Rebuild LA

History

Rebuild LA (RLA) was formed the weekend of April 29-30, 1992 immediately following the civil disturbances in Los Angeles sparked by the acquittals of four white policemen in the beating of Rodney King, a drunken-driving suspect who was African-American. The civil disturbances left 55 people dead, thousands injured, more than 1100 buildings damaged or destroyed, and a repair bill of nearly $1 billion.

Former baseball commissioner and Olympics organizer Peter Ueberroth was called upon by Mayor Bradley to spearhead the 5-year rebuilding project which would spur investment in the neglected areas, defined as Los Angeles neighborhoods with poverty rates of 20 percent or higher. In response to public pressure for a more diverse leadership, Ueberroth added four co-chairs to the organization: Tony Salazar, Linda Wong, Barry Sanders, and Bernard Kinsey. RLA was also represented by a large board of directors that at one time had 96 members.

RLA achieved some measure of success with its economic strategies using eleven task forces to tackle the problem of rejuvenating Los Angeles, receiving nearly $500 million in corporate commitments. However, progress was severely stalled by the recession and Northridge earthquake. (The repair bill from the Northridge earthquake was about 20 times that of the riots.)

Early in 1994 RLA streamlined its operation and refocused its mission under the leadership of its new president and CEO, former deputy mayor and restaurateur Linda Griego. The four remaining co-chairs were replaced with a single chair, ARCO's then-chairman Lodwrick Cook; the remaining RLA staff was trimmed in half. (Peter Ueberroth had resigned in May 1993 as a co-chair but had remained a member of the board.) As its new vision, RLA adopted a "bottom up" strategy which sought to foster the development of existing businesses rather than trying to lure major corporations to locate facilities in neglected areas. Thus the eleven task forces were dissolved or merged with outside agencies.

The RLA project began in May of 1992 and ended in 1997, the last year of which was a "Transition" period. During this transition near the end of 1996, RLA transferred its assets and its databases to the Los Angeles Community College District which hoped to link industries with classroom programs through its own Community Development Technologies Center. The new agency called itself LA Public Resource and Occupational Support Program for Economic Revitalization, or LA PROSPER Partners.

The Los Angeles Community College District received RLA's cash assets, computer hardware and software, and all of its active records. The remainder of RLA's records was transferred to Loyola Marymount University's Center for the Study of Los Angeles Research Collection.

Chronology