The People's Plan for Boyle Heights (El Plan del Pueblo) English Version 2015

El Plan del

Pueblo BOYLE HEIGHTS A resident-led proposal to create alternatives to land use that fights against gentrification, displacement, and the destruction of rent-controlled housing in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

A report prepared by members and staff of the East LA Community Corportation Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Program

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ELACC MISSION AND overview MISSION East LA Community Corporation advocates for economic and social justice in Boyle Heights and Unincorporated East Los Angeles by building affordable housing and leading grassroots efforts towards self-sufficiency and access to brighter economic opportunities for low and moderate-income families. Our mission is to strengthen existing community infrastructure in underserved communities by developing and preserving neighborhood assets.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW Motivated by major emerging redevelopment efforts and inspired by the need for community residents to hold institutions accountable during the redevelopment process, in April 1993 a group of concerned community activists began the process of creating a community-based non-profit organization to serve Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles. After much planning, East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) was founded in June 1995.

ELACC began operating in January 1996 and focused on establishing and nurturing links with community organizations and individuals. The emphasis on community outreach resulted in the prioritization of the types of developments ELACC is undertaking. As a grassroots organization, ELACC placed utmost importance on reaching out to the community in order to document its priorities on development needs.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction

Lidia’s story

Boyle Heights history

Planning and land use in Boyle Heights Background Methodology

2. Special Land Use Themes

Residential Commercial Environmental justice

Public facilities Transit oriented development / Metro

Landmarks and historic bridges Economic development and street vending

3. Community Corridors in Focus

1st Street César Chávez Avenue

4th Street

Wabash Avenue

Lorena Street Olympic Boulevard

4. Community Plan Implementation Overlays

Corridor specifc policies

1st Street César Chávez Avenue

4th Street

Wabash Avenue

Lorena Street Olympic Boulevard

5. Community Policy Recommendations

Housing Commercial Environmental justice Community infrastructure and public facilities Cultural preservation Encouraged and incentivized uses

Prohibited and limited uses

Site specific recommendations

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Conclusion

Roster of resident participants Achnowledgement of funders

Glossary of planning terms Appendix / reference for maps PL AN DEL PUEBLO

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ELACC Leaders Carmen Fuentes, Ymelda Alvarez, and Leticia Andrade participate during a Legalize Street Vending Press Conference Event to introduce a motion to legalize street vending in the City of Los Angeles.

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LIDIA'S STORY Lidia Hernández, a member of East LA Community Corporation’s Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN) Action Committees, remembers when she arrived in Boyle Heights, four decades ago. The neighborhood seemed nice to her, like “a little piece of our Mexico.” She supported her family of three on her own with wages she earned cutting hair in her living room, a job she does to this day. She loves her job not only because it gives her a creative outlet, but because she is privy to all the neighborhood information and current news, allowing her to help her fellow community members.

For instance, if someone needs a mechanic, she will recommend a trustworthy one, or if Lidia finds out about a job opening, she shares this information with her friends and neighbors. Ms. Hernández is a link in one of many strong social networks common among Boyle Heights residents, many of which do not have an extended family in this country.

Beginning in 2004, Lidia noticed that her neighbors started moving away, pushed out by the rapidly increasing rents.

She was saddened by the loss of old friends and customers, but she was devastated the day her daughter told her she was moving to Texas in order to afford her own house. Now Lidia only gets to see the grandchildren she used to babysit every day, once a year. Lidia’s story repeated itself in a variety of ways among the members of the Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Action Committees. With renters making up 76% of the residents of Boyle Heights, the working-class population is especially vulnerable to displacement via rising rents. Lidia is only one of many residents who face this imminent threat. As a result of this threat, community members decided to take action and proposed their own solution, known as The People’s Plan for Boyle Heights.

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COMMUNITY VISION Community members envision a Boyle Heights where all residents thrive, where there is an abundance of access to quality affordable housing and vibrant green public space, regarDless of economic status.

Our Goal To ensure a community vision in the final Boyle Heights New Community Plan policy documents, achieved by having the policy recommendations proposed in the People's Plan adopted into the City's vision for the future of Boyle Heights' land use.

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BOYLE HEIGHTS HISTORY 6

BOYLE HEIGHTS HISTORY Boyle Heights is a working-class neighborhood in the Eastside of the City of Los Angeles covering 6.67 square miles.

It is located immediately east of Little Tokyo and Downtown Los Angeles, west of unincorporated East Los Angeles, north of the City of Vernon, and south of the Los Angeles City neighborhoods of El Sereno and Lincoln Heights. The 2010 Census population count for the neighborhood was approximately 84,290 residents.1 At approximately 14,048 residents per square mile, Boyle Heights is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles (the City has 8,050 residents per square mile).

In the 1950’s, Boyle Heights was Los Angeles’ most diverse neighborhood, home to significant Jewish, Japanese American, African American, Russian, and Latino populations.

Today, the population is over 93% Latino, predominantly of Mexican descent.2 Within this population, 50% are native-born while 35% are noncitizen residents3, resulting in a neighborhood with a dominant Spanish-language immigrant culture and identity. These population changes have resulted in shifts in community and identity. Before World War II, the Japanese were a prominent ethnic group in Boyle Heights. With the onset of the war, Japanese residents were 8

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forced out to internment camps by Executive Order 9066, thus ushering in one of the biggest shift in the community’s identity. With new federal immigration policies between the 1940s and 1990s, many families from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras arrived and began to forge a new identity for Boyle Heights.

Boyle Heights once was a destination for good employment and good housing. Today it has a low homeownership rate of 24% while the rental rate is 76%.4 The poverty rate in Boyle Heights is 28%, almost double the rate of the City of Los Angeles (16.5% )5. Additionally, the household median income for the neighborhood was $32,500 in 2010.6 The resiliency and survival strategies of its people are profound especially when a significant portion of the population is rent burdened. Over half of Boyle Heights residents (59%) spend over 30% of their total annual income on rent, classifying them as rent-burdened by housing costs.7 Worse yet, the majority of rent-burdened tenants (55%) pay 50% or more of their income towards housing cost.8 Given these baseline conditions, most community members struggle to pay for housing and also finding ways to pay for other everyday life needs. These numbers, whether homeowner or tenant also tell a story of generations of families that have called Boyle Heights their home, often passing down their residential unit to members of their family and preserving the sense of community that has existed amongst neighbors for many years.

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These are the reasons why Boyle Heights needs a higher investment in affordable housing. The population density and the low income levels warrant a stronger effort from all levels of government and agencies to develop affordable housing for the people that need it most in the community. This would support alleviating the high percentage of rent-burdened people and overcrowding concerns.

Through efforts of redlining and racially-restrictive covenants, Boyle Heights lost its attractiveness in the eyes of investors and middle-class families. Today’s residents experience the consequences of these processes; old housing stock, lack of and underemployment in living wage jobs, lack of neighborhood-wide investment, and a stigma for being a poor working class Mexican neighborhood. Although the neighborhood deficits created by intentional policies and political decision are immense, Boyle Heights has deep assets. Residents have been active in bringing community transformation in diverse areas from improving public safety to new schools. There is a history of thriving arts and culture which continues to be strong to date. The City of Los Angeles now has the opportunity to build on these assets and alleviate inequities with the community plan.

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PLANNING AND LAND USE IN BOYLE HEIGHTS The neighborhood has had a history of detrimental planning and land use, and the neighborhood design and the infrastructure seen today is a cumulative result of both opportunity and heartbreak. One of the most impactful land use decisions affecting Boyle Heights has been the construction of the East Los Angeles Interchange, widely considered among the most congested freeway network in the country.

Built in the 1960s and comprised of intersections between four major Southern California freeways (I-5,I-10, US-101, and CA-60), interchange construction left the neighborhood with a severe loss of housing supply (-10%) and residential population (-20%). Today, it serves as a heavily utilized connection between cities across Los Angeles County, but also results in disproportionately high levels of air pollution for residents and workers in Boyle Heights.

Further neighborhood health hazards stem from the industrial corridors along the Los Angeles River and Olympic Boulevard. Heavy manufacturing uses are often located adjacent or in close proximity to sensitive receptors, such as residences, schools and community centers. Boyle Heights was once seen as the cornerstone for employment in the manufacturing industry. During the 1950’s however, several factors resulted a huge decrease in the industrial sector’s employment opportunities, including “white flight” of Caucasian residents to suburban neighborhoods, a shift towards industrialization, and the growth of automobile ownership.

Today’s Boyle Heights industrial areas continues to provide an estimated 8,387 jobs in various industries, but also have blatant examples of incompatible land uses within close proximity to each other.

Historically, Boyle Heights has been an initial destination for residents seeking affordable rental housing in Los Angeles. Following the Great Depression, the Federal Housing

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Administration had the goal of increasing jobs and providing homes primarily for veterans returning from the war. A significant amount of housing funds were directed to Los Angeles which resulted in new Public Housing properties being developed in the area (Estrada Courts, Aliso Pico, Ramona Gardens, Pico Gardens, and Aliso Village) along with the privately-owned Wyvernwood Garden Apartments.

These large affordable housing developments have provided opportunities for new and existing families to live and remain in Boyle Heights without requiring great wealth.

Since the 1990s, Federal Housing policies are encouraging

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

the redevelopment of aging public housing properties into mixed use and mixed income developments; thereby, reducing the Federal Government’s responsibility for meeting the housing needs of extremely low-income housing.

viability of neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and across the City of Los Angeles. This will significantly change the way the City encourages economic development through the use of public right-of-ways.

Furthermore, due to the unavailability of unimproved sites for development, developers have looked to the aging Rent Stabilized housing stock to create opportunities for market rate housing. This will invariably lead to the potential displacement and “pricing out” of current tenants. Within our neighborhood, there are still attractive opportunities for development for the existing Boyle Heights population that would not require replacing existing housing resources. For General General Land land uses within boyle heights community plan area, 2010 Uses within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010 example, great potential exists 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Miles in the mostly vacant Sears Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Building, on the southwest corner of Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street, with a vast amount of space that could evolve into a project the current community will benefit from. This site presents a great opportunity to carry out a robust community input and visioning process.

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Recently, Boyle Heights has experienced important changes in development and investment. Aware of pending development efforts in the neighborhood, ELACC continues to be part of this transformation, working with residents to stay informed and monitor new projects to ensure accountable development.

Community residents have led the efforts to ensure community-driven projects on the currently vacant Metro-owned lots as well as incorporating community participation from the existing residents in every affordable housing project ELACC develops.

Additionally, Street Vending continues to inch closer towards securing a legal permit system in the City of Los Angeles. ELACC has been a leading force in the campaign, organizing vendors across the City en route to securing a motion to study the fiscal opportunity that Street Vendors provide to the economic

City of Los Angeles Community Plan Areas

Legend LEGEND Single-Family Residential

Freeways

Multi-family Residential

Supermarkets

School or Day Care Center

Affordable Housing

Retail Store

Library

Garden Community

Other Commercial

Hospital

Public Housing

Cemetery

Public Agency or Services

Light & Limited Manufacturing

Jogging Path

Fire or Police Department

Heavy Manufacturing

Community Park or Recreation Center

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BACKGROUND Community Vision Community members envision a Boyle Heights where all residents thrive, where there is an abundance of access to quality affordable housing and vibrant green public space, regardless of economic status. The People’s Plan for Boyle Heights is the product of many years of community dialogues, investigations, and trainings with hundreds residents.

It sets forth a vision for Boyle Heights through land use recommendations. The People’s Plan is the most extensive resident-led planning document for Boyle Heights, outlining residents’ vision for better land-use and planning practices in their neighborhood.

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How to use the People's Plan The People’s Plan lays out the different neighborhood corridors ELACC members identified along with an indepth analysis specific to each corridor. First it presents an introduction to Boyle Heights, and a background of the resident’s work on core socioeconomic barriers. It presents a set of land use maps created by residents of Boyle Heights focusing on current land use conditions, housing, commercial, environmental concerns, public facilities, cultural landmarks, and transit oriented development (TOD). These maps are accompanied by their own short description. Next, the People’s Plan offers an analysis of six corridors that the residents felt best represented the opportunities Boyle Heights has to improve. Each of these corridors includes an overview of issues residents identified during workshops over the past years. Next, Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO) maps for each corridor outline major policies for future development in Boyle Heights. These maps were created based on community resident discussions and visioning sessions, where participating residents spoke on improvements and conditions they wanted to see in the neighborhood. The People’s Plan should be used as a tool, by way of comparison, to assess the Draft Revisions of the Boyle Heights New Community Plan (BHNCP) currently being authored by the Department of City Planning. It is important to distinguish the People’s Plan as an assessment of Boyle Heights from the long time working class residents’ perspective, a point of view that has been historically limited or left out entirely from the City’s overall decision-making and engagement processes.

Our Goal To ensure a community vision in the final Boyle Heights New Community Plan policy documents, achieved by having the policy recommendations proposed in the People’s Plan adopted into the City’s vision for the future of Boyle Heights land use.

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Why the Community Plan?

In 2006, ELACC’s Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN) Action Committees met together to decide how to best mitigate the negative impacts of gentrification and how to favorably guide development of their neighborhood for years to come. After research, much discussion, and a voting process, NBN members decided to focus their efforts on influencing the Department of City Planning’s revision of the Boyle Heights Community Plan. Including the community members’ priorities in the community plan would provide a long-term tool and foundation to make Boyle Heights an inclusive, vibrant, and healthy neighborhood for current residents, with a particular focus on low-income renters and other working-class residents.

Boyle Heights community residents have long sought after equitable and sustainable changes in their neighborhood, but for years the planning and development of Boyle Heights has not reflected the voices of working-class residents. As a result, the community members created the People’s Plan as an alternative to the long-stalled plan being developed by the Department of City Planning. Beginning in 2006, the Department of City Planning started developing the Boyle Heights New Community Plan (BHNCP). This update process stalled in 2009 as a result of the City of Los Angeles’ budget shortfall and the reduction in general funds

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dollars allocated to the Department of City Planning (the current plan was last approved in 1998). The process restarted in 2012 with the addition of two community planning staff at the Department of City Planning and a series of focus groups to evaluate the relevancy of previous findings.

Strong advocacy efforts led by ELACC membership and staff over the course of several months beginning in mid-2012 included several delegations to the Office of Councilmember for the 14th District José Huizar, the City Planning Department, and City Council Hearings resulted in the reallocation of funds to the Boyle Heights New Community Plan. With the Department of City Planning’s renewed prioritization of the BHNCP, ELACC continued to update the People’s Plan.

ELACC’s update process began in 2012 with the purpose of revamping the initial version published in 2010. While the majority of the findings included in the original version are retained in this updated version, recent community workshops have provided new insights into how the future of land use and planning in Boyle Heights can support the wellbeing of current residents, businesses, and the overall health of the neighborhood. There are six neighborhood corridors in Boyle Heights that the residents identified as ‘target’ locations (areas currently going through change or present opportunities for change).

1st Street has received the majority of the attention in recent years due to the development of the Metro Gold Line

and the Department of City Planning’s emphasis on Transit Oriented Development (TOD). 4th Street and César Chávez Avenue have been identified as key commercial corridors.

The community wants to ensure that any future development and/or changes to these corridors will cater to the current long-standing small businesses of the neighborhood, and specific to César Chávez Avenue, efforts to preserve its historical character. Olympic Boulevard is lined with notable landmarks such as the Sears building, Estrada Courts Public Housing and the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments along with bordering the largest industrial area in the community plan area; this corridor is currently under heavy scrutiny for new developments. The residents expressed an interest for a mixture of commercial business and public housing preservation initiatives along the Olympic Blvd corridor.

Wabash Avenue, a thoroughfare in the Northern part of Boyle Heights, has received little to no attention from the City, and as a result experiences high levels of crime and gangs. Residents along this corridor have long demanded that investment come to their area,. Lastly, residents are concerned with traffic and safety on Lorena Street, more particularly on the intersection of Lorena Street and Whittier Boulevard, one of the busiest intersection due to its proximity to the 60 freeway. The coming chapters will offer broader descriptions of each of the corridors mentioned above and their accompanying recommendations as identified by hundreds of residents between 2006 and 2013.

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ELACC members and community organizers go door to door sharing ELACC’s work with community leaders. Personalized outreach methods such as this help ELACC members continue to build community power to secure victories in the campaigns PL AN DEL PUEBLO

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METHODOLOGY Policy Con Pan Dulce Before members of the Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN) Action Committees began work on their own vision for Boyle Heights, they invited urban planning experts to speak to residents and staff from other community organizations about policy issues of concern. Throughout the dialogue, residents shared their lived experiences as working-class residents while planners explained why certain conditions existed in the neighborhood as a result of previous planning decisions. The goal was for residents to become more knowledgeable about housing, transportation, environmental justice, and employment issues, among others. In addition, residents asked about the existing planning tools at their disposal to confront the areas of concern identified.

This was the residents’ initial step in understanding the community planning process and how their participation in the Boyle Heights New Community Plan update process could improve their neighborhood.

analytical process to develop their own community plan.

This process included town halls throughout Boyle Heights as well as small group discussions about specific corridors in Boyle Heights. These corridors were identified as Lorena Street, 4th Street, César Chávez Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, 1st Street, and Wabash Avenue. Residents took the information and began mapping their neighborhood’s existing and needed services and assets.

Actions To raise awareness about the future of development in Boyle Heights the members of the NBN Action Committees planned and executed high profile actions, including marches through some of Boyle Heights’ busiest streets.

Their goal was to reach out to and engage a broader group of Boyle Heights residents in the update process and to let the Department of City Planning know that residents were expecting a real community input process for the Boyle Heights New Community Plan that would include the vision of renters and other working-class residents.

Community Forums, Neighbors Building Popular Education, Neighborhoods and Data Collection Community Plan Community Forums, Popular Education, and Data Collection Equipped with an understanding of the current development Development landscape and passionate about the issues facing Boyle Heights, NBN members embarked on an educational and

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The above activities resulted in a vast amount of information. NBN members used the information they collected to develop their own NBN Community Plan, complete with neighborhood issues and opportunities, height recommendations, and policy recommendations. This eventually developed into the first published version of the People’s Plan for Boyle Heights.

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“La Super Inquilina” Guillermina Gonzalez poses during the first of many Right to the City events in Los Angeles. ELACC’s participation in Right to the City helps to bring local housing fights in Boyle Heights to the rest of the City and the Country. Collaborating with organizations through out the country, Right to the City is helping to save housing for the most vulnerable residents.

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CHAPTER:2 SPECIAL LAND USE THEMES

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ComitĂŠ de la Esperanza President Leonardo Lopez and Community Activist Roberto Mojica stand in the middle of the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments, 2nd largest garden apartments community in Los Angeles. Both are leaders in the fight against full demolition of the property.

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LAND USE ThEMES RESIDENTIAL

Boyle Heights is currently at risk of gentrification and This map provides an overview of the residential element displacement of existing and long-time residents. Recent in the Boyle Heights Community Plan Area. In total, Boyle large-scale projects such as the extension of the Metro Gold Heights contains 21,225 households.

Reflective of the Plan 76% Area Residential Uses in Boyle Heights Community through the neighborhood has brought increased real rental rate in the neighborhood, the map illustrates 0 0.25 the 0.5 0.75 Line 1 Miles estate interest to the neighborhood, but also a concern that majority of residential use being multi-family units.

These Planning ntial Uses in Boyle Heights Community Plan AreaSource: Los Angeles Department of City new residential development will price out current tenants include apartment building as well as0.75 duplexes.

Although 0 0.25 0.5 1 Miles there is a 24% homeownership rate, only a small percentage and44residents. A stark example of this is the Wyvernwood !

Los Angeles Department of City Planning Garden Apartments. The garden community is currently of actual land use isSource: identified as single-family residential.

34 in the middle of redevelopment plans, which many tenUnique to the People’s Plan spatial analysis, the! maps have 3 3 24 ! !

44 ants and housing advocates are concerned will exacerbate ! identified the properties that are categorized as affordable 27 ! the existing risk of displacement and gentrification in the housing, public housing,! (numbers 34and garden community 3 !

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City of of LosCity Angeles Los Angeles Community Community Plan Areas Plan Areas

Legend LEGEND Legend

Residential Residential Public Housing Public Housing

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Affordable Housing Affordable Housing Garden Community Garden Community

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COMMERCIAL Small businesses and entrepreneurship are an important reason why Boyle Heights is a key economic engine in the City of Los Angeles. In a May 2012 report published by LISC MetroEDGE on the Retail Market in Boyle Heights, the consumer buying power was considered strong, with a middle-income density higher than that of the City of Los Angeles; Boyle Heights had 715 middle-income households per square miles compared to 471 for the City. In addition, the report found that the total buying power given the household incomes was $419 million. Given these figures, investing in the commercial viability of the neighborhood will be important. The critical distinction to be made is that future investment and the proliferation of locally-grown mom and pop operations should target existing residents.

