CRENSHAW : Redevelopment OKd for Shopping Plaza

Merchants and property owners in the Santa Barbara Plaza are divided over a decision to redevelop the 50-year-old shopping center.

Most merchants fear that redevelopment of the 20-acre plaza will lead to higher rents without attracting new customers--and drive them out of business. Most owners, however, say redevelopment will bring new life to what they see as a blighted area.

“The best testimony that business is not going to improve is the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. The same old people shop there,” said Jose Reyes, a tailor who has been in the Santa Barbara Plaza for nine years. “If (only) the same people come here, and our rents double or triple, we’re going to go out of business.”

A 19-member Community Advisory Committee composed of merchants, property owners and community representatives was appointed by 8th District Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas in July to decide whether to redevelop the plaza--which would entail major renovations and construction--or try to revitalize the existing shops. They voted Sept. 22 to redevelop.

Tony Howell, one of 37 property owners in the plaza and a member of the committee, voted to redevelop. “I think the majority of owners are for it,” he said. “As owners, we cannot get tenants to come to the center.”

Howell said that a more modern building would attract wealthy customers who usually shop elsewhere.

Robert Moore, owner of Moore’s Hair Design, which has been at the plaza for 14 years, disagreed. “You could put the Taj Majal down here and people wouldn’t come,” said Moore, president of the Santa Barbara Plaza Merchants Assn. “The fact is, merchandise in other places is of higher quality, and that’s why (shoppers) go to other places.”

Since the neighboring Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza was redeveloped, business at Santa Barbara Plaza has declined, he said.

Moore and one other person on the committee voted against redevelopment. Most of the 230 tenants in the plaza are opposed to redevelopment, but their opinions were not taken seriously by the committee, Moore said.

John Kim, who has owned a liquor store in the plaza for seven years, said the committee had its mind made up from the beginning. “I attended several meetings, but that’s a waste of time, I think,” Kim said. “They don’t care for the opinions of tenants. (The committee) does not represent this community.”

Committee chairwoman Joyce Perkins, a community activist and 25-year resident, said she did everything possible to involve everyone in the process, but she knew that some would disagree with the decision. She said most people support the plaza’s redevelopment.

Bill Price is the project manager for the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Crenshaw 8th City Council District Recovery Project, of which the plaza is a part. He also said most people in the community want the plaza to be redeveloped.

“It’s not working the way it is now--that’s the general consensus,” said Price, who said that rents are bound to rise after redevelopment, and that some of the current merchants would not fare well under the new plans. “But we don’t want to force people out without helping them relocate.”

The Community Redevelopment Agency will present a draft of the redevelopment plan to the City Council next spring, Perkins said.