‘Ghost Towns’ Still Haunt L.A. : Officials must focus on reviving earthquake-damaged areas

When the possibility surfaced last year that earthquake-damaged parts of the San Fernando Valley, Mid-City and Hollywood might suffer slow, spreading decay and long-term blight, the response was little short of amazing.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan floated a $150-million rebuilding plan that would use federal community development block grants, federal housing repair monies and city-issued bonds. The federal Small Business Administration said it would speed its loan processing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was open to new aid requests for the so-called “ghost towns” that resulted from the Northridge temblor. President Clinton shifted $225 million to the blight-threatened areas.

Police on horseback and private security patrols helped protect the abandoned areas. And the City Council pushed through a number of important loan programs for specific recovery projects. It was an appropriately massive and coordinated approach that worked marvelously. Success is especially evident in the Valley, one of the parts of Los Angeles left with dense pockets of damage after the Jan. 17, 1994, earthquake. Unfortunately, last year’s fervor among officials didn’t reach far enough. In older and poorer areas of the city, earthquake recovery is falling behind.

In some blocks of East, Northeast and South-Central Los Angeles and Hollywood, it still looks as though the quake occurred yesterday. Work on more than half of the most seriously damaged structures in those areas has not begun, while some buildings that could have been salvaged have been abandoned or razed.

These are the communities in which residents tend to spend their time making ends meet rather than playing the squeaky wheel for elected officials. These are the areas that are less profitable to investors and more likely to have high rejection rates for bank and federal loans because of low earnings.

Blight is a festering wound to the entire city, regardless of the ZIP code in which it occurs. It’s incumbent on the mayor and the City Council to focus on those areas still in need, and shift resources accordingly.