Wise Tires in Inglewood, circa 1920's courtesy of the IPL

With the District 1 Council seat elections right around the corner on April 2, one of the topics of debate has been about being business-friendly.

I consider myself very business-friendly—but not to the point of supporting sweetheart taxpayer-asset- and-money-giveaway deals to the very wealthy who would not ever consider living in Inglewood.
In my 18 months of being the District 1 councilman, I’ve found some of the city staff and elected officials to be very friendly to a dozen or so rather wealthy individuals and decidedly not friendly to the average small- and mid-sized Inglewood businesses

This business-unfriendly reputation is very well known in the business community.

To illustrate how I came to this conclusion I’m going to share two of the many experiences I’ve had regarding this topic with you.
Dr. Carla Thomas has been a dentist in the Inglewood area for quite a few years. I first met her when she contacted my office asking for help. At the time she was in the middle of attempting to relocate her office from leased space on Locust Street to the old M&M Soul Food restaurant building on 11th Ave. and Manchester. Dr. Thomas explained to me that the City of Inglewood planning department had delayed her plan check and had been doing so for many months. The delay was holding up financing for the property purchase and construction. She had only a short time before her purchase option would expire on the property and she would lose her considerable investment in time, architectural fees and purchase option. I was able to help expedite her plan check and with a few minor corrections she was able to get her plans approved. Unfortunately she had came to me a bit late in the process and still needed some time to complete her financing and her purchase option was due to expire in a day or two.

I approached the owner of he old M&M Soul Food restaurant site. Owing to business considerations he did not want to extend the duration of the purchase option. I suggested Dr. Thomas obtain a “bridge loan” until the financing was completed and
—viola!—the remainder of the hard work by Dr. Thomas and her team allowed the nicest dentist office for miles around to be placed right here in Morningside Park!

Reflecting on her experience, I suspect a fix was in.

Rumors were an ex-mayor was a silent partner in the unsuccessful Oasis restaurant right next door. One of those owners (of the Oasis) had been trying to acquire the old M&M location for parking. I wonder if the plan check was stalled in the City of Inglewood planning department so Oasis could buy the property for a parking lot. Oasis closed their doors and went out of business soon after Dr. Carla successfully reopened at the new location.

Another story, one that remains in development, is the old Safeway location on 84th and Crenshaw. The lot has been on my radar since I first became your Council- man; many of my constituents have complained about the lack of a small, convenient grocery store in the Morningside Park area.

Nearly a year ago I contacted a representative of Fresh & Easy to see if they had any interest in locating here. After several rounds of discussions and a better understanding of their business model I realized it was not going to be a successful fit. The nearly $4 million price tag on the property was a deal-breaker for the relatively low profit-per-square foot of a Fresh & Easy. It would take many years just to pay back the original property investment. Additionally we didn’t have the needed income levels within a five- mile radius—especially from the area one to two miles east of Inglewood.

Toward the conclusion of the discussions, the representative I was working with informed me that Fresh & Easy was imploding and closing stores; soon thereafter he too was laid off as the grocery chain downsized.

I held several other discussions and attempted contacts with Albertsons, Sprouts, and Trader Joe’s representatives; sadly they were all in vain.

Around the holidays I was contacted by one of my constituents. She had heard that a Dollar Tree was coming to the location and she let me know the residents in the area were unhappy about this after sharing the information with the members of her block club. I verified her findings and found the Planning Com- mission led by chairman Dotson took no action on the item in the December 5 meet- ing and the item had been appealed to the City Council. Soon afterward I was contact- ed by the new owners of the property and met with them. In our discussions I informed them the residents in the area were not happy with their plans of opening a Dollar Store in the area, especially since we have a 99¢ Only store at Century and Crenshaw and a Big Lots across the street from their property.

The owners were surprised at the resistance to the Dollar Tree store as they had discussed their plans with the Inglewood city manager and the planning department and had been told that a Dollar Tree store would be fine at this location before going ahead with the approximately $3.5 million purchase. I let them know in no uncertain terms that I could not support a Dollar Tree at this reiterated his sentiments in his “Message” on page 5. Proclaiming that “it’s simply not true...that Inglewood Today is being funded by the City of Inglewood,” Brown also complained that “councilmembers (sic) are behind attempts to stop the City from paying its bills.”

In the days following the location and gave them a long list of possible alternatives including Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, Hometown Buffet, Chuck E. Cheese, etc. I mentioned to the owners that it would have been a good idea to have discussed this with me before purchasing the property. Also discussed was the possibility of erecting a statute incorporating an airplane similar to the airplanes at the Proud Bird on the northeast corner of the property as a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen and Inglewood’s WWII aviation heritage to give something back to the community as part of the project. In parting the new owners let me know they are very upset with the City of Inglewood, especially with the city manager and planning department for setting them up and emphasized they are burning $10k-$15k per month while the property sits idle.

Currently their appeal to the City Council from the Planning Commission’s “No motion for action” has been delayed, potentially until after the April 2 elections. Thinking back on the new owner’s dilemma and the timing I suspect this is another situation where the fix was in this time because of the upcoming local elections. The city manager does not do anything without the Mayor’s permission, the Planning Commission (led by chairman Dotson) took no action on the item, and the constituent originally spreading the story to local residents about the possible Dollar Tree store opening is a major supporter of Mayor Butts and friends. You connect the dots.

Stay tuned to see if Councilman Stevens is able to lend a helping hand to business and help change Inglewood’s business unfriendly reputation while meeting your needs.