Jordan Downs

Jordan Downs is a housing project located in Historic South Central Los Angeles. The complex is made up of about seven hundred units that house low- to moderate-income families. According to article published on February 10, 2013 in the Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0210-jordan-downs-20130210,0,621943.story) the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is planning an ambitious $600 million project to transform the aging units into a mixed-use community of about 1,400 apartments and condominiums designed to attract more upscale tenants. The complex would include retail and restaurant establishments and some landscaping. The city hopes that it'll draw more affluent residents who are willing to pay market rate to live in a historically depressed and crime ridden part of Los Angeles. Additionally, housing authorities have assured current residents in good standing that they could remain in their apartments until they find new ones in other parts of the city. All right, let's look at this a bit more carefully. This sounds like some sort of social experiment, "let's put low-income families and individuals together with more affluent residents and see what happens." Does the City Housing Authority think that they will attract doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and so to move to a part of Los Angeles that, in essence, most people do not want be in anytime of the day. I'm not sure city housing authorities have thought this out completely. As if to stage the complex for potential new residents, the housing authority has flooded the area with social service programs, mainly focusing on female single heads of households. A case of a little too late? Where was all of this before? What about the surrounding neighborhood. If I'm a web-entrepreneur considering living in an area known for crime and violence, I'd think twice. In all fairness, the article does state that the violent crime rate has plunged fifty-three percent. That's great for the complex but what about the rest of the area. People cannot stay confined to one area all the time. What will happen to the residents once they all move out? Where will they go? Will they continue to receive all the social services they're getting now? Is this another case of the poor getting pushed out of sight so that there can be more room for the shiny metropolis? Maybe the Housing Authority really needs to work this out a bit more thoroughly before implementing such an ambitious plan.