All of the corridors identified in The People’s Plan have a strong commercial identity, although with varying degrees of recent investment. Current commercial zoning allows for many types of uses along major neighborhood corridors, as described above. These uses include typical commercial uses such as retail and restaurants but also institutional uses such as schools and churches, and light industrial uses such

as service stations and garages. For the purpose of the People’s Plan, this document focuses on four main commercial categories to better understand the general breakdown of commercial uses. As shown in the Commercial Overlay map, these four categories include: supermarkets, retail, street vendors, and small businesses in general.

It is important to note that a dense neighborhood population of over 84,000 residents creates a heavy demand on these businesses for basic needs and services. When these retail and service needs are not met by established businesses, residents seek out street vendors to fill these gaps. Street vendors have been and continue to be important contributors to Boyle Heights’ local socio-economic and cultural fabric (as is also true in other neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles). Street vendor products typically include prepared food and fresh fruits and vegetables, clothing, and electronics. The number of vendors has increased over the years, despite increased police harassment and in some cases, deportation. As a way to avoid further unfair treatment, many vendors have either stopped vending completely or have moved to other locations throughout the neighborhood.

Explained further in a later chapter, ELACC’s work Commercial Uses within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area COMMERCIAL Uses USES within WITHIN Boyle BOYLE Heights HEIGHTS Community COMMUNITY PLAN AREA Commercial Plan Area with street vendors aims to establish a citywide 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Miles 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Miles permit system for the sale of food and merchanSource: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning dise on city sidewalks, free of criminalization.

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City of of LosCity Angeles Los Angeles Community Community Plan Areas Plan Areas

Legend LEGEND Legend

Supermarkets Supermarkets Retail Store Retail Store Other Commercial Other Commercial

Primary Street Vendor "Hot Spots" Zone Primary Street Vendor "Hot Spots" Zone Secondary Street Vendor "Hot Spots" Zone

Secondary Street "Hot Spots" Zone Street Vendor "HotVendor Spots" Around Schools Street Vendor "Hot Spots" Around Schools Freeways Freeways

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE For years, residents have been plagued by environmental health issues caused by the proximity of the East Los Angeles Freeway Interchange (I-5, I-10, CA-60, US-101), the industrial uses in the Industrial Manufacturing District and the City of Vernon’s proximity to the highly residential neighborhood. The district was built out to enhance the economic engine of the City by filling a demand for industrial needs, employment, and by providing transportation linkages from Downtown LA to the rest of the region. Today, the manufacturing district and the interchange continue to have a presence in the everyday lives of residents and workers but have become problematic to the health of the residents that live adjacent to the freeways and the expansive industrial areas, especially along Olympic Boulevard and the LA River.

Poor air quality has a negative cumulative effect on public health in this area. If residents are exposed to high amounts of air pollution and experience high rates of respiratory illnesses, they are less likely to be physically active. It is hazardous to jog or exercise next to factories or freeways that continuously spew toxic emissions. Many children and seniors suffer the effects of these emissions, and the evidence shows a disproportionately high rate of asthma, low birth

weight, and cardiovascular disease compared to the rest of Los Angeles County (refer to Appendix A). Decreased physical activity can lead to increased body weight and further exacerbate existing respiratory conditions, creating worse public health outcomes for an already challenged residential population. The excessive emission of pollutants has contributed to heightened levels of Particulate Matter 2.5 and Particulate Matter 10 in Boyle Heights. Particulate Matter (commonly seen by its abbreviations “PM”) is a “complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets. It is made up of a number of components, including acids, organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles.” The combined proximity to such heavy pollution emissions has had adverse and negative impacts on the public health of the Boyle Heights neighborhood. Indicators used to document these health effects have been hospitalization rates for asthma and heart related complication.

To provide a visual of the relationship between the sources of pollution and the rest of the neighborhood, the People’s Plan includes an aerial view of Boyle Heights highlighting the freeways, schools and libraries, parks and recreation centers, and the industrial manufacturing areas. These ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN Boyle BOYLE Heights HEIGHTS COMMUNITY Environmental Justice OVERLAY Overlay in Community PLAN Plan AREA Area components were determined to be the most critical 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Miles for the Environmental Justice analysis of the neighEnvironmental Justice Overlay in Boyle Heights Community Plan Area Los Angeles of City Planning borhood. These are highlighted to show the high 0Source: 0.25 0.5 Department 0.75 1 Miles level of concentration of schools, libraries, and park Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning space either in close proximity or adjacent to the freeways and manufacturing areas. While housing locations are not highlighted on this particular map, they are also adversely affected by the high amounts of pollutants originating from the freeways and manufacturing areas.

¯¯

Future planning initiatives will need to incorporate an Environmental Justice lens, as pollution continues to impact the community’s overall health. With an emphasis on compatible uses, minimizing polluting sources, and incorporating more pedestrian-friendly measures, the Boyle Heights neighborhood will benefit from a greener environment.

29

City of City of Los Angeles Los Angeles Community Community Plan Areas

Plan Areas

Legend LEGEND

Legend Cemetery

Cemetery

Jogging Path

Heavy Manufacturing

School or Library

Light & Limited Manufacturing

Freeways

Heavy Manufacturing

Jogging Path Light & Limited Manufacturing Community Park or Recreation Center

School or Library

Freeways

Community Park or Recreation Center

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CHAPTER 2: LAND USE THEMES

INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING

open SPACE

Similar to the commercial corridors, the industrial uses in Boyle Heights have been influential in the progress of the neighborhood. Once seen as a large source for steady employment and high output production, the neighborhood is now a conglomerate of small manufacturers, warehouses, and abandoned buildings. As of 2007, the industrial area covered 530 acres, with 633 businesses providing 8,387 jobs.9 A similar report was conducted by the Department of City Planning the previous year, which by comparison shows a net loss in employment and total firms (11,589 jobs across 839 firms in 200610). If this trend continues, it will not bode well for the industrial sector in the community and will challenge its ability to function as a critical economic engine for the City. However, with the need for jobs also comes concern from residents about the proximity of the industrial corridors to sensitive receptors, such as schools and residential areas. As discussed above in the “Environmental Justice� section, the East Los Angeles Freeway Interchange, the industrial clusters and corridors in Boyle Heights and the adjacent City of Vernon contribute to some of the highest levels of air pollution in the City of Los Angeles. This has resulted in the challenge of striking a healthy balance between the potential for employment opportunities in the existing manufacturing industries while ensuring the good environmental and public health of residents and workers in Boyle Heights.

Despite being an important resource for living active, healthy lives and promoting pedestrian uses, Boyle Heights experiences a significant lack of green and open space.

Researchers from the City Project, a non-profit organization that seeks equal access to green space for low-income communities, define any neighborhoods with fewer than three acres of green space per 1,000 residents as park poor.11 For the purpose of analyzing green space in Boyle Heights, our measurement includes only community parks and recreation centers. The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks own and operate 10 recreation centers and community parks in Boyle Heights (1 additional recreation center is operated by Proyecto Pastoral, a local non-profit organization). The total acreage of these green spaces is approximately 66.3 acres.12 Unfortunately, the total amount of acres per 1,000 people is 0.77 acres. This value does not account for the Evergreen Cemetery features a 1.5-mile jogging path surrounding its perimeter as well as the Odd fellow Cemetery, the two largest areas of open space. The largest park in the neighborhood is the famous 18.3 acre Hollenbeck Park, adjacent to the I-5 freeway. This park, while categorized as a passive park due to a lack of recreational sports facilities, has space for running, a small skate park, and family recreation event space and infrastructure. These green and open spaces are sparsely distributed, thus limiting access by Boyle Heights residents. This characteristic also encourages driving to get to the nearest facility, which discourages pedestrian-friendly of the neighborhood. Additionally, as shown in the Environmental Justice map, the majority of existing open spaces are in close proximity or adjacent to freeways, creating an immediate environment of high air pollution and noise next to limited opportunities of outdoor physical activity. This is especially the case for Hollenbeck Park and Prospect Park, as well as several existing Recreation Centers.

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PUBLIC FACILITIES

PUBLIC Facilities FACILITIES within WITHIN Boyle BOYLE Heights HEIGHTS COMMUNITY 2010 Public CommunityPLAN PlanAREA, Area, 2010

Boyle Heights provides many key resources for community members. These come in the form of government offices, education centers, medical facilities, and libraries. The Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck Division and the Los Angeles Fire Department, both, serve Boyle Heights, which have offices and stations in the area. Additionally, there is an office building for the Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services and for the Department of Social Security Administration. The newest government service building is the recently renovated Boyle Heights City Hall, home to City Council District 14 offices and other City Departments. Boyle Heights contains more than 20 elementary, middle, and high schools that are part of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) District 2. There are also a number of non-public schools in the neighborhood. In addition, Boyle Heights is served by three library branches equipped with children and adult books, films, and access to computers with internet. Lastly, the neighborhood is served by White Memorial Medical Center (non-profit hospital) and the LAC+USC General Hospital (outside community plan area), north of the I-10 freeway, as well as many small neighborhood clinics.

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33

Covering a large span of Roosevelt High School’s perimeter, the Anahuac Mural by Nelyollotl Toltecatl covers the history of people from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. It is one of the longest and largest mural in Boyle Heights. It is a project of the Mexica Movement created between March 1996 and December 2002.

22

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CHAPTER 2: LAND USE THEMES

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT / METRO Boyle Heights is a largely renter occupied low-income Latino neighborhood with an aging housing stock, high unemployment rate, as well as a high transit ridership. The need for equitable, community-driven Transit Oriented Development (TOD) along the Gold Line Stations has grown since the beginning stages of the Gold Line construction. The areas immediately adjacent to these Metro stations house higher percentages of people without access to a vehicle compared to the rest of the City of Los Angeles (7% of people City-wide have no access to a personal vehicle). The areas

surrounding the Mariachi Plaza Station exhibit a rate of 8.817.4% while the rate for areas surrounding the Soto Station more than triples to 19.7-31.0%.13 These rates support the notion that TOD in Boyle Heights would be maximized if resources are centered on the needs of transit riders.

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With development pressures coming from downtown LA, our neighborhood needs equitable and accountable development to prevent further displacement of low-income residents. The public transportation agency of Los Angeles County, Metro, acquired 8 parcels of land to use as staging sites for the Gold CENSUS TRACTS WITHIN BOYLE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PLAN AREA SHOWING PERCENTAGES OF PEOPLE WITHOUT VEHICLE Line Eastside rail construction; including Census Tracts within Boyle Heights Community PlanACCESS Area withTO NoAVehicles Available Census Tracts within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area with No Vehicles Available 1997 1st & Boyle, 1st & Soto, César Chávez 1999 Miles 2060.10 2014.02 1997 1999 2071.03 2060.10 2014.02 2017 0 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Miles and Soto, and 1st and Lorena. Currently, 2071.03 2017 0 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 2071.02 Source: American Community Survey 5-year (2007-2011) 2071.02 these sites are all under negotiation, Source: American Community Survey 5-year (2007-2011) 2033 M 2031 historically without meaningful commu2033 aMre 5307 2031 anrego 5307 ng 2060.20 nity engagement. However, the ELACC o M a 2060.20 n Sa are ta A a Mang San Bernadin SnaBe 10 San ta An reno o n Brna 2035 Metro Campaign has been ensuring that n Sa a n g Be o 10 V S rna r o dino 10 erndin 2035 illa din oM Vill a in itche 10 ardoin Marengo ran ad Mitchll o on the community is involved comprehene go C s ren e Ma ll ud on B rn ity Ju n e Pomeroy Ba J ds ShCitVyiew Jduso Sa n B Aliso Pomeroy Gan Brlaow Brid Ju sively and meaningfully in all Metro TOD a Ba SehridaView dsno 1 r S 2032 0 a G low Aliso 1 anhl G Bileay eridna City n Ce Brgide Fa 101 2032 Dob ah a iley n CitVie Csear E ge Firamou 2036 Wa Doinson l Gnaahl y Vw Kea projects. ELACC community leaders sa C H 5308.01 i b n r n b rn ie in ou mo t ah r Eh a 2036 Waash son w Keaey s l un 5308.01 Chvez ba rney t Ma Houtosn sh av lab ton and residents organized in the wake of ez F M a Bo alaar del Sol Firm Pl Buld ba 2037.10 Bla airomunt ePa del Fo oueldr r nch ou the Gold Line Eastside Extension. And 1st 1stSol 2037.10 lsea B l n s e la anst Foom r Win ncahrd t 1st 1st lso an m er ard t 1st Ma Wtin since 2004, they have been fighting to 2037.20 M F t 1 la e ol ich 2060.32 2044.102 st Maba r 2037.20 Mi iga Cin Fsoom labr 3rd nd ch n 2060.323rd2044.10 sa l ar iga 2n 3rd Ccininn som ensure that Metro develops in a way Azu sa 3r d n d a 3rd C 3rd esa cinnti Azu 3rd 2n at C r d 2038 1s 3rd 2dn Boy d Ne esaEr Ch i t that invests in Boyle Heights’ low-ind 2038 y 1 s w Folsom E a S o st 4th Bmu NeJe Chvez ide 4th 5309.01 s 3rd 2044.20 w Jrse av Arte muth Folsom 4th 4 4 4th ez Side ersy 5309.01 th 3rd 2044.20 Gle come families and core transit riders thrte 4A e 2042 4th a y 4th 5th 2n Glesaon 4th 2042 d s 5th 3rd 2nd on including priorities of more affordable 3rd w 1s Willo w 2041.10 t housing, living wage jobs with training, 1s Willo 6th Inez 2041.10 t 6th Inez 3rd Gle and promotion of local small businesses 2 a I 3 nd Gl so 5th 2046 nez rd ea n 2n 2043 5th 2046 Inez son d Jesse and street vendor space.

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2.4% - 6.1% 2.4% - 6.1%

PL AN DEL PUEBLO

29056eng_04 23

The Metro work fights to put long-time residents and small businesses/local entrepreneurs at the table with decision makers, and ensure that Metro return what they demolished in an equitable and culturally sensitive way. In 2012, community leaders fought to stop a CVS Pharmacy development that would have pushed out two long-time family owned pharmacies and continue to advocate for community priorities to be addressed on all Metro-owned land. Our most recent victory has been to ensure a Resident Advisory Committee to be formed before Requests for Proposals are released and decided on.

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3/25/15 9:47 AM

Planning in the Streets: asset mapping and visioning of Metro Owned Lots While Metro did work internally to prepare for new developers for their Joint Development, ELACC held a series of “Planning in the Streets” workshops during the Spring of 2013 with the community at each opportunity site to refine the community’s vision for specific parcels. We held them at Mariachi Plaza, 1st and Soto, and Chávez and Soto. While not all sites have secured potential developers, we are in the midst of a great opportunity to involve the community in influencing how to develop the staging lots. The visioning of each site was based off of a community asset map exercise supported by the Advancement Project.

Analysis Map 1: Map illustrating all of the Metro-owned vacant lots and the assets identified by community members.

In analyzing this map of all three vacant lots, we see 1st Street identified as a major asset. Majority of the lost assets were identified around the 1st Street and Soto Street vacant lot. The need for affordable housing and green space was identified around all three vacant lots. The markets lost near the vacant lots have not been replaced, thus food vendors are considered an important food resource in these areas.

Below is the analysis for the individual vacant lots:

METRO OWNED LOTS IN BOYLE HEIGHTS, Boyle Heights Residents Perception of Existing and Lost Assets Identified by the Community

34

MARIACHI PLAZA LOT

35

CHAVEZ BLVD. LOT

1st. and soto st.

1st. and soto st.

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CHAPTER 2: LAND USE THEMES

Mariachi Plaza

César Chávez Blvd. and Soto Street

Mariachi Plaza is located on the corner of 1st Street and Boyle Ave., directly above the Mariachi Plaza Station.

The plaza, along with the vacant lots next to it, is situated between two parallel freeways, the 101 freeway and the common section of the 5 and the 10 freeways. These freeways create boundaries that limit access to resources, such as large supermarkets. Metro demolished a highly utilized local supermarket in the process of building the Gold Line.

The map below demonstrates a high need for affordable housing and other resources, especially North of César Chávez Blvd. In addition,many pharmacies exist near César Chávez Blvd and Soto St. Half of all of the markets the community identified were demolished (one on a Metro site), mainly along César Chávez.

Cesar Chavez Ave. and Soto St.

Mariachi Plaza MARIACHI

Existing andChavez Lost Assets Identified by theSoto CommunitySt. Cesar Ave. and " Existing and Lost Assets Identified#by the Community

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Analysis Map 4:

C. Chavez Ave. & Soto St. 1st St. and Soto St.

Map illustrating the Metro-owned vacant lots on César * Markets Identified by the Community within the Quarter Mile Radius " " by community memChávez Blvd. andSmall the assets identified El Super Local Market Market Walgreens Pharmacy Johnson’s Market WIC (2) Big Buy *** Other Resources Identified by the Community within the Quarter Mile Radius bers.

Laundry Mat Liquor Store Movie Theater Optometrist Park

Bar Bike Lane Boys and Girls Club Chase Bank Clinic

Created by Healthy City l Advancement Project May, 2013 (A. Quiquivix). Geographic Data from Esri and NAVTEQ. Asset points provided by 12 Boyle Heights community members from February - March 2013.

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1st St. and Soto St.

Mexican Restaurant Movie Theater Parking Pharmacy Vons Used Car Dealership

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1st St. and Soto St. Existing and Lost Assets Identified by the Community Existing and Lost Assets Identified by the Community

Map Notes: ** “The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of ! its annual income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of ! their income for as food, clothing, transportation and medical care.” - HUD.gov Therefore, 10housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such" we have included housing that is subsidized and considered affordable as well as housing that is affordable ! because of long-time residents paying less than average market-rate rents (for newer units) because of rent control ordinance.

Created by Healthy City l Advancement Project May, 2013 (A. Quiquivix). Geographic Data from Esri and NAVTEQ. ! !

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PL AN DEL PUEBLO

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29056eng_04 25

Bar Bike Lane Calvary Church Casa 101

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3/25/15 9:48 AM

Summary of Vision Board exercise of Planning in the Streets

enhancements would setup the opportunity for small stores and markets that can benefit local users.

1ST AND SOTO 1. Affordable Housing Mix Use Development 2. Commercial Core

Visioning Results: Mariachi Plaza

3. Street Vending

Residents were able to identify several amenities that need to be either restored or built near Mariachi Plaza. The 1st Street corridor could be supplemented with street vending space and a variety of small markets closer to the Metro station. Furthermore, more green space and health-related stores can supplement the needs of community residents.

Housing that is affordable, specifically for those who are extremely low-income can benefit from being within walking distance of new amenities.

7. Seating and Shade Structures

Priorities for this site are to have affordable housing opportunities as well as accessible resources within walking distance because many residents nearby are transit dependent. In regards to community development, green public spaces would benefit residents and mitigate nearby freeway pollution. These spaces can serve as gardens or more vegetation in Boyle Heights and a healthy environment for street vendors to work in.

MARIACHI PLAZA 1. Affordable Housing Mix Use Development

4. Urban Garden 5. Community Flex Open Space 6. Green Spaces

8. Community Center and Spaces 9. Underground Parking 10. Metro Station Entrance

Visioning Results: Chรกvez and Soto Resident input suggests that the area surrounding Chรกvez Ave. and Soto St. is in need of affordable housing units, green spaces, and businesses that will directly have a relationship with the community. A mixed-use project on the Metro lots seems to be the most popular and viable option for this site. Local residents firmly suggested the need to have priority for not just employment opportunities, but also incentives for residents to start their own businesses.

The vision diagram illustrates a shared green public space facing the quieter residential street shared by residents (especially of the affordable housing development), local business clients, and the community center users to maximize the use of this site.

2. Affordable Housing 3. Street Vending 4. Urban Garden 5. Community Flex Open Space 6. Green Spaces 7. Metro Station Entrance 8. Vegetated Median Divider And Bike Lane

Visioning Results: 1st and Soto

CHAVEZ AND SOTO 1. Affordable Housing 2. Local Business 3. Community Center

The groups concluded that the lots could be redeveloped for affordable housing, public green spaces, and commercial uses. The open spaces would become a meeting space for community events and for economic activity through street vending. Moreover, since the Metro station is located in an area where hundreds of transit riders pass through on their daily commutes, mixed-use developments and station 26

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4. Community Open 5. Bike and Vegetated Alley

NOTE: All 3 Station Planning Outcomes created by Cesia Lopez-Angel, a Rose Fellow for the Neighborhood Based Community Development Corporation Coalition that East LA Community Corporation is part of, based off of Planning in the Streets Vision Board results.

