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Accountable Development Project
LAANE Joins Community Group in Lawsuit Challenging Wal-Mart Ballot Initiative
Wal-Mart has announced plans to open 40 supercenters in California. One of the first is slated for the city of Inglewood, a majority African-American community located in the heart of Los Angeles. If built, the store will have a devastating impact on thousands of grocery store workers, whose jobs will be jeopardized as their employers struggle to compete with Wal-Mart’s poverty wages. Wal-Mart has qualified a ballot initiative for April 2004 that would allow the company to circumvent the public planning process.
On December 18, the Coalition for a Better Inglewood and LAANE filed a legal challenge to the Wal-Mart initiative. The lawsuit is aimed at invalidating the initiative, which would set a dangerous precedent permitting corporations to pursue development without any governmental or public review of the social, economic or environmental impacts of their projects.
The Coalition for a Better Inglewood is an alliance of labor, clergy and community leaders organized by LAANE. Our partners include the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which is leading the current strike against several grocery store chains in Southern California, and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). In the coming months, LAANE and the Coalition will mount a high-visibility campaign to educate the public about Wal-Mart and the broad economic and social dislocations that will result if a supercenter is built in Inglewood.
Read press coverage of this campaign:
Wal-Mart
Maneuver Draws Lawsuit
Lawsuit
Filed to Stop Wal-Mart Supercenter
Wal-Mart
Seeks to Bypass Inglewood City Council to Build New Store
Citywide Coalition Launches Community Impact Report Campaign
The Growth With Justice Coalition, a citywide alliance of community, environmental, labor and housing organizations convened by LAANE, has launched a campaign to give communities a greater voice in the development process in Los Angeles.
The Community Impact Report (CIR) policy—one of the first such proposals in the country--will require developers to provide information on the social and economic impacts of major redevelopment projects, including such issues as job quality, affordable housing, green space and neighborhood services. This policy will also mandate a public meeting between the developer and the community early in the process so residents can learn about the project, convey concerns and play a meaningful, constructive role in the development process.
If passed, the CIR will potentially serve as a model for other cities exploring ways to pursue growth that meets the real needs of communities. The policy has been the subject of two hotly debated Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) public hearings, which were attended by hundreds of community leaders and residents, and has also been discussed at CRA Community Action Committee meetings throughout Los Angeles. City Council hearings on the CIR are expected in early 2004.
Read
press coverage of this campaign:
Community
Impact Report Would Benefit Community and Developers
Proposed
Plan Requires Community Impact Report from Developers for
Large Projects
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LAX Project
New Coalition Pushes for Community Benefits Plan at LAX
Mayor James Hahn has created a far-reaching modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This $9 billion proposal would be one of the largest public-works projects in the country, and would dramatically reconfigure the nation’s third-busiest airport.
The LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental & Educational Justice, coordinated by LAANE, has formed to win a comprehensive package of community benefits for the historically disenfranchised residents who will be impacted by the plan. This diverse coalition of education, environmental, labor, clergy and community-based organizations will negotiate a community benefits agreement with the city. The agreement will potentially include provisions for living wage jobs, local hiring, job training, green space, health services and environmental remediation.
This agreement would set a national precedent for the inclusion of substantive community participation and benefits in large-scale public works projects. Our partners on this campaign include The Inglewood and Lennox Unified School Districts, Environmental Defense, Community Coalition, AGENDA, HERE Local 11, and SEIU Local 1877,among others.
LAANE Releases Report Card on Working Conditions at Airport Restaurants
On December 15, LAANE released a new report card on working
conditions at Los Angeles International Airport restaurants.
The report card, based on interviews with nearly 120 workers
and a review of union contracts, lawsuits and complaints,
gives poor or failing grades to nearly half of the airport’s
food concession contractors. Letter grades were assigned
to each restaurant following an assessment of wages, health
benefits, workplace safety, compliance with labor laws and
other factors.
LAANE researchers and LAX workers delivered the report card
to the Airport Board of Commissioners and to the City Council.
Travelers were also informed of the report through a holiday
action at the airport’s international terminal food court.
The report card will be used as part of an advocacy campaign
to pressure both the employers and the city to improve conditions
for LAX food concession workers.
Since 1998, LAANE and a coalition of labor, clergy and community
groups have led a successful effort to improve working conditions
at LAX. Thousands of workers have seen their wages and benefits
improve at one of the city’s largest employers.
Read
press coverage of this campaign:
Watchdog
Rates Working Conditions of LAX Restaurants
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Santa Monica Project
SMART to Propose New Living Wage Ordinance
Despite the narrow defeat of the Santa Monica living wage law in November 2002, the campaign to improve conditions for hotel workers in that city has made major gains over the last year. This month workers at one major hotel won substantial wage and benefit increases, while workers at another hotel secured the right to organize after a long battle. SMART, the Santa Monica community-based organization that LAANE helped to build, played a major role in both these victories, providing advocacy, organizing and media support.
Now LAANE and SMART are preparing to bring a new living wage proposal to the Santa Monica City Council in early 2004. The ordinance will cover workers employed by city contractors, and will help build momentum for a broader living wage law that will benefit low-income tourism workers.
Read press coverage of this campaign:
Next
Battle for Santa Monica Living Wage on the Horizon
Living
Wage Effort Building
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Research Department
Landmark Living Wage Study Set for 2004 Release
LAANE and the University of California will release a major study of Los Angeles’ living wage law n the summer of 2004. Researchers have conducted hundreds of interviews to gauge the effects of the ordinance on both workers and employers. This is the most comprehensive survey of living wage workers and employers ever undertaken, and is expected to provide a valuable resource to policymakers, advocates and researchers across the country.
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We Have Moved
LAANE recently relocated to temporary quarters near our old
office in downtown Los Angeles. We hope to move to a permanent
building in late 2004.
Here is our new address: 215 W. 6th St. Ste.1240, L.A. 90014.
Our Phone and fax numbers will remain the same.
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