freeway interchanges were imposed on it, cutting through and tearing gaps into whole sections of the neighborhood. That might have been the final nail in the coffin, but then heavily reported troubles with gangs in the late 20th century totally tarnished the image of a once paradisiacal “suburb.”
Admirably, the residents of Boyle Heights did not give up, and now they stand to benefit greatly from the values of new urbanism – an outlook that fits neatly with what they already have. This gem of a neighborhood will be the envy of other neighborhoods across the city. However, gentrification is creating internal tensions between those who want to preserve what is there, and others who want to build towers on vacant lots and under-utilized spaces.
There are some additional benefits that add to the “new urbanism” status of Boyle Heights. The Gold Line subway now connects the community with East Los Angeles, downtown LA, and Pasadena, as well as several other transit systems. Future generations that choose to live in Boyle Heights will find a prime area for the community on both sides of the Los Angeles River between Olympic Blvd and the Soto Street Junction -- a target for gentrification but also one that could be repurposed as a public benefit space.
Turning existing warehouses into parkland on both sides of the river would be a crowning achievement and provide a civic plaza and playground for the residents of Boyle Heights.
Chicago’s Grant Park, on the shore of Lake Michigan, was once filled with railroad yards until civic leaders fought to have it repurposed as public parkland. It’s now the home to several cultural institutions and the playground for millions of residents and visitors.
Adding parkland must be a high priority as our city densifies. Having a substantial park along the river, adjacent to downtown and Boyle Heights, benefits everyone.
The movement toward of gentrification, riding the coat tails of the new urbanism as well as the desirability of being close to downtown (now exploding with development that is revitalizing the city’s core,) challenges the community and its leaders.
Controversy has already erupted about redevelopment of Mariachi Plaza, long considered a gateway to Boyle Heights. For over 75 years it has been the traditional platform on which mariachi musicians have gathered in the hope of being hired by visitors; it has served as a cultural marker of real importance to the community. Metro wants to construct some buildings with retail and parking facilities on the site. Some see history and tradition in that plaza. Others see an opportunity for increasing density by adding buildings.
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It’s an example of using a subway station (in this case Mariachi Plaza) as a hub for transit-oriented development (TOD), a looming issue for all of Los Angeles that will increase density in neighborhoods that are transit rich. Any neighborhood with a subway stop has been, or will be, prime target for higher density buildings. This is also part of the new urbanism: the ability to live near transit and thereby reduce vehicle traffic.
The Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council land use committee is arguing against Metro developing Mariachi Plaza. It is sending its recommendations to the full neighborhood council board and to Councilmember Jose Huizar (CD14-photo left), who has also expressed concerns.
However, the die may have already been cast.
Consider a statement that Councilmember Huizar, who also lives in Boyle Heights, made to the New Urbanism Film Festival premiere night audience late last week: “There is $225 billion in public spending earmarked for Boyle Heights.”
Fans of new urbanism and foes of gentrification are on a collision course in Boyle Heights. Such a level of public spending would not be appropriated unless developers were planning to come in right behind the public works projects – ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to build their private enterprises.
How much will this surge in spending, public or private, change Boyle Heights? It’s something that may be debated by past and current Boyle Heights residents who, at some future date, may find themselves relaxing on the banks of the LA River that runs through their neighborhood – that is, if and when that section is developed into parkland.
What a fantastic application of the New Urbanism that would be…and maybe one of the true rewards of gentrification for the community.
(Tim Deegan is a long-time resident and community leader in the Miracle Mile, who has served as board chair at the Mid City West Community Council and on the board of the Miracle Mile Civic Coalition. Tim can be reached at [email protected].) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 83
Pub: Oct 13, 2015
Boyle Heights: Meeting the ‘New Urbanism’ Head-On
