NEIGHBORHOODS LA-I nearly spit my coffee out all over my keyboard yesterday when I read that 8th District Councilmember Bernard Parks wanted to rename South Central, already “upgraded” to “South L.A.” in 2003, to “SOLA.”
“They see these other communities reinvigorated by these contemporary names,” Parks told the L.A. Times, “And they wonder, at times, why their community is lagging behind.”
Folks do indeed wonder why their community is lagging behind, this is true. But I can guarantee you that the vast majority of them are well aware that that lag has far more to do with structural inequalities and decades of disinvestment in the area, not the name it goes by. (Read the rest.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 24
Pub: Apr 24, 2015