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Community Landmarks and Historic Bridges As a neighborhood with a rich history and strong identity, community landmarks are found in abundance throughout Boyle Heights. Many of these have come to symbolize the lived experiences of generations of Boyle Heights Residents while others structures like bridges and park space represent the historical significance of land use and planning in the neighborhood. Some landmarks have undergone an extensive rehabilitation process while others owned by private for-profit developers languish while the projects work their way through the development process.

The common link between all of the community landmarks and the historic bridges is the connection they have to the community residents. Ask any long-time resident what their

favorite landmarks are in Boyle Heights and any on this list are sure to be shared. Aesthetically, they bring beautiful architectural designs and public art to the neighborhood.

Culturally, they become recognizable even outside of Los Angeles due to depiction in movies, TV shows, commercials, music videos, and other popular culture media. Los Angeles is a great and diverse City comprised of dozens of culturally significant and historically relevant neighborhoods. The integral part of the Boyle Heights identity that these historical and cultural landmarks represent is undeniable and every step must be taken to make sure they are preserved to keep the neighborhood character alive for future generations to enjoy.

LANDMARKS within Boyle Heights

Community Plan Area, 2010 Cultural Landmarks in Boyle Heights Community Plan Area

¯

00

0.25 0.25

0.5 0.5

0.75 0.75

Miles 11 Miles

Source: Los Los Angeles Angeles Department Department of of City City Planning Planning Source: 144 1 ! !

« 22 «

22 ! !

11 ! !

155 1 ! ! « 11 «

99 ! !

88 ! !

166 1 ! !

« 44 «

66 ! !

122 1 ! !

111 !

1 !

!

33 !

« 33 «

77 ! !

! !

« 55 «

1100

« 66 «

On map Name of Landmark

Address

1

Boyle Hotel Cummings Block

1781 E 1st St LA,

2

Mariachi Plaza

1703 Mariachi Pla

3

Linda Vista Hospital

610 S St Louis St L

4

Sears Retail Store

2650 E Olympic B

5

Wyvernwood Garden Apartments

2901 E Olympic B

6

Evergreen Cemetery

204 N Evergreen A

7

El Mercadito

3425 E 1st St LA,

8

Murals @ César Chávez and Soto Intersection

2334 East Cesar E

9

Breed Street Shul

247 N Breed St, L

10

Casa del Mexicano

2900 Calle Pedro

11

Murals @ Roosevelt High School

456 S Mathews St

12

Hollenbeck Park

415 S St Louis St L

13

Murals @ Estrada Courts

3231 Hunter St LA

14

Murals @ Ramonda Gardens

15

Boyle Heights City Hall

2830 Lancaster Av 2130 E 1st St. Los

16

Self Help Graphics and Art

1300 E 1st St. Los

36

« 77 «

!

44 !

!

55 !

133 1! !

City of of City Los Angeles Angeles -Los Community Community Plan Areas Areas Plan

« 88 «

LEGEND Legend Legend Cultural Landmarks Landmarks Cultural

Freeways Freeways

Notable Bridges Bridges Notable

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Economic Development and Street Vending An Overview: Street Vending in Los Angeles Street vending, in its many forms has been part of the makeup of Boyle Heights for several decades. In fact, the growth of the informal economy points to the continued growing needs of the community and the lack of economic development from the private and public sectors. Through our work organizing street vendors, we have been able to see that hundreds of vendors in Boyle Heights depend on vending as their sole employment opportunity. An even larger part of the vending community depends on vending as supplemental income to overall household income.

But street vending in Los Angeles remains illegal. The use of public right-a-ways and sidewalks is strictly prohibited to the sale of nearly anything.14 Yet, according to figures generated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, there are more than 10,000 unlicensed vendors in LA. Some figures suggest the number is much higher, reaching as many as 20,000 vendors. Out of this country’s 10 largest cities, Los Angeles is the only without a comprehensive vending program. This is a missed opportunity for Los Angeles to create more activated and vibrant streets, to enhance public safety, and to use street vending as a strategy for combating food access inequities in low income communities of color.

As a result of vending being illegal in the Los Angeles, enforcement of illegal vending continues to be an ugly ordeal for victims of police harassment. Penalties can range from confiscation of all equipment and merchandise to 6 months in jail, or even deportation proceeding for undocumented individuals. The areas where we see the highest rates of abuse and criminalization of street vending are also the highest areas of unemployment. This raises a critical question for policymakers: what is the city doing to support residents who face numerous barriers to employment?

Vending in Boyle Heights & similar neighborhoods encompasses different types of products, strategies as well as locations. The majority of the vending population is made up of women, although more men have entered the industry as economic opportunities dry out in other industries.

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During the economic downturn of 2008, we saw the population of male vendors increase due to the loss of jobs in restaurants and construction. Based on the findings of our 2009 survey and a series of townhalls held throughout 2012, we were able to learn that Boyle Heights’ residents who depend on vending for income generation engage in the trade for many reasons. Many women who we have spoken to like the flexibility in their schedule as vending offers the ability to care for their children, partners and even disabled or elderly family members. Both men and women have shared that their legal status, their age, their educational attainment, their work experience, and many other issues have been barriers for traditional employment. Also, they highlight that their ability to build their own business and be their own boss is very exciting as entrepreneurs. Street vendors in the community see themselves as an integral part of the community and for this reason they also have strong interest in contributing to the community for the long term.

They aspire to have their businesses grow and flourish into larger enterprises, if given the opportunity.

The community view on Street Vending Our 2012 street vending town halls and subsequent meetings, outreach, and information events have informed us about the community’s view of street vending. Many community members who are not vendors see this as an important issue in their community. The majority of community members that we have engaged have a connection to a street vendor among their family, friends, or a close neighbor. There is an understanding of the economic conditions that creates the need for the informal economy to exist in their community. There is a lot of support for the legalization of street vending, because it provides immediate relief to what they see as outright criminalization & discrimination of vendors Community members have expressed concerns regarding the safety of the food being prepared as well as the cleanliness of sidewalks. There are also community members that are concerned with the competition that sidewalk vendors bring to commercial corridor. Overall, these are issues that can be resolved through collaboration between the different constituencies.

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Boyle Heights Street Vendors serve up amazing home style dishes during a Legalize Street Vending Campaign Fundraiser at the ELACC House. ELACC’s unique fundraising approach brings together neighborhood members, neighbors, and supporters in spaces within Boyle Heights, ensuring our efforts are in the community and for the community.

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Street Vending in Boyle Heights Vending in Boyle Heights provides a diversity of products such as pre-packed foods, cooked foods, general merchandise, and secondhand goods distributed through various business models.

Traditional pushcart ice cream vendors are a staple in the community as are other push cart vendors selling shave ice, corn, churros, tamales, churritos, candies and snack foods, as well as whole fruits and vegetables. Also found, are vendors who are in the business of selling items that they can carry throughout the day without needing a table or cart.

These vendors often sell cotton candy, toys, pillows and other trinkets. Often these vendors are found set up along main streets during rush hour. They set up strategically around schools, recreational centers, community centers, and other areas where high foot traffic can be expected. Their ability to be mobile allows them to change locations to find a better vending spot. Some of these vendors also venture into residential areas on foot, stopping only to make a sale to customers who wait for their favorite vendor.

A different population of vendors in Boyle Heights requires locations that are “stationary� given that the products they sell require a stable location. These vendors often times set up their equipment for hours at a time and will not move from their location until their vending shift is done. Stationary vendors sell tacos, quesadillas, hot dogs, pupusas, crepes, burritos, sandwiches, pozole, cut fruit, and other foods that require cooking or some sort of preparation.

Vendors who sell merchandise that requires set up also set up along the sidewalks of Boyle Heights. Merchandise vendors often set up their products on tables, on the sidewalk, from hangers, etc. Merchandise vendors often sell small items like socks, jewelry, art, toys, cultural items, plants, flowers, clothing, aromatics, etc. Vendors who require a stationary space often times set up around business corridors and main streets. A lot of these vendors set up around Soto St, Cesar Chavez Ave, Breed St, Whittier, 1st St , Olympic, 4th street, Wabash and 8th street (refer to Commercial Corridor map for vending hot spots, Pg. 19). Often times vendors set up on smaller streets adjacent to larger streets, in the hopes that this set up may give them more cover from police.

In Boyle Heights, we have found that there are several dozen vendors who sell tamales, champurrado, hot chocolate, oatmeal, gelatins and other pre-prepared items. These vendors often times sell only in short shifts throughout the day as their product needs to be kept at a certain temperature.

Tamale and other breakfast vendors in Boyle Heights can be seen setting up as early as 4am in order to serve breakfast for their customers. Most of the time tamale vendors are done selling by 10am. Tamale vendors in Boyle Heights set up strategically around schools, main streets, public transportation hubs, and gas stations. A smaller population of tamale vendors travels throughout the residential neighborhoods to provide breakfast at the customer’s doorstep.

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Displacement of Boyle Heights vendors The process of gentrification in Boyle Heights has added to the pressures to convert the neighborhood into a more safe and clean neighborhood that would welcome a more affluent and demanding population. Although street vendors are an establishment in the neighborhood, their very existence in populating sidewalks is questioned on a daily basis due to outdated ideas about the use of public space.

Street vending in Boyle Heights has undergone a drastic change since the 2009 displacement of over 60 Breed Street vendors from what was the Cesar Chavez and Breed St. market. This grassroots effort to create a safe space for vendors and customers was dismantled after continuous raids by the police department. What was once a bustling market that supported the economic opportunities of dozens of local vendors became an empty street vacant of vending and community ownership that once defined it. Since this clean up, many vendors have been pushed out of their business, while others have adapted different strategies for the survival of their business. Given the hostility that vendors have experienced with police, they have dispersed into smaller areas where there may be the only vendor or 2-3 vendors.

Further complicating things, the gentrification of street food has been happening over the last 5-10 years as gourmet food trucks came onto the scene. Although low income entrepreneurs have made the LA street food scene what it is, the entry of higher income, well financed, social media savvy entrepreneurs, has had an effect in creating a distinction between gourmet street food and traditional LA street food.

The gentrification of street food is an important phenomenon in that it can serve to displace the very folks that created the famous LA bacon wrapped hog dog. In the general public, there is a question of why these sidewalk vendors do not get with the times and acquire a gourmet food truck.

Unfortunately, the gourmet food truck is not at the reach of most sidewalk vendors. Access to the equipment, financing and business training that exists for owners of gourmet food trucks is not available for sidewalk vendors. Customers of traditional sidewalk vendors look for a true street food experience which is more than a business transaction. Customers of sidewalk vendors look for the vendor, their personality, their style, their food, their aromas, their cultural interpretation of food, and the overall atmosphere that the vendor creates for his/her clientele.

Legalization Street vendors, community and enforcement agencies see the potential that legalization of sidewalk vending has in order to support low income entrepreneurs as well as in regulation of the industry. The economic need for community members is only growing and street vending is here to

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stay. However, the back and forth struggle that vendors face with authorities is not working for police or vendors. Police spend time that could be spent on other crime and vendors lose their investment in their business every time they are stopped and their property is confiscated. Heavy criminalization policies are not working at curtailing the amount of vendors that depend on the industry. Often times, these raids by police and county agencies further push vendors into the shadows.

East LA Community Corporation has been working with street vendors since 2008. At the beginning of 2011 our work expanded to bring on partners of diverse fields in order to strategize on the legalization of sidewalk vending through the Los Angeles Food Policy Council and the street food working group. Since then, The Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign has launched the campaign to legalize sidewalk vending throughout the city of Los Angeles.

Vendors see an increase in criminalization and both the vendors and organizers see legalization of sidewalk vending as a tool for protecting the livelihood of tens of thousands of Angelinos who vend. The campaign is pushing for the legalization of the sale of all foods on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. Secondly, the LASVC is pushing for the creation of incentives for vendors who are willing to vend healthy foods.

Thirdly, the campaign seeks to create a system for general merchandise vendors to sell their wares.

The campaign sees street vending as a good opportunity for building community and building economic development strategies that work for the existing population of Boyle Heights. The jobs of tomorrow are not here today and people in our neighborhoods need to support their households today, with the resources available to them. The campaign goals are to develop solutions that work for the low income entrepreneurs that currently vend. Creating solutions along with vendors is the only way that a successful vending program will emerge in Boyle Heights and throughout the city of Los Angeles. We must give special consideration to the experience that vendors have on identifying their product, identifying prime locations, and marketing approaches. This is vital to ensuring their ability to exercise autonomy over their business and the choices they make.

Visioning for vending areas in Boyle Heights Community members and vendors have identified many places in Boyle Heights where they think vending would be ideal. Overall, people think that vendors who have been part of the neighborhood should have the ability to continue in their spaces. Community members are supportive of vendors setting up along main streets and in business corridors so long as there is enough space for people with strollers or wheelchairs to move through the sidewalk. Also, there have been many proposals for the use of metro and other trans-

portation hubs to be used for vending. Community plazas and parks are areas where community members appreciate having vendors and where they would like for them to stay.

There is heavy interest from community members in the possibility of vendors becoming healthy food providers in parts of the neighborhood where it is hard to access quality fruits and vegetables.

Aside from the foods and merchandise that vendors provide, community members and vendors alike agree that the act of vending does a lot more for the community than providing food. Community members see the value of vendors being in public as a strategy for creating safe walkways for children, women and other populations. We have also heard that street vendors create spaces where community members can engage with each other in communication and sharing of neighborhood resources. Community members identified the importance of community sharing public spaces and the need for safe family venues as reasons for creating plazas or repurposing empty lots. Their vision includes the use of these spaces for vending as well as for cultural programming that brings people out of their apartments and into their streets.

Infrastructure that supports vending Street vending in Boyle Heights is so successful because some of the community vendors have been part of the community for so long. Their experience allows them to have a great understanding of their craft and of the intricacies involved in site selection, product selection as well as pricing and advertising. Overall, vendors in the community knew their clientele and their tastes. Most vendors that live in the community tend to vend close to their home or in an area that they are very familiar with. For these reasons and many more it is important to engage vendors in any work that is done to legalize their employment or in policies or practices that could affect their livelihood.

Through our community engagement strategies we have learned that a large portion of the vending population in Boyle Heights is transit dependent and their ability to transport their goods and equipment by foot or on public transportation is vital to their business. Often vendors depend on family or friends to transport their equipment and/or goods. For this reason it is vital that cart commissaries and food preparation spaces are as local as possible. Community members also suggested that there be improvements in lighting, trash can availability, and public seating. These are suggestions that community members support since there is a need for these in the community. Vendors would also like to see wider sidewalks or bump outs along major corridors to allow for vendors to set up without affecting the pedestrian walkway.

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CHAPTER:3 COMMUNITY CORRIDORS IN FOCUS

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CHAPTER 3: COMMUNITY CORRIDORS 39

This year ELACC lost one of our fierce community leaders to cancer. María Luisa Hernández played a strong role developing the Plan del Pueblo, and advancing ELACC’s mission in the community.

She is an inspiration to us all, a luchadora for her Boyle Heights community, a strong mother, and a great friend.

Rest in Power!

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1st Street Corridor Description 1st Street has seen some of the most intense investment within Boyle Heights in recent years. The completion of the four METRO Gold Line stations (Pico Aliso, Mariachi Plaza, Soto, and Indiana), the Felicitas and Gonzalo Méndez Learning Center, and the newly renovated Boyle Hotel-Cummings Block affordable housing project (ELACC-developed) have welcomed a glimpse into the future of development in Boyle Heights. 1st Street is one of the most utilized streets and a major neighborhood destination in Boyle Heights due to numerous locally owned businesses, restaurants, and services.

Some of Boyle Heights’ more recognized landmarks can be found along 1st Street. Known Citywide, Mariachi Plaza has maintained its status and location as the main gathering place for Mariachi musicians for multiple generations. The plaza thus continues to support the historical legacy of the Mariachi in the neighborhood. It features an open plaza with trees and benches, a striking, elevated stone gazebo and access to the underground METRO Mariachi Plaza Station. The plaza anchors the Boyle Hotel-Cummins Block (featuring 51 affordable housing units), local eateries and retail shops, and will soon welcome an additional affordable housing project on the adjacent empty lot (on the southwest corner of Boyle Ave and 1st Street). Several blocks east, residents sharpen their literacy skills at the Benjamin Franklin Library (one of three existing public libraries in Boyle Heights) and access government services at the newly restored Boyle Heights City Hall. Responding to the high demand for affordable housing, ELACC is developing a new mixed-use affordable housing project at the intersection of 1st and Soto Streets, complementing the existing Las Margaritas apartments (featuring 36 affordable housing units).

Further east, residents shop for their groceries at Food 4 Less (one of five existing full-service supermarkets in the area), which is adjacent to First Street Elementary School.

On the intersection of 1st Street and Evergreen Ave, ELACC will welcome a new affordable housing development, Sol y Luna, adding 53 affordable housing units to the community.

Reaching the eastern boundary of Boyle Heights along 1st Street, many residents enjoy the jogging path that surrounds Evergreen Cemetery, Boyle Heights’ largest green space.

The heavily utilized path is in one block west of El Mercadito, a culturally relevant shopping center for the Mexican community, offering food, crafts, and entertainment and creating another neighborhood destination hub along this corridor.

Current Land Uses and Zoning Designations Most of 1st Street remains consistent with the types of land uses and zoning designations found on other main Boyle Heights corridors. The busiest stretch of 1st Street, between Boyle Avenue and Indiana Street, features mostly C2-1 commercial zoning, a permissive zoning designation that allows a wide range of land uses such as retail, churches, schools, garages and service stations with a relatively low density floor area ratio (FAR) of 1.5:1. Mostly multi-residential zoning is located on the remainder of the blocks adjacent to the corridor, designating properties fronting on local side streets. Both the commercial and residential zoning along the corridor limit a majority of the building density and most structures are one or two stories high. Other notable uses include the public facilities located at the intersection with Chicago Street (Police Department, Boyle Heights City Hall, and Benjamin Franklin Library) and the Evergreen Cemetery between Evergreen Avenue and Lorena Street.

The segment of First Street between Boyle Avenue and the Los Angeles River presents many challenges, especially with the Metro Gold Line running at-grade and the Industrial corridor bordering the west end of Boyle Heights. Throughout this stretch of First Street there are many commercial, residential, and public facilities fronting on the street with residential located in the rear of the property or lot. Combined with the intersecting I-5 and US-101 Freeways, this area generates a large amount of heavy vehicle traffic and consequently is a source for significant automobile-generated air pollution.

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CHAPTER 3: COMMUNITY CORRIDORS

GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OFUses 1STwithin ST.and CORRIDOR General Land Land Uses within and around 500 500 feet feet of of 1st 1st St St Corridor Corridor General around 0 0

0.1 0.1

0.2 0.2

0.3 0.3

0.4 Miles 0.4 Miles

Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning

% , M M

ÂŻ

C Ceesa sa r C r C ha ha v e ve z A z A ve ve

% , M M

Evergreen Cemetery Cemetery Evergreen Boyle Hotel Hotel Boyle Cummings Block Block Cummings

% , M M

Mariachi Mariachi Plaza Plaza

Boyle Heights Heights Boyle Community Plan Plan Area Area Community

Legend LEGEND Legend

SS oo toto SSt t

Boyle Heights Heights Boyle City Hall Hall City

4 4tthh S Stt

El Mercadito Mercadito El

Recreation Center Recreation Center

School School

Multi-family Residential Multi-family Residential

Heavy Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing

Hospital Hospital

Affordable Housing Affordable Housing

Light & Limited Manufacturing Light & Limited Manufacturing

Public Agency Public Agency

Cemetery Cemetery

Supermarkets Supermarkets

Library Library

Jogging Path Jogging Path

Other Commercial Other Commercial

Police Department Police Department

M , % M

% , M M

Landmarks Landmarks Metro Station Metro Station Freeways Freeways 1st St Bridge 1st St Bridge 1st St Corridor 1st St Corridor

41

42

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

M1-1 M2-1 M3-1 (Q) M1-1

C1-1 (Q) C1-1 C2-1 (Q) C2-C2-1 C2-2D (Q) C2-1 QC4-1

RD1.5-1 R2-1 R3-1 (Q) R4-1

0S-1XL A1-1XL (Evergreen Cemetery)

PF-1XL

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César E. Chávez Avenue Corridor Description César E. Chávez Avenue (formerly Brooklyn Avenue) is probably the most identifiable street in Boyle Heights. It is highly distinguishable by its abundance of mixed-use properties, street vendors, and numerous shops. Mixed-use buildings include locally owned “mom n’ pop” businesses lining the avenue with one or two stories above. One look along the avenue and the rich neighborhood history is apparent: previously full of Jewish-owned and oriented businesses. Chávez Avenue is now host to numerous businesses oriented towards the current predominantly Latino community--representative of the population change over the decades.

