A diverse group of clergy, community and labor organizations have joined together to propose a new way to build a stronger Los Angeles.

The Growth With Justice Coalition (GWJC) recently proposed requiring the filing of a Community Impact Report (CIR) by developers wanting to build large-scale projects in the Los Angeles area. The Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles has taken the request under advisement and will hold public hearings on the proposal in late October.

"The CIR fits with the Catholic principle that even private goods are not to be used without attention to the impact on the whole community," said Vincentian Father Mike Walsh, associate pastor of St. Vincent Church in Los Angeles. "We must be careful that we don't invite business at the expense of poor people who have less of a voice in the process anyway."

Developers wanting to build projects with over 50,000 square feet of commercial space or 100 or more units of market rate housing will be required to produce a CIR early in the development process. The CIR, a 15-20 page report, would assess the fiscal, employment, housing, and growth impact of the project on the surrounding community.

"Information about new development projects can be hard to get," said James Elmendorf of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). "Often information isn't available until late in the process when the project is nearly approved."

According to Elmendorf, this current process often creates unnecessary tension between the developers, the community and policy makers.

"Community members feel a real sense of anger about not being informed of large-scale projects in their neighborhood and developers at this point are heavily invested financially and very reluctant to change," he said. "So this just sets up oppositional forces."

The Growth With Justice Coalition spent months consulting with developers, community members and policy makers to come up with guidelines that would benefit all parties.

The proposal was born out of the realization that many large-scale developments were displacing low-income families and creating low-wage, non-union jobs in already depleted areas. This is due in large part because there is no open dialogue between developers and the community on most projects noted Elmendorf.

"What happens now is that unless community groups have money to hire experts they can't access projects until late in the project," said Dan Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, a public policy research organization. "This is hard on communities and developers."

The Adams-La Brea Project is an example of the problems that the CIR hopes to remedy.

In 1999 a developer proposed to build an 11.6-acre retail center in South Los Angeles. Residents had been ready for investment in the area, but the Adams-La Brea plan called for the displacement of two-dozen small-business owners and 72 low-income families.

By 2000 the developer had lease agreements from K-Mart and other big retailers, secured over $6 million in grants and low-interest loans from the city, and began preparing and environmental impact report (EIR).

At this point community leaders became involved and began raising complaints regarding housing displacement and the influx of low-wage jobs. With support from the City Council, leaders urged the inclusion of a housing component. The developer refused to budge and by January 2003 the project had collapsed.

According to a report released by GWJC, if a CIR had been required as soon as the project was initiated "the merits of the project could have been evaluated early on, potentially saving residents years of uncertainty and the developer hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"It's very shortsighted when you don't involve the community," said the Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). "It you don't involve them early on they will only get involved later in an oppositional way."

Rev. Salvatierra emphasized that the coalition is not anti-growth but they just want to see good development that brings jobs and green space and does not destroy the community.

"The CIR is similar to an environmental impact report but it is more important," she said. "If developers can take the time to prepare a report on the environmental impact of their projects how much more important is it to take the time for a report that looks at human beings?"