South LA

The proposed project includes a six-story structure housing 180 affordable units, a public charter boarding school, a career technical education center, neighborhood-serving retail, community spaces, and a transit plaza.

A ten-year community-led planning effort paralleled the city's own process and shaped the final form of the South and Southeast community plans.

Who will drive the outreach? The question came from Metro Boardmember Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker regarding the proposal for a mixed-use project on two lots at the convergence of the Expo and Crenshaw/LAX Lines in South L.A.

The transformation of Crenshaw at Exposition - the gateway to a historic black neighborhood - apparently also includes the abduction of the entire black population by aliens... save one undoubtedly confused person who appears to be in cargo shorts.

She had had enough of hearing her community spoken about in offensive ways by well- (and not-so-well-) meaning planners and advocates, enough of giving 110 percent of herself only to realize a fraction of what she put forward was being seen as having value, enough of how disinterested those with power over what happened in marginalized communities remained in the larger picture, and enough of being tokenized.

So much of what we do within this field is aimed at addressing vulnerabilities - including threats to health, safety, and overall well-being - in order to build healthy, resilient, inclusive, livable, and just communities and cities. And yet, all too often, those with the power and resources to influence debates on what constitutes a valid form of vulnerability or how it should be addressed themselves have limited experience with or knowledge of the wider range of intersectional vulnerabilities faced by just about everyone that is not an able-bodied heterosexual cis-gender white male.

"But whatever you do," the head of the history department told me, "do not use words like 'multicultural.' Parents will call to ask what on earth we're teaching their kids."

I love doing the bike/ped counts. I move through the communities I cover constantly, but rarely get the chance to stand in one place for two hours and observe how a particular corner functions.

A conversation about how to have uncomfortable conversations, moderated by Charles T. Brown and featuring Tamika Butler, Sahra Sulaiman, Sonia Jimenez, and author Richard Rothstein.