Chávez Avenue also connects residents to some of the neighborhood’s most important assets. It serves as the main corridor leading to the White Memorial Medical Center, a non-profit medical institution serving Boyle Heights since 1913. A few blocks east at the intersection with Soto Street, residents are familiar with inspiring community murals (i.e.

El Corrido de Boyle Heights) and important long-time businesses (such as Farmacia Ramírez and Farmacia Botica del Sol). Due to the abundance of shops and eateries, the intersection of Chávez Avenue and Soto Street experiences some of the heaviest pedestrian, transit, and automobile traffic in the neighborhood. In the near future, this area is expecting two new development projects on the intersection of Fickett Street and Chávez Avenue. Residents have expressed excitement over the possibility of seeing a new much-needed full-service supermarket and affordable housing to serve the neighborhood.

The section of Chávez Avenue within Boyle Heights ends at the eastern boundary of the Evergreen Cemetery, near El Mercadito at Lorena and Indiana Streets, establishing an important community link with the First Street Corridor. This hub features the famous Los Cinco Puntos, an intersection and triangular open space distinguished by the five intersecting points of Chávez Avenue, Lorena Street, and Indiana Street

Current Land Uses and Zoning Designations Similar to 1st Street, Chávez Avenue features land uses that reflect the C2-1 commercial zoning fronting on the avenue and multi-residential zoning restrictions for housing on local side streets. Most retail and institutional uses, such as shops, restaurants, and churches are built at a relatively low scale of one- or two-stories. Single- and multi- family residential buildings are also built at one- or two- stories, some directly above ground floor retail. The most visible deviation of landuse and zoning restrictions is the White Memorial Medical Center, a large complex distinguishable in size to its surrounding environment.

43

United Farm Workers Mural on the side of the local pharmacy Botica de Sol on César Chávez Avenue and Soto Street. This intersection houses some of the most recognized murals in the City of Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. All of these murals present a glimpse into the struggles and successes of working class families in the neighborhood.

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CHAPTER 3: COMMUNITY CORRIDORS

GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OF César E.Uses Chávez AVE.500CORRIDOR GeneralLand LandUses withinand andaround around500 feetofofCesar CesarChavez ChavezAvenue AvenueCorridor Corridor General within feet 00

0.1 0.1

0.2 0.2

0.3 0.3

0.4Miles Miles 0.4

Source:Los LosAngeles AngelesDepartment DepartmentofofCity CityPlanning Planning Source:

MuralsatatSoto SotoStreet Streetand and Murals Cesar Chavez Avenue Cesar Chavez Avenue Intersection Intersection

BreedStreet Street Breed Shul Shul

WW ababas as h h A Av ve e

¯¯

1s1st S tS t t

So Soto S to t St

EvergreenCemetery Cemetery Evergreen

BoyleHeights Heights Boyle Community PlanArea Area Community Plan

Legend Legend LEGEND

4t4hth S St t

Landmarks Landmarks

FireDepartment Department Fire

Multi-familyResidential Residential Multi-family

Light& &Limited LimitedManufacturing Manufacturing Light

School School

AffordableHousing Housing Affordable

RetailStores Stores Retail

Freeways Freeways

Cemetery Cemetery

OtherCommercial Commercial Other

CesarChavez Chavez AveBridge Bridge Cesar Ave

JoggingPath Path Jogging

PublicAgency Agency Public

CesarChavez ChavezCorridor Corridor Cesar

44

45

46

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

M1-2D (Q) M2-1

C2-1 (Q) C2-1

RD1.5-1 R3-1

A1-1XL (Evergreen Cemetery)

PF-1XL

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4th Street Corridor Description 4th Street also shares many of the same characteristics as the other east-west throughways. Many of Boyle Heights’ community resources and facilities are located along this street. On the west end of Boyle Heights, the Pico Garden Public Housing property, rebuilt in 2004 with 296 units, is located adjacent to the Pico Aliso Recreation Center and Boyle Heights Youth Technology Center. A few blocks east, aspiring musicians enjoy music lessons at the Neighborhood Music School while residents take in the sun at the largest community park in Boyle Heights, Hollenbeck Park.

Larger than any other neighborhood active green space, Hollenbeck Park represents a place for residents to gather and create lasting memories, including the celebration of Quinceañeras and weddings.

Adjacent to Hollenbeck Park is the historical Linda Vista Hospital, which is currently vacant and under construction as affordable senior housing. The auxiliary nursing quarters was recently renovated in the form of 23 affordable senior housing units. Theodore Roosevelt Senior High and Hollenbeck Middle School are located just a few blocks east of Hollenbeck Park. These are feeder schools that serve over 6,000 students combined from within Boyle Heights and the surrounding communities. Immediately east of these schools is Evergreen Recreation Center, one of several medium sized active open spaces throughout the neighborhood. Here, residents of the immediate community enjoy health-oriented recreational programs throughout the year along with competitive adult and youth baseball leagues.

Near the eastern boundary of Boyle Heights, the road becomes the 4th and Lorena Street Bridge, a historic bridge built in 1924 that underwent minor renovations several years ago. This bridge has become synonymous with the surrounding community and provides linkages to the Lorena and 1st Street corridors. However, there are still concerns around the perceptions of public safety under the bridge, which is dark and has low visibility between vehicles and pedestrians, even during daytime hours. 4th Street ends directly with the Indiana Street exit of the CA-60 freeway, making this intersection pedestrian-unfriendly.

Current Zoning Designations There is a significant commercial presence on 4th Street, with more auto-oriented strip malls than the other east-west commercial corridors. The road is also bolstered by several large to mid-sized open spaces and institutions, including the open spaces and schools discussed above. While Fourth Street also features permissive, low-density C2 commercial zoning along the corridor, there is a slightly higher proportion of residential zoning than the more commercial 1st Street and Chávez Avenue.

47

Typical view of single family and duplex homes throughout Boyle Heights. Many families share small properties due to rising rents. With the Plan del Pueblo, we are striving to ensure all families have access to affordable housing options.

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GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OFUses 4TH ST.and General Land Land Uses within andCORRIDOR around 500 500 feet feet of of Olympic 1st St Corridor General within around Bl Corridor Soto St

0

Wyvernwood Garden Apartments

% , M

Sears Retail Store

Ce

sa

% , M

rC

0

0.1 0.1

0.2 0.2

0.3 0.3

0.4 Miles 0.4 Miles

Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning

ha

ve

zA

ÂŻ

ve

Estrada Courts Evergreen Cemetery (Murals)

Boyle Hotel Cummings Block

% , M

Mariachi Plaza

Boyle Heights City Hall St

So

to

St

4th

El Mercadito

Boyle Heights Boyle Heights Community Plan Area Community Plan Area

Legend LEGEND Legend

Multi-family Residential Multi-family Residential Affordable Housing Garden Community

Recreation Center Light & Limited Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing Light & Limited Manufacturing Supermarkets

Cemetery Public Housing

Supermarkets Retail Stores

School Public Agency Hospital School Public Agency Freeways Library Olympic Bl Bridge

Jogging Path Recreation Center

OtherCommercial Commercial Other

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% , M

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M % ,

Metro Station Freeways 1st St Bridge 1st St Corridor 48

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

M3-1 M2-1 M1-1 MR1-1

C2-1 C1-1 (Q) C2-1

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Wabash Avenue Corridor Description One corridor in Boyle Heights that has experienced some of the least investment (public or private), despite being an important and thriving corridor, is Wabash Avenue. The street and surrounding area presents a great opportunity for the future of the neighborhood. Similar to the other major corridors described above, Wabash Avenue is characterized by a mixture of single- and multi-family housing, locally-owned small businesses, and public facilities. The corridor possesses strong similarities in aesthetics and land use to City Terrace, an adjacent neighborhood of Unincorporated East Los Angeles. While these neighborhoods share some characteristics and amenities, Wabash Avenue very much remains a key part of Boyle Heights.

It is important to note this area’s close proximity to the I-10 freeway and the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California (LAC+USC) General Hospital, located several blocks north of Wabash Avenue. The I-10 freeway offers direct access to other communities but also a high source of automobile pollution and traffic congestion near on- and off-ramps, environmental hazards that have plagued Boyle Heights for decades. Further, the freeway separates the medical center from the rest of Boyle Heights. This is unfortunately typical of all freeways intersecting throughout the neighborhood, severing residents from access to important land uses such as open spaces, schools, and other amenities via the creation of hazardous street crossings.

One of Wabash Avenue’s primary distinctions is the combination of the Wabash Recreation Center, the Malabar Public Library (one of three existing public libraries in Boyle Heights), and Evergreen Elementary all on one block. These three facilities are all located on the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Forest Street, within walking distance of hundreds of resident families. This intersection serves as a key community resource hub, as similar public amenities in Boyle Heights are only accessible for Wabash residents by driving or transit. Located at the eastern end of the Wabash corridor and neighborhood, is a local branch of the Salesian Boys and Girls Club where local youth and their families can participate in many arts and recreational activities and receive family services.

Current Land Uses and Zoning Designations Wabash Avenue is primarily characterized by low and medium residential zoning, particularly on side streets. The commercial “section” of the neighborhood is along Wabash Avenue, east of Forest Street, which features locally owned restaurants, small stores, and other retail. The predominantly C2 zoning is similar to commercial zoning corridors throughout Boyle Heights. There is a small section of single-family housing on the hillside to the northeast of the intersection of Evergreen Avenue and Ganahl Street that is zoned entirely R1-1.

49

ELACC joined Community Members of the Wabash Corridor and Councilmember Huizar’s office to design and complete a mural on the wall of the Wabash Recreation Center’s Basketball Gym. 40

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CHAPTER 3: COMMUNITY CORRIDORS

GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OF WABASH AVE. CORRIDOR General Land Uses Uses within within and around around 500 500 feet feet of of Wabash Wabash Street Street Corridor Corridor General Land and

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Boyle Heights Heights Boyle CommunityPlan Area Area CommunityPlan

Source:Los LosAngeles Angeles Department Department of of City CityPlanning Planning Source:

Legend Legend LEGEND Single-family Residential Residential Single-family

School School

Multi-family Residential Residential Multi-family

Recreation Center Center Recreation

Freeways Freeways

Affordable Housing Housing Affordable

Commercial Commercial

Wabash Street Street Corridor Corridor Wabash

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

(Q) C1-1 C2-1 (Q) C2-1

R3-1 RD1.5-1 R2-1 R1-1

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Lorena Street Corridor Description Lorena Street runs north/south through Boyle Heights. The corridor features a mix of housing, commercial, and public facilities, and intersects all the east-west corridors discussed above. While the street spans further south past Olympic Boulevard, anchoring the Oscar de la Hoya Charter High School and the Estrada Courts Public Housing community, the corridor’s primary activity along the street falls within a few blocks. The intersection with Whittier Boulevard is a busy, major intersection featuring a mix of small and chain businesses, including Vallarta (one of the five existing full-service supermarkets), a 99 Cents Store, and the Farmacia Lorena. The Ramón García Recreation Center is located about half-mile southwest of the Lorena Street and Whittier Boulevard intersection, adjacent to Lorena Street Elementary School, which hosts a student enrollment of approximately 796 students.

Notable neighborhood assets just north of the Lorena Street and Whittier Boulevard intersection include ELACC’s Lorena Terrace (featuring 49 affordable housing units) adjacent to the Lorena Heights affordable housing property (non-ELACC). This area is of special interest due to the CA-60 freeway on and off ramps. Within close proximity to these properties stands the R.L. Stevenson Library (one of three existing public libraries in Boyle Heights) and R.L. Stevenson Middle School. This school along with Hollenbeck Middle School serve as feeder schools for the majority of students attending the high schools in Boyle Heights and Unincorporated East Los Angeles. Residents in the surrounding areas are walking distance from the popular community hubs El Mercadito and Evergreen Cemetery Jogging path discussed in previous sections. Residents often travel by foot either over or under the Fourth Street-Lorena Street Bridge. Maintaining the Fourth Street-Lorena Street Bridge as a direct link to other major neighborhood corridors has been designated as a very high priority for the surrounding community.

Current Land Uses and Zoning Designations In the areas surrounding the Lorena Street and Whittier Boulevard intersection there is a variety of housing styles, ranging from single- to multi-family units that maintain the general scale of Boyle Heights of one- to two- stories in height. Adjacent to these residences are commercial properties within similar scale to the rest of the commercial corridors throughout Boyle Heights. The flexibility afforded by the C2-1 and C1.5-1 zoning allows for full-service supermarkets and retail stores as well as small business “mom n’ pop” shops.

Lorena Street serves as an on-ramp and off-ramp street, between Sixth Street and Whittier Boulevard, for the heavily traveled CA-60 Freeway. Like many of the corridors and local neighborhoods within Boyle Heights, residential and other sensitive land uses are located within very close proximity to this congested freeway, exposing residents to high levels of automobile-generated air pollution and walkability hazards.

At the southern end, residents live in close proximity to areas zoned for limited manufacturing on the intersection with Olympic Boulevard. South of Olympic Boulevard, polluting sources become more evident within the expansive industrial manufacturing district, with zoning permitting heaving manufacturing practices.

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ELACC’s Lorena Terrace offers 49 units of affordable housing to residents on the eastern end of Boyle Heights. The property is conveniently located to key amenities in the neighborhood, including the commercial corridors of Whittier Blvd. & Lorena St., 1st St. & Lorena St., and Chávez Ave. & Lorena St. 42

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GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OF LORENA ST. CORRIDOR General Land Uses within and around 500 feet of Lorena Street Corridor

General Land Uses within and around 500 feet of Lorena Street Corridor

ÂŻ

0 0

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0.2 0.2

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58

Legend LEGEND Legend

Multi-family Residential Multi-family Residential Affordable Housing Affordable Housing Public Housing Public Housing School School

Landmarks Landmarks Cemetery Cemetery Jogging Path Jogging Path Light & Limited Manufacturing Light & Limited Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing

Supermarket Supermarket Retail Space Retail Space Commercial Commercial Freeways Freeways Lorena Street Corridor Lorena Street Corridor

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

M1-1

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Olympic Boulevard Corridor Description Olympic Boulevard might be the most challenged throughway in Boyle Heights with a majority of blocks featuring incompatible land uses in close proximity to one another.

The segment of Boyle Heights south of Olympic Boulevard borders the almost entirely industrial City of Vernon and features a significant amount of industrial manufacturing plants between Soto and Indiana Streets. This is the heaviest industrial zone in Boyle Heights, spanning over a mile and a half in width. On the north side of Olympic Boulevard, over 9,000 residents combined populate the historic Wyvernwood Garden Apartments and the Estrada Courts Public Housing Property between Soto and Lorena Streets. Both residential developments are constructed in the historical garden community housing models of the 1930s-1940s with two-story duplex units located along an internal street network and considerable shared open green space featuring numerous play and common areas. Wyvernwood is currently under redevelopment plans that will not bode well for current residents and Boyle Heights proper. East of Lorena Street, Olympic Boulevard is primarily industrial, except for a few small businesses and single family homes on local side streets. Most of these commercial and residential uses are located adjacent to the many industrial uses along the corridor.

One of the most notable buildings in Boyle Heights is the iconic Sears Distribution Center and Retail Store located on the southwest corner of Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street.

The structure was built in 1927 and operated as a distribution center for Sears until 1992. Currently, Sears operates retail on the ground floor of the structure but the remaining floors remain vacant. Since the distribution center closed, several redevelopment bids have been made on the building, but no final plans have been resolved for the 1.8 million square building.

A large retail plaza that houses a Food 4 Less supermarket, CVS pharmacy and mini-mall is located on the south side of Olympic Boulevard between Mirasol and Calada Streets.

This is the largest hub of commercial uses along this corridor. On the north side, the I-5 freeway cuts through Indiana Street, another source of substantial health and air hazards in the immediate vicinity of residences, schools and small businesses. Additionally, the off-ramp for this area feed directly into residential streets posing severe hazards for pedestrian safety.

Current Land Uses and Zoning Designations While housing stock and residential zoning designations along and near Olympic Boulevard maintain the low-scale, single and multi-family residential stock throughout Boyle Heights, this area of the neighborhood is significantly exposed to industrial and manufacturing uses. Manufacturing uses range from warehousing to heavier industry such as plating, metal polishing and coating, and enameling production. The area contains a range of manufacturing zoning designations, from limited uses (such as household storage) to heavy industrial, which includes nuisance type uses such as junkyards or rubble storage. While heavy manufacturing zoning designations, such as M3, are not found directly adjacent to residential zones they are located in very close proximity - even as close as across a local street. Like the residential uses, commercial uses and zoning designations in the area remain consistent with the rest of Boyle Heights, maintaining a permissive C2 zoning designation with majority relatively low-scale structures.

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Youth play soccer on vast open green spaces within the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments. For the residents that call Wyvernwood home, the open spaces provide a sanctuary from the high pace environment in Los Angeles. They are an important amenity in a community that lacks sufficient green space.

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CHAPTER 3: COMMUNITY CORRIDORS

GENERAL LAND USE WITHIN AND AROUND 500 FEET OF OLYMPIC BLVD. CORRIDOR General Land Uses within and around 500 feet of Olympic Bl Corridor Soto St Soto St

General Land Uses within and around 500 feet of Olympic Bl Corridor 0

Wyvernwood Wyvernwood GardenApartments Apartments Garden

0

0.1 0.1

0.2 0.2

0.3 0.3

0.4 Miles 0.4 Miles

Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning

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BoyleHeights Heights Boyle CommunityPlan PlanArea Area Community

Legend LEGEND Legend Multi-family Residential Multi-family Residential Garden Community Garden Community Public Housing Public Housing Recreation Center Recreation Center

Light & Limited Manufacturing Light & Limited Manufacturing

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Heavy Manufacturing Heavy Manufacturing Supermarkets Supermarkets

School School

Retail Stores Retail Stores

Freeways Freeways Olympic Bl Bridge Olympic Bl Bridge

Other Commercial Other Commercial

Olympic Bl Corridor Olympic Bl Corridor

60

61

62

Summary of Zoning MANUFACTURING

COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL

OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

M1-1 M2-1 M3-1

C2-1 C2-2D

RD1.5-1 R2-1

OS-1XL

PF-1XL

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CHAPTER:4

Community Plan Implementation Overlays (CPIO)

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CHAPTER 4: IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAYS

IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAYS

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE OVERLAY ZONE (EJOZ): Sub-areas designated as EJOZ include strict guide-

Implementing and supporting the policies outlined in the People’s Plan is a great opportunity for the City of Los Angeles to demonstrate its commitment to community-based land-use planning in Boyle Heights. The Community Plan Implementation Overlay Maps (CPIO) are land-use proposals developed straight from resident feedback and numerous community workshops ELACC has hosted since 2006. As discussed previously, residents that committed their time and energy into the People’s Plan felt it was paramount to maintain the existing character of the neighborhood while aligning incompatible land uses like industrial and residential. CPIO’s are another land use tool that can help tailor the needs of specific neighborhoods and ensure planning is sensitive to existing neighborhood assets.

The CPIOs are directly connected to the corridors specified in the People’s Plan. 1st Street, 4th Street, César E. Chávez Avenue, Wabash Avenue, Lorena Street, and Olympic Boulevard were all identified as key corridors for policy recommendations during walking tours with community leaders throughout Boyle Heights. Each corridor presented challenges and opportunities, both unique and shared. Each corridor section includes a map specifying the general locations where residents felt these improvements and policies could be implemented. Each section also includes an explanation of how the policies address the objectives previously outlined. In addition, each sub-area includes encouraged and discouraged land uses and zoning, and building density and height limits, with the goal of maintaining consistency with the surrounding community’s existing architectural character while also allowing for increase in density wherever incentives are available.

CORRIDOR SPECIFIC POLICIES TOD SUB-AREA A (TOD HIGH):

Includes properties that are located directly adjacent to heavily-utilized Metro light rail stations and mixed-use projects that contain significant incentives for affordable housing. Building heights should be limited to 4 stories, with density bonuses applicable to additional stories.

TOD SUB-AREA B (TOD MEDIUM/LOW):

Includes properties that are located in close proximity (Medium) or within reasonable distance (Low) of Metro light rail stations. TOD Sub-area B also includes areas directly around Metro light rail stations with lower ridership for the neighborhood. For Low designations, greater sensitivity is required of the level of incentives offered, to ensure a context-sensitive urban environment. Affordable housing should be a priority. Building heights should be limited to 3 stories, with density bonuses applicable to additional stories.

lines and restrictions to reduce increased levels of pollution in the neighborhood, particularly within 500 feet of sensitive receptors such as schools, parks, and residential uses.15 Guidelines of this sub-area ensure a strong balance between uses in this overlay and immediately adjacent areas.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING CORRIDOR (NSC):

NSC designations are appropriate for corridors, or portions of corridors, to support and encourage amenities and services such as retail, medical, governmental, educational and institutional uses. The range of permitted commercial land uses is further refined in NSCs, and development standards are intended to facilitate a more pedestrian oriented environment.

Residential development is allowed. Density of over-concentrated and nuisance land uses is regulated and neighborhood-serving and community commercial land uses are incentivized. Building heights should be limited to 2 stories, in accordance with surrounding buildings.

MIXED-USE CORRIDOR (MUC) - BOULEVARD:

MUCs are generally adjacent to Mixed-Use Nodes, and offer development incentives for mixed-use projects with additional incentives to include affordable housing. MUC sub-areas also include guidelines and standards for well-designed pedestrian-oriented street design and development. MUC corridors, or portions of a corridor, reflect a combination of commercial and residential uses and development is encouraged to facilitate a well-designed pedestrian-oriented corridor. Building heights should be limited to 3 stories, with density bonuses applicable to additional stories.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY ZONE (HPOZ):

This sub-area includes strict guidelines for permitted modifications to properties located within the HPOZ to ensure historical preservations of cultural and community landmarks.

It should be noted that HPOZ sub-areas reflected in this document are not official HPOZs as designated by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning Office of Historic Resources, but are community-identified areas of particular cultural and community relevance that require additional protection and standards for future development and modifications.

MIXED-USE NODE (MUN):

MUN sub-areas are located at major intersections heavily served by bus transit, and offer significant incentives for mixed-use projects with additional incentives to include affordable housing. Additional guidelines in this sub-area include design standards to facilitate a pedestrian-oriented streetscape. Building heights should be limited to 3 stories, with density bonuses applicable to additional stories.

MIXED-USE MEDICAL (MUM):

The MUM sub-area refers to a generally mixed-use corridor, or portions of a corridor, that also contain significant medical uses, such as a hospital. Additional guidelines can address the increased demand for medical services and resources, prioritizing uses such as community clinics, research facilities, and additional patient residences. Building heights should be limited to 2 stories, in accordance with surrounding buildings.

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1st Street COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG 1ST ST. CORRIDOR Community Plan Implementation Overlay Concepts Along 1st St Corridor 0

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64

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TOD SUB-AREA A (TOD HIGH):

As depicted in the map, along 1st Street, this includes the area immediately surrounding the Soto Street and the Mariachi Plaza Metro Gold Line light rail stations. These locations are existing neighborhood destination hubs, due to the significant amount of neighborhood commercial and cultural amenities, therefore it is likely that future development will be concentrated around these stations. Residents are supportive of mixed-use development in these sub-areas but prefer to see height limits that maintain a neighborhood character context, which is generally one- to two-story residences and small business in the area just outside of TOD Sub-area A. Residents specified a range of two- to four-story mixed-use buildings with an additional story (total of 5 stories) offered as an incentive to develop affordable housing as ideal development in these locations.

TOD SUB-AREA B (TOD MEDIUM/LOW):

Along First Street, TOD Sub-Area B has a Medium designation directly around the Pico/Aliso and Indiana Metro Gold Line stations. While there currently exists some commercial and residential development, as well as a relatively new high school around the Pico/Aliso station, the close proximity to existing industrial uses along Mission Avenue and the south of 1st Street may deter opportunities for increased residential development. Residents have requested a building height range of two- to four-stories that would be appropriate in this sub-area.

The TOD Sub-Area B surrounding the Indiana station also features a Medium designation, but land uses and zoning in this area are significantly more residential and local commercial and less industrial. The area includes small, locally-owned businesses and also El Mercadito, a culturally and commercially significant marketplace along First Street that draws residents, workers, and visitors to the neighborhood at all times of the day and week. Existing buildings are smaller in scale, height, and intensity and residents prefer a building height range of one- to three-stories.

is important to ensure that any future development in this sub-area abide by necessary and safe distances between hazardous and sensitive uses. Specifically, future development of the Los Angeles River will bring new active open space, mixed-use and residential development, and appropriate transition buffers between incompatible uses must be implemented within this EJOZ sub-area.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING CORRIDOR (NSC):

The NSC designation along the 1st Street corridor includes the segment between State and St. Louis Streets, which currently contains significant neighborhood-serving activity such as restaurants, shops, arts and education services, health and social services and a U.S. Post Office branch. This section, like most of 1st Street, attracts high levels of pedestrian activity including seniors and children. It is important to current residents to support the existing locally owned businesses and community-serving services that not only provide resources for the community but are also an integral component of the historical neighborhood character. Similar to the adjacent TOD Sub-area B related to the Soto Metro Gold Line station, residents prefer a building height range of one- to three-stories to match the existing residential and commercial structures along this portion of First Street.

MIXED-USE CORRIDOR (MUC) - BOULEVARD:

The MUC sub-area along the First Street corridor extends between Mott and Lorena Streets, including the southern boundary of Evergreen Cemetery. This portion of the corridor also includes one- and two-story residential buildings, several religious institutions, First Street Elementary School, and a large commercial shopping strip mall that contains local shops, eateries, a Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional service branch, and a 61,700 square-foot (sf) Food 4 Less full-service grocery store, drawing residents from throughout the neighborhood. Residents support a one- to three-story building height limit within this sub-area.

The TOD Sub-Area B surrounding TOD Sub-Area A of the Soto Metro Gold Line station (described above) has a Low designation, as it is a further distance from the actual transit hub. Lower building story limits are more appropriate in this location than directly adjacent to the Soto station as the surrounding area is predominantly residential with a majority of structures being one- and two-story single- and multi-family units. Residents have supported a range of one- to threestories in this Low TOD Sub-Area B and also expressed the need for increased affordable housing supply.

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE OVERLAY ZONE (EJOZ):

A range of manufacturing and industrial uses characterizes the area west of Mission Road. These potentially hazardous industries are in close proximity, and sometimes adjacent, to residential and light commercial uses, including the Felicitas and Gonzalo MĂŠndez Learning Center, a new high school that opened in 2009. While this is unfortunately not atypical of incompatible land use conditions in Boyle Heights, it PL AN DEL PUEBLO

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4th Street COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG 4TH ST. Plan CORRIDOR Community Plan Implementation Overlay Overlay Concepts Concepts Along Along 4th 4th Street Street Corridor Corridor Community Implementation

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Fourth St St Bridge Bridge Fourth Fourth St St Corridor Corridor Fourth

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MIXED-USE CORRIDOR (MUC) - BOULEVARD:

There are two areas designated as MUC along the 4th Street Corridor. One is between Clarence Street and the I-10 freeway and the other extends between Breed Street and Grande Vista Avenue. Despite being intersected by two freeways (US-101 and I-10), the western MUC sub-area of 4th Street features open spaces and public facilities that are popular among current residents. The Aliso Pico Recreation Center at Gless Street features a baseball diamond, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, an indoor auditorium and gymnasium, as well as multi-purpose rooms for computer labs, music and community events. The Pico Gardens and Las Casitas public housing development is located across the street and contains 296 units and the Boyle Heights Technology Youth Center. The 154-bed Keiro Retirement home is located between the two freeways at Boyle Avenue and has served the health and nursing needs of elderly residents since 1975. This MUC sub-area also contains lowscale housing and residents would like to see future mixeduse development match these height ranges of one- and three-story buildings. An additional story could be allowed as an incentive (four stories total maximum) to develop affordable housing along the corridor.

The eastern MUC sub-area on Fourth Street contains mostly single- and multi-family residential, particularly east of Roosevelt High School. There is a busy commercial hub at the intersection with Soto Street featuring several eateries, a full-service Northgate González supermarket, and local shops and businesses. Much of the commercial uses along the remainder of the corridor sub-area feature local ground floor commercial with residential uses on the second story.

The widely popular Evergreen Recreation Center is located at Evergreen Avenue and offers a range of recreational and community amenities, such as an indoor auditorium and gymnasium, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, outdoor baseball diamond, 30-person capacity community room, and picnic tables. The area has supported mixed-uses and offers potential for increased mixed-use development at a similar building height range of one to three stories. Residents have also supported improvements to pedestrian safety, such as a recent traffic signal installation at 4th Street and Fickett Street.

TOD SUB-AREA B (TOD MEDIUM/LOW)

The TOD Sub-Area B overlaps with the TOD Sub-Area B around First Street (described above). Similarly, this TOD Sub-Area B area includes low-scale residences and small, locally owned businesses. Existing buildings are smaller in scale, height, and intensity and residents prefer a building height range of one- to three-stories.

pacted by increased industrial development. Future development of the Los Angeles River as an active open space as well as related mixed-use and residential development should be considered and appropriate transition buffers between incompatible uses must be implemented within this EJOZ sub-area.

HOLLENBECK PARK IMPROVEMENT PLAN (HPIP)

During community resident workshops, ideas and recommendations for a Hollenbeck Park improvement plan kept surfacing. The park serves as an important gathering place for community residents and contributes to the overall character of Boyle Heights. It stands as the largest active green space in the Community Plan Area and provides amenities for a variety of recreational uses, including running and jogging, playing sports and riding skateboards. However, residents have pointed towards the lack of major investment and maintenance efforts dedicated to the park. Over the years, community members have voiced constant concerns over the water quality of the lake, the cleanliness of the bridge, the safety of the pavement walkway, the thinning trees, and the adjacency to the I-5 Freeway as major impediments to enjoy this public space. With these issues in mind, residents have proposed an improvement plan that can be implemented to upgrade the park and address the adverse issues that currently exist.

LORENA STREET BRIDGE PARK

A special consideration for residents of this area has been the potential of a pocket park under the 4th street Bridge adjacent to Lorena Street. This idea came about during the initial discussions about the People’s Plan and continues to resonate with current residents of the area. With relatively new affordable housing, the Whittier Boulevard commercial corridor, and El Mercadito and Evergreen Cemetery in close proximity to the bridge, residents want to see a transitional space between these. The pocket park would serve multiple functions, ranging from improving public safety, proving a rest area for pedestrian, recreational use, and contribute to a more balanced streetscape. Residents recommend a pocket park with amenities such as lamp posts, benches, drinking water stations, trees, grass and plants, walkways, and murals on the bridge’s pillars. Their vision is to establish a pedestrian-friendly link between the neighboring areas of the 4th Street Bridge and to promote better usage of community open space.

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE OVERLAY ZONE (EJOZ)

A range of manufacturing and industrial uses characterizes the EJOZ sub-area west of Clarence Street. Similar to other EJOZ sub-areas described in this document, the uses in this sub-area represent industry and employment for the neighborhood, however it is important to recognize the existing and future sensitive receptors that can be adversely imPL AN DEL PUEBLO

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César E. Chávez Ave COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG César E.Implementation ChávezOverlay Ave.Concepts CORRIDOR Community Along CommunityImplementation OverlayConcepts AlongCesar CesarChavez ChavezAvenue AvenueCorridor Corridor

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00

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68

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HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY ZONE (HPOZ)

MIXED-USE MEDICAL (MUM)

The HPOZ sub-area along the Chávez Avenue corridor extends between Cummings Street and Evergreen Avenue, an area of extremely high pedestrian activity generated by significant local commercial, cultural and transit amenities.

There are numerous restaurants, shops, pharmacies, clinics and medical services, markets as well as busy activity of Street Vendors along this iconic street. There are also important community landmarks within this sub-area including the historic Breed Street Shul and the community murals at the intersection of Chávez Avenue and Soto Street. The Breed Street Shul represents an important cultural and architectural link to the diverse and multicultural history of Boyle Heights and is in the process of a community-led and Citywide-supported restoration project. The Chávez Avenue/ Soto Street murals depict historical and everyday images of the residents and experiences of Boyle Heights and have come to represent an artistic source of pride and indication of community destination in the neighborhood. Existing building heights along this corridor are low-rise with mostly one- and two-story structures and it is important to maintain this scale and character of such a culturally important avenue. Residents have repeatedly emphasized the need to maintain this one- to two-story building height range within the HPOZ sub-area of Chávez Avenue.

Founded in 1913, the recently renovated non-profit, private White Memorial Hospital is located on Chávez Avenue and contains 353 beds. As a teaching hospital, White Memorial not only provides medical services but also attracts medical residents, interns, and nurses from around the region.

Despite the relatively larger scale of the hospital compared to the rest of the sub-area, it is important for residents to maintain the smaller building height range of one- to twostories that characterizes the residential and commercial area surrounding White Memorial. This would promote a strong balance between multiple uses in the area while promoting medical uses in close proximity to the main hospital building. This effort should encourage the growth of medical professions in the neighborhood without displacing families.

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MIXED-USE NODE (MUN)

Chávez Avenue between the I-10 freeway and Boyle Avenue has potential for new development to support the existing residential and local commercial uses. There are several open and vacant spaces that could be improved with context-appropriate mixed-use development that should include community benefits such as affordable housing and a community center. Recognizing the potential for mixeduse development in this MUN sub-area, residents have expressed support for a two- to four-story building range, including an additional story (five stories total) to provide incentives for developers to create affordable housing for the corridor.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE OVERLAY ZONE (EJOZ)

Connected to the EJOZ adjacent to the First Street corridor (described above), the area northwest of the I-10 freeway and southwest of Chávez Avenue and Mission Road is characterized by a range of manufacturing and industrial uses.

As with the First Street corridor EJOZ, appropriate transition buffers between incompatible uses must be implemented within this EJOZ sub-area.

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Proyecto Jardín is a non-profit community garden located behind the White Memorial Medical Center. It plays a vital role in providing community residents and visitors access to healthy fresh vegetables and fruits. Supported through volunteers and staff, Proyecto Jardín is an example of how to brindge the gap between working class residents and access to healthy food.

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Lorena Street COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG Lorena St. CORRIDOR Community Community Plan Plan Implementation Implementation Overlay Overlay Concepts Concepts Along Along Lorena Lorena Street Street Corridor Corridor

ÂŻ

0 0

0.1 0.1

0.2 0.2

0.3 0.3

0.4 Miles 0.4 Miles

Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning

1s 1st S t St t

So So toto SS tt

4th 4th S Stt

Wh Whitt ittiier er Bl Bl

Olympic Bl Olympic Bl

Boyle Heights Boyle Heights CommunityPlan Area CommunityPlan Area

Legend LEGEND Legend

Neighborhood Serving Corridor Neighborhood Serving Corridor

Lorena St Bridge Park Lorena St Bridge Park

Mixed-Use Node Mixed-Use Node

Lorena St Corridor Lorena St Corridor Freeways - Green Buffers Freeways - Green Buffers

TOD Sub-Area B TOD Sub-Area B 54

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING CORRIDOR (NSC)

The segment of Lorena Street between Eagle Street and the intersection with the CA-60 freeway is characterized by many small, locally owned shops, businesses, eateries, and amenities such as laundromats and gas stations. Lorena Terrace AlegrĂ­a Preschool is also located in this NSC sub-area. The street features primarily one- to three--story housing and current residents prefer new building height limits match these existing characteristics.

The NSC sub-area south of the I-5 freeway also features oneto three-story residential buildings and small, locally owned commercial businesses. This area has busier commercial activity and a more diverse range of commercial uses, including auto-oriented uses (such as garages and auto body shops), as well as schools and religious institutions. The area is also a couple blocks east of Estrada Courts, the 414-unit garden community-style public housing development that features two-story residences and historical murals considered iconic and valuable by Boyle Heights residents. Similarly, residents prefer new building height limits in this sub-area match existing structures in the area at one- to three-stories.

MIXED-USE NODE (MUN)

The busy intersection of Lorena Street and Whittier Boulevard is a prime example for MUN designation. The intersection is well-served by bus lines, destination commercial uses such as Vallarta Supermarket, restaurants, medical services and shops. Residents have repeatedly voiced concerns over much-needed pedestrian streetscape improvements, including lighting, sidewalk width and conditions, and few safe street crossing options. Other calls for improvement include the need to preserve and increase affordable housing, which would be a trade-off for additional building height incentives (5 floors total maximum) for new two- and four-story mixeduse developments in the MUN sub-area.

TOD SUB-AREA B (TOD MEDIUM/LOW)

The TOD Sub-Area B overlaps with the TOD Sub-Area B around First Street (described above). Existing buildings are smaller in scale, height, and intensity and residents prefer a building height range of one- to three-stories.

LORENA STREET BRIDGE PARK

Please refer to description included in the 4th Street Corridor CPIO on page 42.

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Olympic Blvd COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG Olympic BLVD. CORRIDOR Community Implementation Overlay Concepts Along Olympic Bl Corridor Community Implementation Overlay Concepts Along Olympic Bl Corridor

ÂŻ

0

0

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 Miles 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 Miles

Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning Source: Los Angeles Department of City Planning

Soto SotoStSt

Wh Wh ittie itti r Bl er Bl

Boyle Boyle Heights Heights Community Community Plan Plan Area Area

Legend Legend LEGEND

Mixed-UseNode Node Mixed-Use

Environmental Environmental Justice Justice Overlay Overlay

Historic Preservation PreservationOverlay OverlayZone Zone Historic

Freeways- Green - GreenBuffers Buffers Freeways

Olympic Bridge Olympic Bl Bl Bridge

Neighborhood Neighborhood Serving Serving Corridor Corridor

Historic Preservation Preservationwith with Historic Mixed-UsePriority Priority Mixed-Use

OlympicBlBlCorridor Corridor Olympic

Washington Bridge Washington St St Bridge

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE OVERLAY ZONE (EJOZ)

area currently wedged between the East Los Angeles Freeway Interchange and a heavy industrial area.

The predominant EJOZ sub-area along the Olympic Boulevard corridor encompasses nearly the entire area of the Community Plan south of this key corridor. The size and magnitude of this industrial area highlights the historically neglected need for more stringent regulations and guidelines to assure necessary separation between hazardous and nuisance land uses such as heavy manufacturing industry and sensitive receptors. Industrial regulations within this sub-area should include density restrictions for automotive uses, prohibitions of heavy industry (recycling centers, metal manufacturing) in close proximity to sensitive uses (residential, open space), and prohibition of any industrial use that involves storage or handling of hazardous waste and/or toxic materials in specified sections of the sub-area. Residents also encourage reinvestment in lifting the manufacturing sector in order to continue providing quality employment for Boyle Heights residents in clean industries. Appropriate transition buffers between incompatible uses must be implemented within this EJOZ sub-area.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING CORRIDOR (NSC)

The NSC sub-area along Lorena Street overlaps with the NSC sub-area described in the “Lorena Street” CPIO section of this document. As discussed above, residents prefer new building height limits in this sub-area match existing structures in the area at one- to three-stories.

The NSC sub-area section along the easternmost section of Olympic Boulevard features a small segment of local businesses and services, such as vocational training services, sit-down restaurants, and a branch of the U.S. Post Office.

There are also some light manufacturing uses, such as textile and printing services. Pedestrian improvements in this sub-area would answer many of residents’ concerns around street lighting, pedestrian safety and tree maintenance. Residents would also prefer to see the low-scale building design of this area maintained with future development not exceeding one- and two-stories in height.

MIXED-USE NODE (MUN)

The intersection of Soto Street and Olympic Boulevard is bustling and heavily utilized by pedestrians and automobiles, particularly heavy vehicles from nearby industrial uses and buses from the six bus lines with transit stops at this location. Other vehicle-generating uses at this intersection include the Sears Auto Center and Shell Gas station on the two eastern corners. The MUN sub-area is adjacent to the 1,187-unit Wyvernwood Apartments Garden Community and 226-foot Sears Building. Both sites are iconic community landmarks and are under consideration for future development. A huge concern for residents is the loss of affordable housing that new development may create, therefore incentives to preserve and create affordable housing options is highly encouraged. New mixed-use buildings would be offered an additional floor of development (5 stories total maximum) as an affordable housing incentive. Other incentives would include requiring open space development to improve the pedestrian experience in a busy commercial

HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY ZONE (HPOZ)

The historic Wyvernwood Apartments Garden Community first opened in 1939 as the first large-scale garden-style apartment design in Los Angeles. The design of low-scale two-story residential buildings dispersed among shared, rolling open space, recreational and congregational areas cultivates a strong sense of community among the over 6,000 residents currently living in the 1,187 units. Current proposed development plans to demolish the existing buildings and replace the complex with a mixed-use development featuring four times the existing number of residential units and over 300,000 sf of office, retail and commercial space.

The elimination of this wide-scale residential community of important historical and community significance would be a grave detriment to the Boyle Heights neighborhood.

Not only would this eradicate a community landmark, but redevelopment would almost certainly reduce the supply of existing affordable housing and potentially cause mass displacement of existing vulnerable tenants in a neighborhood that already suffers from housing insecurity and shortage of quality affordable housing options. Located adjacent to Wyvernwood is the Estrada Courts Public Housing Property.

Aware of the development plans in place for Jordan Downs, residents have expressed concern over the possibility of converting Estrada Courts into a mixed-income property.

Residents continue to promote affordable housing, especially preserving what already exist, to meet the high demand for it by working-class families. It is a strong recommendation from residents to maintain the existing character and structure of the existing Wyvernwood Garden Apartments and the Estrada Courts Public Housing community and preserve these historical resources for tenants and families.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION WITH MIXED-USE PRIORITY (HPMUP)

The Sears Building located on the southwest corner of the Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street Intersection has been in the eye of private development for many years. There have been attempts from multiple investors, including former boxer and East Los Angeles native Oscar de la Hoya, to purchase the property and bring forth an extensive redevelopment. Due to extensive challenges with redeveloping the properties, no investor has been successful. Today, the Sears Retail Store continues to operate on the first floor while the rest of the building remains vacant. Residents have expressed concern over the redevelopment plans that have been presented before, citing a lack of affordable housing, potential displacement of surrounding businesses, and a push towards a luxury development. Encouraging Historic Preservation with Mixed-Use Priorities could result in a renovated Sears Building with multiple housing options for very low, low, and moderate-income families as well as affordable commercial spaces. Achieving this balance would preserve a community landmark with strong ties to Boyle Heights’ identity and additional community resources that are in high demand.

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Wabash Ave COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY CONCEPTS ALONG Wabash Ave. CORRIDOR Community Community Plan Plan Implementation Implementation Overlay Overlay Concepts Concepts Along Along Wabash Wabash Avenue Avenue Corridor Corridor

ÂŻ

00

0.065 0.065

0.13 0.13

0.195 0.195

0.26 0.26 Miles Miles

FFoor reesst t AAv vee

SSoot too

SStt

Source: Source: Los Los Angeles Angeles Department Department of of City City Planning Planning

Boyle Boyle Heights Heights CommunityPlan CommunityPlan Area Area

Legend Legend LEGEND

58

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Mixed-Use Mixed-Use Node Node

Freeways Freeways -- Green Green Buffers Buffers

Neighborhood Neighborhood Serving Serving Corridor Corridor

Wabash Wabash Corridor Corridor

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVING CORRIDOR (NSC)

Although not as heavily traveled as other major east-west corridors in Boyle Heights, Wabash Avenue remains an important community corridor within the northern section of Boyle Heights. The NSC sub-area portion of the street includes the cluster of heavily-utilized public facilities at the intersection of Forest Avenue, including the Wabash Recreation Center, Evergreen Elementary School and the Malabar Library, and extends east to the terminus of the avenue at City Terrace Drive. Locally owned shops, markets, and eateries front on the ground floor of mixed-use one- to three-story buildings with residences on upper floors. There does exist opportunity for continued development along the corridor, particularly improving pedestrian safety and environment. Residents have called for improved streetscape amenities such as traffic calming measures, landscaping, sidewalk benches, and sidewalk and street lighting. While residents also support mixed-use development investment in the neighborhood, there is also a strong preference to maintain the neighborhood scale and character with low-rise one- to three-story buildings. Of particular interest for new development is a vacant lot located on the intersection with Dundas Street, which can help anchor the entire community as a thriving corridor.

MIXED-USE NODE (MUN)

The busy intersection of Wabash Avenue and Soto Street receives high volumes of vehicle traffic from the adjacent I-10 freeway off-ramp, several bus lines with stops at the intersection, and heavy north-south traffic traveling on Soto Street. The LAC + USC General Hospital is located just outside of the Boyle Heights Community Plan Area northern boundary but is a major destination for residents and Angelenos outside the neighborhood, generating additional vehicle traffic in this sub-area. Resident priorities in this area of Boyle Heights include investment in affordable housing and local businesses. Given the busier nature and larger scale of existing development on this end of the corridor, residents support a two- to four-story building height range with an additional story (five stories maximum) incentive for developers to increase the supply of much-needed affordable housing in the sub-area.

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Wabash Ave. is a little known corridor on the northern end of Boyle Heights. It’s importance to the community cannot be emphasized enough however.

Home to long-standing neighborhood business, a branch library and recreation center, Wabash serves as an example of how local residents can have close access to resources.

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CHAPTER:5 The People's Plan:

Recommendations

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ELACC President Maria Cabildo speaks on the importance of community entrepreneurship and economic development opportunities for street vendors during a Legalize Street Vending Press Conference Event to introduce a motion to legalize street vending in the City of Los Angeles.

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The People's Plan: Recommendations for the Boyle Heights New Community Plan HOUSING Community residents in every workshop have identified the lack of access to affordable housing repeatedly as one of the most important issues affecting Boyle Heights. With an extremely high neighborhood population density and households with a median income below the city average, Boyle Heights residents often struggle to find quality and affordable housing for their families. The proliferation of new development and investor speculation in the neighborhood brings a threat of rising property values and, consequently, rents. Additionally, the potential loss of almost 1,200 rent-stabilized units in the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments community could further deplete the supply of affordable housing in Boyle Heights. Future residential and mixed-use development in the community must include affordable units for very to extremely low-income families, defined as 0-30% of area median income (AMI). Additionally, rent-stabilized residential units should be protected, to the greatest extent possible, from converting to condominiums and/or units for sale, thus encouraging the continuous supply of residential units within the current residents’ income levels.

These policies, when implemented, will serve to support the housing needs of existing and long-time residents.* OBJECTIVE #1: Preserve and develop affordable housing, including mixeduse developments, to meet increasing demands for quality, affordable housing options.

B.

Modify minimum time period for public comment specific to Boyle Heights projects that account for interpretation.

4.

Host community meetings in a central location, in reasonable proximity to the impacted area.

5.

Explore protections for existing affordable housing.

A. Establish an Affordable Housing Funding

Mechanism to subsidize affordable housing

costs and extend covenant’s expiration

6. Enforce a one to one replacement policy for any

new housing development that demolishes

affordable housing or rent stabilized housing properties.

7. Enforce a one to one replacement policy for new

housing developments that remove affordable

housing or rent stabilized housing properties from

the rental market.

OBJECTIVE #2: Preserve existing stock of Rent-Stabilized rental units.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Conduct a study on the impacts of rent-stabilized

units exiting the rental market in Boyle Heights.

2.

Fund major renovation programs for properties over 50 years old, to prevent full demolition of existing units.

RECOMMENDATIONS

3.

Implement a no net-loss policy on existing housing stock in the community plan area.

Redevelopment process must include community consideration and involvement.

4.

Develop guidelines to allow the grandfathering of new rental units on existing properties that will retain RSO protection on new units.

5.

Identify resources to support landlords wishing to continue to operate rent-stabilized residential units amidst financial and market challenges.

1. Create a resident advisory committee of Boyle `

Heights residents that will monitor implementation

of land use and zoning guidelines.

2.

Implement a set of guidelines for new projects in Boyle Heights.

3.

Establish minimum requirement of community meet ings for new developments.

A.

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Require bilingual materials and meeting facilitation in appropriate languages.

A. Identify resources to subsidize costs

associated with property ownership.

6.

Prevent mass displacement of Ellis Act evictions through the implementation of a cap on landlords exiting the rental market on an annual basis.

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7. Establish guidelines for RSO property landlords

wishing to convert their rental buildings to condo

miniums and/or for-sale units.

Special Criteria landlords must satisfy to convert their properties:

A. Establish criteria for full and partial conversion.

B.

8.

Implement an affordability program for displacees to have the opportunity to purchase the for-sale units.

Increase the number of RSO inspections agents to ensure full landlord compliance across the city’s portfolio.

9. Change the current affordability requirement for re

placement units on RSO property from 80% AMI to 30%AMI. OBJECTIVE #3: Prioritize the preservation and rehabilitation of the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

Preserve current land use designations, zoning codes, and height district on the property site.

2.

Identify financially feasible alternatives that will rehabilitate the structural integrity of the property without displacing current tenants, determined through an independent review.

3.

Prevent the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments from opting out of RSO protection.

OBJECTIVE #4: Prioritize the Preservation of the Sears Distribution Center and Retail Store with an emphasis on implementing MixedUse principles.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Require a minimum of 15% of residential uses be

designated as affordable, targeting 0-60% AMI levels.

2. Require 20% of for-sale units to be designated as

affordable, targeting 65-120% AMI levels.

3.

Require commercial uses to include affordable

leases for new and existing small businesses in the

adjacent areas wishing to utilize the vacant spaces.

Commercial uses that have been identified by resi-

dents include: A. Local Service and Family Program Providers

B. Child Care Center

4.

Require minimum green space designation and

landscaping to encourage pedestrian-oriented uses.

A. Incorporate space for street vendors, and

open air markets.

5.

Construction and permanent employment

opportunities should include a local-hire program.

A. Include programing and resources to

support training of local residents for specialized positions.

OBJECTIVE #5: Prevent the privatization of existing Public Housing RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

Preserve and upgrade public housing in Boyle Heights A. These properties include Pico Gardens/Las Casitas, Estrada Courts, and Ramona Gardens 2.

Transfer jurisdiction of the Ramona Gardens public housing property from the Northeast Community Plan Area to the Boyle Heights New Community Plan Area.

3.

HACLA should work closely with current tenants and thoughtfully explore ways of meeting the management needs of Pico Gardens without leading to the displacement of the current tenants.

4.

Prevent displacement of tenants and property demolition by retaining the ownership of public housing within the local and federal government

5.

The Planning Department should not approve of redevelopment applications for existing public housing properties that could result in the conversion of these properties to for-sale or market-rate properties.

OBJECTIVE #6 Require the creation of guidelines for implementing density bonus policies throughout Boyle Heights.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

15% minimum requirement of affordable units for new housing projects

2.

Affordability levels for new units should be between 30%-60% AMI

3.

Supplementary community amenities shall be included in new housing projects that cannot meet the 15% minimum requirement of affordable units in full or in part.

C. A unionized supermarket D.

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Commercial

F.

Boyle Heights has a rich history of small, locally owned thriving businesses that support a tight-knit community’s daily needs. These businesses are prevalent along the local commercial corridors, such as 4th Street and César E. Chávez Avenue, and anchor bustling destinations that resident’s access for amenities, services, and shopping. These corridors also host clusters of Street Vendors, who serve to fill gaps in local demand by offering quality products at lower prices. New real estate interest in Boyle Heights has threatened these long-time small businesses and rising commercial rents are another primary concern among Boyle Heights residents.

While some new commercial development may be inevitable, design standards to preserve the scale and existing pedestrian activity in commercial areas should be implemented. Additionally, extensive efforts should be made to ensure the continued presence of existing businesses along major commercial corridors.

4.

Invest in a city-wide network of commissaries for mobile vendors to safely store equipment

5.

Food Preparation and Handling Education for new and existing Street Vendors

OBJECTIVE #1: Support existing and local businesses within mixed-use developments.

2. Encourage Pedestrian-Oriented Uses along com -

mercial corridors

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Redevelopment process needs to include

community consideration and involvement.

2.

Discourage chain-businesses or ‘big box’ retailers from concentrating in neighborhood serving com mercial corridors

3. Explore mechanisms to retain existing small busi - nesses amidst rising rents.

OBJECTIVE #2: Approve legislation that would legalize street vending on Los Angeles City sidewalks and recognize mirco-entrepreneurs as legitimate businesses.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Amend LAMC 42.00 to allow for the legal vending

of food and non-food items on city sidewalks.

2. Establish a city-wide permitting system for both

food and non-food vendors 3. Designate opportunity sites for Vendor Plazas

throughout the city A. Designated space for vending only (non-

food trucks only).

B. Trash receptacles to properly dispose of trash.

C. Hand washing station for food vendors.

Incorporate a sanitary Food Storage Area for Street Vendors and their equipment.

OBJECTIVE #3: Improve and preserve commercial corridors with mixed-use development design that prioritizes pedestrian activity over vehicle traffic.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

Modify parking requirements in new mixed-use de- velopment within Transit-oriented Development sub-areas to encourage shared parking between residential and commercial uses.

A. Install Public Restrooms within ½ mile of

each other along corridors identified in the People’s Plan.

B. Install accessible pedestrian rest areas along corridors.

- Include street furniture for resident enjoy ment (include benches, individual seats,

tables, etc.).

- Include proper lighting mechanisms to encourage safe evening pedestrian uses of

commercial corridors.

- Include landscape designs that require minimal maintenance and add safety mea

sures to pedestrian uses.

3. Establish minimum provision of private or semi-pub- lic open space required for new mixed-use or com

mercial developments.

4. Vehicle parking and parking lots in the primary front age should be prohibited in all new mixed-use or

commercial development to encourage pedestrian

activity.

5.

Identify alternative parking uses of existing private parking lots

A. Encourage shared parking for multiple busi- nesses in the adjacent areas

B. Encourage late night parking during non-business hours on existing lots

C. Discourage overnight parking without a permit

D. Properly lit sitting areas for pedestrians.

E. Incorporate a stand-alone Communal

Kitchen for commercial-scale cooking.

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OBJECTIVE #4: Support new, community-serving businesses in Boyle Heights.

development adjacent to industrial uses.

-

Encourage limited to non-industrial commercial uses along zones.

RECOMMENDATIONS

-

Establish and implement green design guidelines along these zones.

1. Create a business program to support start-up busi-

nesses transitioning into their own business site.

A.

encourage and support locally grown start- ups by Boyle Heights residents.

2.

Identify resources to support subsidized leases and ownership for new businesses .

3.

Provide education and sustainability support for start-up businesses.

4.

Prioritize produce-oriented businesses (non-alcohol and non-smoking uses highly encouraged)

Environmental Justice Boyle Heights is surrounded by one of the most congested freeway interchanges in the country and features an extensive area of industrial uses lining the western and southern boundaries of the neighborhood. Many of these pollution-emitting sources are located adjacent to or in very close proximity to sensitive receptors, such as residences, schools, and open spaces. It is important for the residents’ public health to adopt clean industry standards and incentivize reduction in toxic emissions, particularly within 500 feet of schools and homes, the general radius around polluting sources where air quality is the worst. Also, improving the quality of existing active open and public space would encourage active transportation and potentially reduce neighborhood vehicular use, further improving air quality in the community. Identifying additional opportunities for active open and public space would further encourage of more pedestrian-friendly community.

OBJECTIVE #1: Implement guidelines to separate incompatible uses and minimize existing pollution effects on sensitive receptors.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

Establish an Environmental Justice Overlay Zone on the western and southern borders of Boyle Heights.

A. Implement a study to evaluate current and

future conditions in the industrial areas of

the community plan.

D. Work towards rearranging light, limited, and

heavy industry in a more balanced fashion.

- Apply minimum 30-foot required open space setback and landscaping for any

industrial parcels adjacent to residentially or

publicly habitable zoned lots.

- Apply minimum 50-foot required distance

between noise, vibration, odor and/or glare

sources and adjacent residentially zoned

properties, school open space and

community facility uses.

- Balance uses in relation to existing surrounding community.

-

Locate heavier industry furthest away from sensitive receptors, buffered by lighter and limited uses.

- Prohibit toxic chemical uses and

hazardous waste production and

processing within the community plan area

- Apply parking maximum restrictions

of 1 space per 1,000 sf to industrial

uses within 500 feet of a sensitive

receptor (residential, school, open

space, and/orcommunity facility) 2.

Implement a Green Buffers program within 500 feet of freeways

A. Increase concentration of low maintenance

plants in the most depleted areas.

B. Encourage art installations along freeway sound walls.

C. Ensure all sensitive areas adjacent to free

ways have well maintained sound wall to

reduce nuisance noise from source D.

Provide education tools to adjacent properties of polluting effects of freeways and how to best mitigate these effects.

E. Launch a study of how to best align free-

way exits away from residential areas.

Coordinate with Los Angeles Unified School B. Encourage cleaner and sustainable methods District to install air quality mitigation

of light, limited, medium, and heavy

treatments in schools within 500 feet of free industrial manufacturing.

ways and heavy industrial uses.

C. Establishing green buffers and transition

zones amongst industrial, commercial, and residential uses.

- Collaborate with LAUSD to provide

education for students in impacted schools

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OBJECTIVE #2: Manage and route heavy transport through routes that will least impact residential areas and sensitive receptors.

RECOMMENDATIONS

a significant amount of non-vehicle trips and transit-dependent residents. Therefore streetscape improvements can also improve physical safety by making intersections safer and reducing conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.

OBJECTIVE #1: 1. Designate appropriate routes best suitable for heavy Improve walkability and public safety through improved transport. street and sidewalk design, cleanliness and amenities A.

Prohibit heavy transport within 500 feet of schools during school hours.

B. Restrict heavy transport to wide streets and

those with no adjacent residential uses and recreational uses.

2.

Implement weight limitations on permitted heavy transport.

3. Encourage alternate fuel usage for heavy transport

uses through Boyle Heights routes.

A.

transition away from diesel.

4.

Prohibit idling longer than 10 minutes in

non-industrial manufacturing areas within 500 feet of

residential areas and sensitive receptors.

OBJECTIVE #3: Incentivize new development of active public open space to encourage improved public and environmental health RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Utilize available Quimby funds from new

developments in more park-rich neighborhoods

to fund development of new active green space in Boyle Heights.

2.

Adopt Green Zones policies into Community Plan Implementation Overlay (CPIO) districts, especially along industrial manufacturing and freeway areas.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1 Develop a Boyle Heights streetscape plan

featuring pedestrian amenities with priority in areas adjacent to heavily utilized transit stops and stations

and clusters of commercial and community facility activity.

A. Design and implement wider, well-maintained sidewalks.

B. Develop landscape designs that balance maintenance and functionality.

2. Coordinate with pedestrian-improvement areas

and transit-improvement areas identified in the Los Angeles City’s Mobility Element to prioritize highly

traveled corridors and hubs in Boyle Heights.

3.

Incorporate Complete Streets design guidelines to areas identified through the Boyle Heights Living Streets Project.

4.

Improve signage and connectivity for bike lanes

network throughout the community

OBJECTIVE #2: Provide desirable, high-quality public destinations for residents and workers in Boyle Heights that cultivate community engagement and pride RECOMMENDATIONS

3.

In combination with the Department of Parks and 1.

Work closely with the Los Angeles Department Recreation, develop a strategic plan for improving

of Recreation and Parks to develop a Boyle Heights

active park space and recreation centers throughout

open space and park plan to improve access and

the community.

quality of publicly available green space A. Implement a Hollenbeck Park Improvement A. This plan should include provisions to in Plan

ventory available space available

and suitable for community gardens

Community Infrastructure and Public Facilities

Improved street and sidewalk infrastructure creates a safer and more pleasant environment for pedestrians to walk, bike, and take public transportation. These improvements include, but are not limited to, transit stop shelter amenities (shelters, benches), increased concentration of public trash cans, improved landscaping, improved sidewalk lighting, and extended pedestrian crossing times. Boyle Heights has 66

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2.

Prioritize options for open space development on publicly-owned vacant lots and alleyways

3.

Preserve and prioritize community and cultural public art, specifically existing and future murals on publicly and privately owned properties.

OBJECTIVE #3: Support existing high volumes of transit ridership, particularly in transit-dependent areas

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RECOMMENDATIONS 1.

Develop clear and defined roles for inter-agency

collaboration with Los Angeles County

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Metro”)

and Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LA DOT) to prioritize increased and improved transit

service in areas of high need.

2.

Encouraged and Incentivized Uses 1. Explore and Develop an incentives program model that will address specific community needs while meeting developer’s financial goals.

Prioritize areas identified with high transit dependency (low vehicle availability) for multi-modal A. Incentives program includes provisions on transportation improvements.

FAR, height, and density restriction.

A. Improved and increased transit service and 2.

Projects containing the following community amenities.

incentives can apply for variances in existing B.

Improved bicycle facilities such as on-street lanes and parking and storage.

requirements

A. Affordable Housing

C.

Improved pedestrian safety measures adjacent to high usage transit stops.

B.

Supportive Housing

C. Community Center

- After school programming

- adult education

- Fitness Classes

Cultural Preservation Boyle Heights has always been a neighborhood of rich culture and history, representing a “port of entry” for a diverse range of new Angelenos from different countries and backgrounds. Today, cultural landmarks such as the Boyle Hotel Cummings Block and Mariachi Plaza signify the strong identity of the neighborhood that is represented in new and long-time residents. Long-standing public art and murals have decorated the community for generations. Residents have voiced concern over the potential loss of neighborhood identity, particularly with new developments and other pending land use changes. Identification and preservation of culturally significant landmarks, businesses, spaces and destinations should remain a top priority throughout future changes and new development in Boyle Heights.* OBJECTIVE #1: Maintain distinct historical and cultural neighborhood character of Boyle Heights

D.

Preschool/Daycare Center

Affordable and flexible hours

E .

F. Acceptable distance from polluting sources

G Indoor/outdoor facilities H. Affordable Office Space for Non-profit Community Organizations I.

Public park space

J.

Surrounding area landscape improvements

K.

Jobs Creation and Retention

Prohibited and Limited Uses

In an attempt to remedy existing nuisance land uses in the community plan area, residents are proposing a set of RECOMMENDATIONS guidelines that will help in monitoring nuisance land uses. In 1.

Officially designate cultural and historical landmarks general, residents are in agreement that the uses mentioned

identified in the landmarks map and encourage their below provide specific products and services residents seek out, they are nonetheless critical of over-concentration in preservation the community plan area. These policies are not meant to 2.

Identify and implement Historic Preservation Overlay outright remove existing nuisance uses but they are meant

Zones with strict design guidelines along key areas to guide future uses in the given categories.

in Boyle Heights RECOMMENDATIONS A. Historic business core along César Chávez Ave B.

Wyvernwood Garden Apartments

C. Sears Distribution Center and Retail Store Building D. Victorian Homes along Boyle Ave

1.

A. Junk Yards/Auto Disposal/ Pick-Your-Parts Centers

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Identify appropriate areas for auto related services and products away from sensitive receptors and pedestrian-oriented priority areas, including:

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B. Auto Repair / General Mechanics

C. Auto Storage / Auto Sales D. Fueling Stations

2.

Prohibit higher concentration of fast food outlets by limiting their licenses within the community plan

area.

Prohibit higher concentration of Liquor Stores by 3. limiting their licenses within the community plan

area.

4.

Prohibit higher concentration of Medical Marijuana dispensaries by limiting their licenses within the community plan area.

5.

Prohibit higher concentration of Tobacco Outlets and Shops by limiting their licenses within in the community plan area

6.

Prohibit higher concentration of Check Cashing Centers by limiting their licenses in the community

plan area.

Site Specific Recommendations WYVERNWOOD The Wyvernwood Garden Apartments opened its doors in 1939 to middle class and working class families. As a response to a shortage in quality housing options for many families during World War II, Wyvernwood played an important role in Boyle Heights. Combined with a booming industrial area just south of the property, many families enjoyed stable housing and employment conditions. Over the years, the tenants have changed as well as the employment opportunities. With the exception of minor touch ups, the physical property has not changed much since its inauguration. Today, over 90% of the tenants are Latinos and majority working class. A major threat ensues however, with the owner Fifteen Group proposing a complete demolition and redevelopment of the property.

The proposal has stood since 2008, halted by great efforts of residents and supporting organizations. Should the project proceed, it will have a massive and long lasting impact on the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. This neighborhood is in need of improvements; however ELACC does not believe the proposed project, which would result in a net loss of 1,187 Rent Stabilized units, will have a positive impact on the current neighborhood and residents. Similar to the Sears Tower, any “business as usual” redevelopment project will not suffice the needs of current community residents.

We are in strong support of the position taken up by the tenant organization, Comité de la Esperanza, which is 100% preservation, rehabilitation, and retention of existing residents at affordable rents.

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PUBLIC HOUSING The City of Los Angeles’ current Boyle Heights Community Plan fails to address the preservation of existing public housing. Currently, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) manages 3 large public housing developments in or adjacent to Boyle Heights: Estrada Courts, Pico Gardens/Las Casitas and Ramona Gardens (currently not within the community plan area). The Boyle Heights Community Plan should: 1) highlight and encourage the preservation of these existing developments and 2) officially include Ramona Gardens in the community plan area. These steps are important because the public housing properties serve families whose incomes are too low for traditional affordable housing and because residents have fostered a strong connection to the Boyle Heights culture. Public housing serves families with extremely low income, very low income and low income levels. In the late 1990’s hundreds of units at Pico Gardens, Aliso Village and Aliso Extension were demolished and replaced with mixed income housing permanently reducing the number of units available to low income families in the neighborhood.

As a local neighborhood based non-profit affordable housing developer ELACC understands the importance of preserving housing for extremely low income families. Almost half of the people that apply for our housing do not qualify because their incomes are too low. These are families that desperately need access to extremely low-income affordable housing to prevent homelessness. By preserving public housing in Boyle Heights, quality housing of last resort for many working families will be protected. Consequently, families will remain residents of Boyle Heights, which for many has been their home for generations.

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SEARS ACCOUNTABLE DEVELOPMENT Built in the 1920s, the Sears Building provided hundreds of jobs to local and surrounding residents as a catalog distribution center. The Sears store has had retail services for over fifty years and continues to be the only department store located in Boyle Heights. The closure of the Sears catalog meant a loss of jobs, which subsequently resulted in the 23acre property falling into disrepair. This site has tremendous potential to be a community hub providing local quality jobs, quality affordable rental and for-sale housing, retail, and plenty of public open space for people of all ages to enjoy.

In order to create a larger effort to mitigate gentrification forces in Boyle Heights, ELACC spearheaded the formation of Communities United for Boyle Heights (CUBH) in early 2005. This coalition of local organizations made up of ELACC, Homeboy Industries, InnerCity Struggle and Union de Vecinos represented the needs of working families and tenants in Boyle Heights. Since convening, Legacy LA and Proyecto Pastroral have joined.

Since its inception, CUBH has hosted multiple events and activities to engage community residents in planning the redevelopment of Boyle Heights. A common theme during these events was the Sears Building, In September 2005, CUBH brought together over 300 community residents in a town hall with then Sears Tower owner MJW Investments.

The President Mark Weinstein addressed the community residents and listened as community residents discussed what they wanted to see in the development. As a result of the community efforts, CUBH established a working relationship with MJW. Unfortunately shortly after CUBH’s success in bringing more residents to participate in the design of the project the site was put up for sale. Fast forward to 2014, and the Sears Building is now owned by Pacific Investments.

Owners of multiple properties in Downtown LA, the investment firm is looking to add 1,000 market rate residential units, retail, restaurants, and office space to the existing structure. A major challenge with this new proposal is the lack of affordable housing, an omission that needs to be reconsidered by the current owners.

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CHAPTER:6 CONCLUSION

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

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ELACC Leaders Carmen leads the card reading during a “Noche de Lotería” event at the Casa del Mexicano in Boyle Heights. “Noche de Lotería” is a popular game in Latin America that supports community growth and bringing together of multiple residents.

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CONCLUSION Community residents in working class low income communities have historically been excluded from Community Planning processes. This exclusion has resulted in negative consequences for both the community and the residents themselves. Boyle Heights is a prime example of why community planning driven by residents is important if communities are to foster growth and equitable investment. When ELACC convened hundreds of residents to work on the Plan del Pueblo, we envisioned a Boyle Heights that would support the existing population while experiencing developments such as quality affordable housing, equitable transit oriented development, and the preservation of both people and their cultures.

The initial version of the Plan del Pueblo, published in 2010, was an important milestone for ELACC and the community residents that led the work. It was unprecedented in Boyle Heights to have a community-driven plan that would influence future community development projects. At the onset of our work, the City Planning Department was beginning the update process for the Boyle Heights Community Plan (BHCP). Last adopted in 1998, the BHCP update process provided the context for the Plan del Pueblo. It was an opportune period for Boyle Heights and we wanted to seize the chance to really impact the future of the neighborhood.

Gentrification was a real concern at the beginning of the Plan del Pueblo work, and continues to be today. Residents

shared stories of how the neighborhood was changing, how their neighbors were changing, and of the fear they had about their family’s difficulty in staying here. The fear was real and it stemmed from a lack of accountability by prior development efforts in Boyle Heights. As has been extensively showed in the content of this document, Boyle Heights experienced different levels of investment over the last 70 years, both good and bad. The BHCP was the City’s attempt to remedy the negative results of past planning efforts. Our participation has been instrumental in ensuring this time around the planning process is inclusive of the most vulnerable residents.

The Plan del Pueblo puts forth policy recommendations that were crafted from the experiences of the people that have contributed to the community’s identity. While City documents rely on data and development trends to inform their future planning, ELACC takes it a step further. We place our trust in the people that have invested their lives in the community. Their investment is visible; from the Street Vendor filling in a void created by the lack of supermarkets, to the Wyvernwood Resident fighting for their right to their home, and the protection of rent stabilized housing across the city. The Plan del Pueblo serves to protect the community’s greatest investment and treasure, its people. The community’s identity will forever be molded by its humble people, the culture they foster, and the challenges they overcome.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

ENDNOTES U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012 American Community Survey id id id id id id id Los Angeles Planning Department, Industrial Land Use Policy.

December 2007 10. Los Angeles Planning Department, Graphic Services Section.

December 2006 11. Healthy Parks, Schools and Communities, Green Access and Equity for Los Angeles County. 2011 12 Department of Recreation and Park, Communication with Gregory Clark. December 2013 13. 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates 14. Los Angeles Municipal Code 42.00B allows for the permit and sale of steamed hot dogs and newspapers. When roaming the streets of LA, you will rarely find newspaper stands, and you will almost never find steamed hotdog concession stands.

15. Reference the Environmental Justice Overlay Map on pg. 53 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

PHOTO CREDITS José Fernández 1, 4, 21, 23-26, 29, 31-35, 40-42, 47, 48, 50-62, 64-67, 69-71, 73, 75, 78, 79, 80 Sharis Delgadillo 2, 20, 39, 72, 76 ELACC 3, 14-19, 27, 28, 36, 38, 43-46, 49, 63, 74, 77, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89,90, back cover Pocho 1 5, 81 Pamela Agustin 30 Rudy Espinoza 37, 68 Los Angeles City Planning Department 83 Historic Photos: 6. Department of Archives and Special Collections William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University 7. L.A. Public Library, “Shades of L.A.” 8. Japanese American National Museum. Gift of Alvaro Rodriguez 9. Japanese American National Museum. Gift of Elma Takahashi 10. L.A. Public Library, “Shades of L.A.” 11. Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley 12. 1939 Map of Los Angeles, Redlining 13. Auto Club of Southern California, Digital Reproduced by University of Southern California 22. Retrieved from SoCalRegion.com

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Resident Participants Acknowledgement Aaron Garcia Abelina Rosas Adrian Cueras Adrian Rios Adriana Orozco Adriana Ramos Agripina Tapia Alba Tepezano Albina Alejandra Rodriguez Alejandro Estevez Alex Borrilla Alfonso Carrillo Alicia Acevedo Alma Perez Alma Romero Alma Valdez Alyssa Alvarado Amado Chavez Amalia Garcia Amanda Mendoza Amelia Lopez Ana Avila Ana Galvez Ana Hernandez Ana Landaverde Ana Maria Arroyo Ana Ochoa Ana Rosa Ramirez Ana Torres Analicia Morales Angela Clogunga Angela Lopez Angeles Chavez Angelica Olivares Angelica Orduña Angelica Ramirez Antoni Hernandez Antonia Mendoza Antonio Alvarez Antonio Castañeda Antonio Garcia Araceli Allende Araceli Seturino Aracely Perez Arminda Torres Arturo Tipzero Aureliano Corona Baldomero Capiz Beatriz Cernvates Beatriz Montiel Beatriz Tenorio Bertha Calleros Bertha Parrilla 74

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Blanca D. Tlachi Blanca Espinoza Blanca Espinoza Blanca Sanchez Brianna Sosa Caridad Vasquez Carlos De Anda Carlos Alcala Carlos Banderas Carlos Munguja Carlota Gorbea Carmen Flores Carmen Fuentes Carmen Oviedo Carmen Peralta Carmen Ramirez Carmen Salazar Carolina Mata Carolina Pineda Catalina Campos Cecilia Jolis Cecilia Mancilla Cecilia Rios Cecilia Solis Celia Muñoz Celina Rodriguez Cesar Urbine Christopher Perez Christopher Perez Clara Morán Claudia Arteaga Claudia Cervantes Claudia Garcia Claudia Ramirez Concepcion Hernandez Connie De La Vara Conrado Garcia Consuelo Gallegos Cortes Aniceto Cristina Haro Cynthia Garcia Daniel Gutierrez Delfina Romero Delia Castillo Delmira Gonzalez Diana Barajas Diana Barreras Diana Romero Dora Romero Edith Rios Edith Zuniga Eileen Gauna Elayde Dorantes Elia Santiaso

Elisa Lopez Elizabeth Preciado Elva Olivin Elva Olivin Elvira Benitez Emma Flores Enna Alonzo Enrique Guzman Enriqueta Martinez Epigmenia Lagunas Erica Garcia Erica Moyado Erika Pena Erma Flores Ermigio Rodriguez Ernestina Montellano Esmeralda Acevedo Esperanza Berino Esperanza Huerta Esperanza Perez Esperanza Yela Esteban Ortega Esteban Ramirez Estela Juarez Estella Rodriguez Esther Mendoza Eva Martinez Eva Zavala Evelia Soriano Fabian Pacheco Fabiola Orozco Familia Vazquez Fanny Ortiz Felicia Gonzalez Felicitas Lopez Felipa Ruiz Felipe Garcia Jr. Felipe Herrera Felix Contreras Fernanda Barreras Fernando Dionicio Lopez Florencio Devora Francisca Meneses Francisca Teodoro Francisco Buenabad Francisco Cardenas Francisco Jacobo Francisco Maldonado Fransisco J. Santana Gabriel Romero Gabriel Romero Gabriela Camacho Gabriela Murillo Gabriela Navarro

Gabrielo Heredia Georgina Castañeda Georgina Marquez Gerardo Burgos Gerardo Sanchez Gilberto Villareal Gloria Garcia Gloria Pacheco Gloria Zunta Gregorio G. Lopez Guadalupe Arias Guadalupe Garibay Guadalupe Gonzalez Guadalupe Hernandez Guadalupe Rivera Guillermina Gonzalez Guillermina Ibarra Gustavo Hernandez Helena Rivas Hermelinda Borquez Hermenegildo Ortega Herminia Andrade Herminia Garcia Hildeliza de la Torre Hima Barajas Iliana Fernandez Inez Martinez Irasema Partida Irene Bello Irene Hernandez Irma Castañeda Irma Castillo Irma Corral Irma Gonzalez Irma Perez Irma Villaseñor Isabel Reyes Izaura Montalvo Jacqueline Padilla Jacquline Manica Jessica Herrera Jessica Lucero Jesus Barreras Joaquin Marin Joe Avelar John Cruz John Duarte John Martinez Jonathan Lopez Jose Agustin Luna Jose Dominguez Jose Luis Medina Jose Valencia Josefina Delgado

Josefina Oribio Jovita Gonzalez Juan Calderon Juan Jacobo Juan M. Carbajal Juan Porado Juan Rodriguez Juana Mendoza Juana Rodriguez Juana Ruan Judith Silva Julia Rodriguez Juventino Fernandez Karina Lopez Karla Vazquez Karol Becerra Karol Becerra Kenya Barbosa Leonardo Velez Leonel Cruz Leonides Leon Leonor Huerta Leonor Padilla Leticia Andrade Leticia Castro Leticia Correa Leticia Quezada Leticia Ramirez Leticia Salazar Lidia Hernandez Lidia Martinez Lidia Navarro Lilia Alcala Lilia Granillo Liliana Mendoza Llajaira Navarro Loenard Villaseñor Lorena Valdez Lorena Vazquez Lorenza Rodriguez Lorianne Covarrubias Lourdes Carrasco Lourdes Carraso Lourdes Mendez Lucia Barrios Lucia Frausto Lucia Sanchez Lucila Lopez Luis Bonberas Luis Ceja Luis Contreras Lupe del Bosque Lupe Ruelas Lydia Medina

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

Magdalena Cruz-Flores Magdalena Zamora Malryn Sosa Manuel Gonzalez Manuelita Barraza Marcela Palonio Marco Garnica Marcos Valencia Margarita Cerpa Margarita Gutierrez Margarita Martinez Margarita Salazar Margatira Villegas Mari Garfias Maria Escobar Maria Lopez Maria Mendoza Maria A. Cruz Maria A. Flores Maria Agripina Tapia Maria Aguila Maria Arriaga Maria Barreras Maria Calderon Maria Callazo Maria Ceja Maria Cervantes Maria Chavez Maria Chavez Maria Cruz Maria Davalos Maria de la Rosa Maria del Carmen Lopez Maria Diaz Maria Dolores Hernandez Maria Dominguez Maria Elena Asencio Maria Elvira Espinoza Maria Esther Mendoza Maria Figueroa Maria Flores Maria Gallardo Maria Garcia Maria Gomez Maria Gonzalez Maria Guerrero Maria Guiterrez Maria Herrera Maria Inda Maria J. Diaz Maria Jacobo Maria Ledesma Maria Leonor Huerta Maria Leonor Jauregui Maria Lopez Maria Luisa Hernandez Maria Luna Maria Mallorquin Maria Margarita Rivera Maria Marin Maria Martinez

Maria Melchor Maria Murcia Maria Nava Maria Ornelas Maria Pedroza Maria Perez Maria R. Ramirez Maria Ramirez Maria Ramos Maria Reyes Maria Rivera Maria Rodriguez Maria Serrano Maria Solano Maria Tellez Maria Tello Maria Torres Maria Torrez Maria Trejo Maria Vega Maria Viveros Maria Zapata Mariana Vasquez Maribel Garcia Maribel Vera Maricela Rosas Maricela Serrano Mario Del Razo Marisael Carrillo Marlen Pineda Marlene Gomez Marta Rubio Martha Ceniceros Martha Garcia Martha Maciel Martha Moya Martha Moya Martha Palakox Martha Perez Martha Ramirez Martha Suvillaga Martha Vaquez Martina Lopez Mary Olguin Mary Valencia Max Fernandez Maxima Jacobo Melvin Lopez Micaela Hernandez Miguel Angle Miguel Ramirez Miguel Sorrilla Mireya Lopez Mirna Orozco Mirna Sanchez Mitzy Lopez Monica Constante Monica Negrete Nadhia Cardoso Nancy Arellano Nancy Arellano

Nancy Hernandez Nancy R. Hernandez Nancy Rivera Naomi Fernandez Natalia Garcia Ninfa Calvillo Noelia Leiva Nora Real Obdulia Ruvalcaba Octavio Dominguez Odilon Lopez Odilon Merino Olga Aguilar Olga Duran Olga Luna Olivia Valencia Ortencia Vasquez Otilia Mariscar Panfila Rodriguez Patricia Pirul Patricia Soto Paula Nolasco Pedro Dionicio Pedro Luna Petra Rivera Plutarco Enriquez Ramiro Ibarra Ramon Navarro Raul Navar Refugio Perez Regino Zamarripa Reyna Cama Ricardo Gomez Ricardo Lopez Rich Monk Rigo Lopez Rocio Alatorre Rocio Alatorre Rodolfo Vilchis Rogelio Moreno Rogelio Sotelo Romelia Avila Rosa Garcia Rosa Beltran Rosa Brise単o Rosa Duarte Rosa Fernandez Rosa Garcia Rosa Gonzalez Rosa Hernandez Rosa Mejia Rosa Perez Rosa Ponce Rosa Varela Rosa Zamora Rosalba Herrera Rosalba Manzanares Rosana Robles Rosario Gomez Rosario Pairdes Rose Cervantes PL AN DEL PUEBLO

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Rose Figueroa Roxana Robles Roxanne Rodriguez Ruben Alvarez Rudy Vargas Ruth Villa Sally Maciel Salvador Arriaga Salvador Garcia Salvador Melano Sandra Cardenas Sandra Posada Sandra Zesati Sandy Juarez Sara Gonzalez Sara Vasquez Saul Martinez Selene Hernandez Sergio Castillo Sergio Mendez Silvia Lopez Silvia Rosas Silvia Tenorio Socorro Carrillo Socorro Gonzalez Socorro Hoyos Socorro Lopez Socorro Martinez Sofia Devora Sofia Renteria Soledad Corral Soledad Santos Soledad Vidales Sonia Ramirez Stephanie Johnson Susan Parekh Susana Reyes Teresa Cardoza Teresa Cruz Teresa Cruz Teresa Padilla Teresa Soto Teresa Venegas Tina Montenegro Trinidad Casta単eda Uventila Arzate Valentino Greenfield Vanessa Morena Veronica Gomez Veronica Gonzalez Veronica Hernandez Veronica Lopez Veronica Moreno Veronica Ramirez Veronica Ramirez Vicente Delgado Vicky Ornelas Vicky Vasquez Victor Ayala Victor Garcia Victoria Rojas

Vilma Ortega Virginia Hernandez Virma Ortega Wichilas Martinez Xavier Mayorga Xavier Moreno Yanira Aleman Yesenia Isabeles Yesenia Mor叩n Ymelda Alvarez Yolanda Amaro Yolanda Gonzalez Yolanda Morales Yolanda Morales Yolanda Oviedo Yolanda Rodriguez Yolanda Ruiz Yolanda Zepeda Zamaria Carre単o Zeferina Borques Zenaido Gonzelez Zenaido Medina

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Funders & CONTRIBUTORS Special Thank You to our funders:

Principle Authors: • • • •

José Fernández , Community Organizer Mike Dennis, Director of Community Organizing Isela Gracian, Vice President of Operations Maria Cabildo, President and Co-Founder

Maps and GIS Consultant: • Naomi Iwasaki, Community Health Councils, Urban Planner

Design and Layout:

Contributing Authors and ELACC staff:

•

• Janet Favela, Community Organizer • Gloria Gutierrez, Community Organizer • Carla de Paz, Community Organizer • Fernando Abarca, Community Organizer • Rey Fukuda Salinas, Community Organizer

Joshua Barndt

Volunteers and Interns : • Pamela Agustin, intern researcher • Paige Dow, intern researcher • Randy Mai, intern researcher • Cesia Lopez-Angel, TOD renderings and designs • Karen Ochoa, translator

Past contributing authors and staff: • • • •

Jorge Villanueva, Community Organizer Lydia Avila-Hernandez, Community Organizer Paola J. Ruvalcaba-Tamayo, Community Organizer Lina Stepick, Community Organizer

Thank you to the entire community of Boyle Heights, and ELACC partners who have continued to support our work and the continued fight to empower working class communities of color all across the city of Los Angeles. Thank you to Ms. Erica Huerta & her Roosevelt Students for their planning projects, presentations and great insight.

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We would also like to thank the Resident Advisory Committee for their participation in planning and focus group meetings.

We would also like to acknowledge The City of Los Angeles Planning Department Staff for working together with community members in the Boyle Heights area.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

Glossary of Planning Terms PLANNING TOOLS URBAN OR CITY PLANNING:

Urban planning (urban, city, and town planning) is a technical and political process that controls the use of land and the design of the built environment, including transportation, to guide the development of communities and create a sense of place in an area. A crucial part of the planning process of specific neighborhoods is participation and input from the public and local community members. Professional planners have technical skills in developing policies for land use but often lack the local expertise that residents and workers possess.

Example: A developer applies to the City for a zoning change that would encourage development of a new commercial corridor in a neighborhood. Residents and local business owners weigh in that there already exists locally-used commercial corridors in the neighborhood that would benefit from improved transportation options. If this community input is effective in showing a greater need to support existing commercial corridors than creating new ones, the community has the potential to affect the City’s decision about whether to approve the zoning change request or not.

COMMUNITY PLAN:

Because of its size, dispersed geography, and diverse range of neighborhoods, the City of Los Angeles is divided into 35 Community Plan Areas (CPA). A Community Plan is a document updated every 10-15 (sometimes longer) years that provides the general framework for future neighborhood land use decisions, planning and growth, as well as preserving the existing neighborhood character in each CPA. Community Plan updates are required to include public input and participation.

Community Plans provide development objectives and policies applicable to all new public and private developments in that CPA. Development goals and policies typically include: - infrastructure and transportation - commercial corridors - residential corridors - quality of life and economic vitality - physical design, such as building height and density -environmental impacts and public health

• Ensure new development is compatible with the

existing character of the neighborhood.

•

• Ensure safe pedestrian access between residential

and commercial uses.

• Ensure adaptive reuse of existing buildings in the neighborhood.

Community Questions for the reader to consider: In your opinion, what words, images, or experiences represent the NEIGHBHORHOOD CHARACTER of Boyle Heights? What parts of the Boyle Heights’ neighborhood character are important to keep?

COMMUNITY PLAN IMPLEMENTATION OVERLAY (CPIO) :

Tool used to help implement the policies outlined in the Community Plans that are specifically tailored for specific corridors within the CPA to ensure that development improves the unique architectural, environmental, and cultural qualities. CPIOs are often paired with Community Plan updates, also requiring public participation via workshops and public hearings.

Whereas Community Plans provide general guidelines, CPIO’s create special zoning districts with more specific limitations, such as: • Restricting the size, shape, and bulk of new

buildings to make them more compatible with

existing buildings •

Requiring that residential developments include more than the minimum Code-required open space, through increased set-backs, landscaping and amenities, to make communities more livable

• Prohibiting incompatible uses such as auto-repair

shops and heavy industrial manufacturing and other

uses that have the potential for disrupting quality of life

Example: A Community Plan development objective could be “reinforce existing neighborhood character”. A policy to meet this objective could include:

•

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Establish a transitional height between residential properties next to commercial development that are of greater density and height.

Placing limits on the size, number, and placement of signs to reduce sign clutter and improve the physical appearance of commercial areas

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Community Questions for the reader to consider: What are some of the different corridors WITHIN Boyle Heights? Are there different land uses? What about size, scale, density, and intensity? What would an example be of a development guideline that would apply well in one corridor of Boyle Heights, but may be less appropriate in another?

SUB-DISTRICTS:

Within a CPIO, sub-districts identify areas of the neighborhoods that deserve more specialized zoning or land use restrictions than the rest of the Community Plan Area. Sub-districts are identified to create compatibility with specific land uses such as industrial uses or new transit development, or to encourage specific development such as commercial or mixed-uses. Each sub-district definition often contains very specific allowances of land uses, zoning designations, FAR, lot coverage, parking requirements, and building height limits.

Example: Some proposed sub-districts within the BHNCP Area include: •

TOD in Los Angeles has demonstrated an influence in the gentrification of the neighborhoods that serve as stops for the new and existing rail lines. This is an example of when local resident’s expertise would benefit technical planning in the Community Plan process.

Community Questions for the reader to consider: Do you take public transportation? What changes in the neighborhood would improve your experience getting from your origin to your transit stop or station? What about from the transit stop or station to your final destination? What would make you more or less likely to use public transportation?

HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY ZONES (HPOZS):

The City of Los Angeles’ version of a historic district. They are specific areas of the City that are preserved through policies because they contain important visual, cultural and/or historical buildings, structures, landscaping, natural features or lots. Designation often starts at the grass-roots level when community members ask their City Council member for assistance. Below are ways an HPOZ can be designated:

Transit-Oriented Development District: along major streets within a ½-mile radius of the Metro Gold Line • Most HPOZs are formally initiated by the City Council through a motion by the Councilmember of (César Chávez Av, East 1st St, Indiana St)

the district. To receive such designation, areas must • Environmental Justice Overlay Zone: Requires

be adopted as an HPOZ by the City Planning Com

performance standards for job creation and

mission and the City Council through a zone change

compatible uses due to heavy industrial uses and procedure that includes notification of all affected

proximity to sensitive receptors such as schools and

and nearby property owners and public hearings.

residences (between Olympic Blvd., Indiana St.,

• The Director of the Planning, the Cultural Heritage Washington Blvd. and the LA River) Commission, or the City Planning Commission may Community Questions for the reader to consider: What are also initiate an HPOZ.

the primary activities and land uses in these Sub-districts?

Are there some changes or improvements you would like • An HPOZ may also be initiated through a formal to see in these areas? What about some things you think

application by owners or renters within the district; should remain the same?

in these cases only, the ordinance requires that

signatures of at least 75% of owners or lessees be obtained.

TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD): Dense development with a combination of commercial and residential buildings within walking distance – or a ¼ mile – of transit stations. This is a type of sub-district within a CPIO. This type of development aims to:

Source: http://www.preservation.lacity.org/hpoz/how-establish-hpoz

•

Because the HPOZ includes changes to zoning within the proposed area, it must be adopted as an ordinance by the increase pedestrian-oriented uses over City Planning Commission and the full City Council, followautomobile-oriented uses ing full public hearings. Lincoln Heights HPOZ is the nearest increase pedestrians using alternative transportation existing HPOZ to Boyle Heights. methods, such as bicycling

•

increase the number of people using public transit while minimizing automobile traffic

•

provide a rich mix of housing, shopping and transportation choices for local and visiting residents

•

create a sense of place.

•

One concern around TOD in Los Angeles is the unbalanced focused of rail transit in comparison to bus transit. This unbalanced focus could result in higher investment in rail and a disinvestment on bus lines, essentially cutting key arterial bus lines that community members rely on. Additionally, 78

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

PLANNING TERMS FLOOR-AREA-RATIO (FAR):

Sets the maximum size of a building allowed in a specific area. FAR is a ratio, so an FAR of 3:1 every square foot of lot area, a developer may build three square feet of floor area.

Projects with higher FARs are typically of higher density (or more urban).

HEIGHT DISTRICTS (HD):

A Height District establishes the maximum height, stories, and Floor Area for specific areas.

LOT COVERAGE:

TRANSITIONAL HEIGHT (STEP BACKS):

A tool used to preserve the existing residential character of a neighborhood by reducing the building heights allowed in commercial areas near single family homes or other intentionally low-density areas. Portions of buildings in Commercial or Mixed-use zones within certain distances of residential zones (or more restrictive zones) shall not exceed designated height limits, based on distance from the residential zones.3 3 http://cityplanning.lacity.org/zone_code/Appendices/ sum_of_zone.pdf

ZONING: A tool used to determine the types of development allowed in specific areas, the maximum size of buildings allowed, and the size of setbacks to promote consistent, safe, and compatible development in a given area. Zones typically include: Commercial (for businesses, shops and offices), Residential (for houses and apartments), Industrial (for light and/or heavy manufacturing), and Mixeduse (a mixture of residential and commercial development in the same area).

A portion of a piece of land that is covered by a building if you view it from above.

MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT:

A development or single building that blends a combination of uses, including but not limited to: residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, and/or industrial. These uses are physically and functionally integrated and there is a design emphasis on pedestrian connections.

SPECIFIC PLAN:

Tool used for the systematic implementation of the General Plan. It establishes a link between implementing policies of the general plan for the entire City of Los Angeles and the individual development proposals in a defined area. Specific Plans describe allowable land uses, identify open space, and detail the availability of facilities and financing for a portion of the community. Specific plans must be consistent with the Los Angeles General Plan. A Specific Plan implements but is not technically a part of the General Plan. CPIO’s cannot override existing Specific Plans. They are similar tools used to define specific planning, land use, and zoning designations within a localized area. They differ in that Specific Plans are related to the General Plan for the entire City, and CPIO’s are related to a specific Community Plan Area. Currently, developers for the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments projects are also proposing a specific plan for the designated property.

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ApPENDIX APPENDIX A: Affordable and Public Housing in Boyle Heights Affordable Housing Name

Address

Units

On Map

ELACC Properties Las Mariposas

438 South Evergreen Avenue LA, CA 90033

4

1

Las Mariposas

2537 East Third Street LA, CA 90063

5

2

Las Mariposas

621 North Cummings Street LA, CA 90033

4

3

Las Mariposas

319 North Fickett Street LA, CA 90033

3

4

Las Mariposas

2407 East First Street LA, CA 90033

5

5

Lorena Terrace

611 South Lorena Street LA, CA 90023

49

6

Paseo Del Sol

417-419 N. Soto Street LA, CA 90033

7

7

Las Margaritas

319 Cummings Street LA, CA 90033

6

8

Las Margaritas

137 N. Soto Street LA, CA 90033

20

9

Las Margaritas

115 N. Soto Street LA, CA 90033

16

10

Las Palomas

2203 E. 1st St. LA, CA 90033

62

19

Boyle Hotel - Cummings Block

1781 E. 1st Street LA, CA 90033

51

11

Blades

811 Blades Street LA, CA 90033

3

12

23

13

5

14

Linda Vista Apartments Phase I 610 - 630 S. Saint Louis Street LA, CA 90033 Note: At the time of publication, ELACC was under construction for three additional properties, Sol y Luna (53 affordable housing units), Linda Vista Apartments Phase II (97 affordable housing units), and Beswick Senior Apartments (33 veteran affordable housing units).

Non-ELACC Properties 3075 - 3083 E. 6th S

3075 - 3083 E. 6th St LA, CA 90023

917 S. Boyle Ave

917 S. Boyle Ave. LA, CA 90023

24

15

935 S. Boyle Ave

935 S. Boyle Ave. LA, CA 90023

9

16

Lorena Heights

3327 Sabina St LA, CA 90023

112

17

138 N. Soto St.

138 N. Soto St. LA, CA 90033

8

18

2209 Michigan Ave.

2209 Michigan Ave. LA, CA 90033

55

20

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Housing Pueblo del Sol

1400 Gabriel Garcia Marquez St. LA, CA 90033

470

21

Rio Vista Village

1310 Rio Vista Ave. LA, CA 90023

18

22

Luisa Apartments

203 N. Chicago St. LA, CA 90033

56

23

Marengo Street Apartments

2671 Marengo St. LA, CA 90033

24

24

Evergreen Village

420-426 N. Evergreen Ave. LA, CA 90063

52

25

Otero Apartments

3639 Whittier Blvd. LA, CA 90023

7

26

Multifamily-Assisted Housing Pleasant Hills Home

1323 Pleasant Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90033

24

27

TELACU Pico Aliso

1450 E 1st St LA, CA 90033

74

28

Boyle Apartments

435 S. Boyle Ave. LA, CA 90033

35

29

Casa Paredes

501 N Soto St, LA, CA 90033

10

30

Delta Apartments

803 Forest Ave. LA, CA 90033

8

31

Casa Wabash

3168 Wabash Ave. LA, CA 90063

10

32

L.A. PRO I

1021 N. Cummings St. LA, CA 90033

124

33

Brittiania Apts

1030 Britannia St. LA, CA 90033

43

34

Casa De Las Hermanitas

2701 E. 2nd St. LA, CA 90023

88

35

Las Palomas Apts

108 S. Dacotah St. LA, CA 90063

47

36

Las Alturas RHF Senior Housing (In Dev.)

3551 Whittier Blvd. LA, CA 90023

0

37

Beswick Senior Apartments (In Dev.)

3553 Beswick St. LA, CA 90023

0

38

Olympic Plaza Sr. HSG

2605-2627 E. Olympic Blvd LA, CA 90023

88

39

Rio Vista Village Limited Partnership

1310 Rio Vista Ave. Los Angeles,CA 90023

18

40

Public Housing Estrada Courts

3231 Hunter St. LA, CA 90023

414

41

Pico Gardens

1526 E 4th St LA, CA 90033

296

42

1,187

43

Garden Apartments Wyvernwood Garden Apartments

2901 E Olympic Blvd LA, CA 90023

Total Housing Units

2315

Public Housing Outside of CPA Ramona Gardens

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2830 Lancaster Ave LA, CA 90033

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

APPENDIX B: Open Spaces within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010 Open Spaces within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010

No

Facility Type

Address

1 Evergreen Cemetery

Name

Cemetery

204 N Evergreen Ave Los Angeles, CA 90033

Acreas 67.684

2 Odd Fellows Cemetery

Cemetery

3640 Whittier Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90023

20.506

3 Hollenbeck Park

Community Park

415 S St Louis St Los Angeles, CA 90033

18.303

4 Prospect Park

Community Park

Echandia Street & Judson Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033

2.712

1 Aliso Pico Recreation Center

Recreation Center

370 south clarence street Los Angeles, CA 90033

2 The Mall @ Wyvernwood Garden

Community Green Space

2901 E Olympic Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90023

9.947

2.2

3 Ross Valencia Community Park

Pocket park

110 N. Chicago St. Los Angeles, CA 90033

0.086

10 Ramon Garcia Recreation Center

Recreation Center

1016 South Fresno St., Los Angeles, CA 90023

5.745

13 State Street Recreation Center

Recreation Center

1924 Sheridan St, Los Angeles, CA 90033

2.617

14 Boyle Heights Sports Center

Recreation Center

933 S Mott St Los Angeles, CA 90023

7.181

15 Evergreen Recreation Center

Recreation Center

2844 E 2nd St Los Angeles, CA 90033

6.376

16 Pecan Recreation Center

Recreation Center

127 S Pecan St, Los Angeles, CA 90033

17 Lou Costello Junior Youth Center

Recreation Center

3141 E Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90023

3.456

4.28

18 Wabash Recreation Center

Recreation Center

2747 Wabash Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90033

1.352

Total Acres of Open Space

152.445

Total Acres of Active Open Space

APPENDIX C: Public Facilities within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010 (Table tO the right)

APPENDIX d: LANDMARKS within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010 Notable Bridges in Boyle Heights Community Plan Area No

Name

64.255

Acres per 1,000 People

1.816811269

Active Acres per 1,000 People

0.765779187

No Name

Facility Type

1

Los Angeles Fire Department

Fire Department

2

Los Angeles City Fire Station 2

Fire Department

3

Benjamin Franklin Public Library

Library

4

Robert Louis Stevenson Library

Library

5

Malabar Library

Library

6

Los Angeles Police Department

Police Department

7

Department of Public Social Service

Public Agency

8

Social Security Administration

Public Agency

9

Boyle Heights City Hall

Public Agency

10

White Memorial Medical Center

Hospital

11

Lorena St Elementary School

School

12

Sunrise Center and East Los Angeles Science Center School

13

Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School

School

14

Hollenbeck Middle School

School

15

Bridge Street Elementary School

School

16

Ramona High School

School

17

Malabar Street Elementary School

School

18

First Street Elementary School

School

19

Christopher Dena Elementary School

School

20

Soto Street Elementary School

School

21

Sheridan Street Elementary School

School

22

Breed Street Elementary School

School

23

Second Street Elementary School

School

24

Utah Street Elementary School

School

25

Roosevelt High School

School

26

Evergreen Elementary School

School

1

First St Bridge

2

Cesar Chavez Ave Bridge

3

Sixth St-Whittier Bl Bridge

27

Animo Oscar de la Hoya Charter High School

School

4

Fourth St Bridge

28

KIPP LA Prep Middle School

School

5

Seventh St Bridge

29

Carmen Lomas Garza Primary Center

School

6

Fourth St-Lorena St Bridge

30

Euclid Avenue Elementary School

School

7

Olympic Bl Bridge

31

Mendez Learning Center

School

8

Washington Bl Bridge

32

Soto Early Education Center

School

33

East Los Angeles Occupational Center

Service Center

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APPENDIX E: LANDMARKS within Boyle Heights Community Plan Area, 2010 On map Name of Landmark

Address

1

Boyle Hotel Cummings Block

1781 E 1st St LA, CA 90033

2

Mariachi Plaza

1703 Mariachi Plaza De Los Angeles LA, CA 90033

3

Linda Vista Hospital

610 S St Louis St LA, CA 90023

4

Sears Retail Store

2650 E Olympic Blvd LA, CA 90023

5

Wyvernwood Garden Apartments

2901 E Olympic Blvd LA, CA 90023

6

Evergreen Cemetery

204 N Evergreen Ave LA, CA 90033

7

El Mercadito

3425 E 1st St LA, CA 90063

8

Murals @ César Chávez and Soto Intersection

2334 East Cesar E Chavez Avenue LA, CA 90033

9

Breed Street Shul

247 N Breed St, LA, CA 90033

10

Casa del Mexicano

2900 Calle Pedro Infante LA, CA 90033

11

Murals @ Roosevelt High School

456 S Mathews St LA, CA 90033

12

Hollenbeck Park

415 S St Louis St LA, CA 90033

13

Murals @ Estrada Courts

3231 Hunter St LA, CA 90023

14

Murals @ Ramonda Gardens

15

Boyle Heights City Hall

2830 Lancaster Ave LA, CA 90033 2130 E 1st St. Los Angeles, CA 90033

16

Self Help Graphics and Art

1300 E 1st St. Los Angeles, CA 90033

82

Community members and ELACC leads a community march through Boyle Heights raising awareness of the Boyle Heights Community Plan and the need for community driven planning policies. This was the initial stages of the Plan del Pueblo work.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

ELACC MISSION AND overview MISSION East LA Community Corporation advocates for economic and social justice in Boyle Heights and Unincorporated East Los Angeles by building affordable housing and leading grassroots efforts towards self-sufficiency and access to brighter economic opportunities for low and moderate-income families. Our mission is to strengthen existing community infrastructure in underserved communities by developing and preserving neighborhood assets.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW Motivated by major emerging redevelopment efforts and inspired by the need for community residents to hold institutions accountable during the redevelopment process, in April 1993 a group of concerned community activists began the process of creating a community-based non-profit organization to serve Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles. After much planning, East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) was founded in June 1995.

ELACC began operating in January 1996 and focused on establishing and nurturing links with community organizations and individuals. The emphasis on community outreach resulted in the prioritization of the types of developments ELACC is undertaking. As a grassroots organization, ELACC placed utmost importance on reaching out to the community in order to document its priorities on development needs.

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El Plan del

Pueblo BOYLE HEIGHTS A resident-led proposal to create alternatives to land use that fights against gentrification, displacement, and the destruction of rent-controlled housing in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

A report prepared by members and staff of the East LA Community Corportation Neighbors Building Neighborhoods Program

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