What began last summer as an eclectic gathering of people bemoaning the state of their community has grown into a focused collective of residents, neighborhood council members, community activists and other stakeholders called “Eighth District Grassroots Rising,” which will convene the first 8th Council District Peoples’ Convention Sunday to affect social and economic change in the largest African-American community in the city.

The Peoples’ Convention, to which no elected official and no political candidate for office has been invited, is billed by the organizers as simply that: a confab of the people of the 8th District to discuss and develop ideas on how to improve job growth, governance and the overall quality of life for the 8th District, which is said to be one of the city’s largest resource-poor regions.

About 300 people have already RSVP’ed their intentions of attending the convention, which will be held Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at USC’s Galen Center, 3400 S. Figueroa St.

Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi, one of the convention coordinators, said, “We recognize that residents have grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of an effective vision and plan by decision-makers and have decided to bring people together to develop alternatives.”

“The people in my community are hard-working people who take pride in where they live,” said Linda Ricks, a member of the South Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. “However, we are continuously victimized by poor political decisions against the will of stakeholders that result in blight, crime and a lack of quality jobs. We are tired of this, and we have decided to do something about it,” Ricks said.

Kevin Friddington, a resident of Leimert Park, said: “I have lived in other cities and became used to decision-makers aggressively seeking the input of residents on projects and policy decisions. Since moving to South L.A., I have not seen that happen. In order to tackle the major issues of our community, there must be a strong partnership between people and political leaders.”

In a document titled “8th District Statement of Unity and Change,” the group   asserts that its city representative has failed the district in five specific categories, which will be discussed by the people Sunday. These five are: community economic development, education, city services, civic engagement and youth leadership.

The “community economic development” category is huge and has already been dissected by Beacon Economics, a Bay Area firm commissioned by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce to analyze the state of economics in the city of Los Angeles. The firm did so, and presented its findings, “Los Angeles City Council Districts: 2010 Economic Report,” on Oct. 27, 2010. The report was FedExed to me for study shortly thereafter and I discussed its contents and importance with several city council members.

According to the short summary Beacon Economics wrote in the report, “...Among the city council districts, District 8 employs the fewest number of people (41,340) and is also home to the fewest number of firms (1,875). Average annual wages of $38,808 in the district also fall well below the city average.” (page 22 of the report.)

Table I on page 5 of the report shows that the 8th District has the lowest number of jobs of all 15 council districts, and while the council member’s office has tried to put a positive spin on the bad news by saying the 8th District had the highest job growth at 2.4 percent, even with that, the district still came in at last place for number of jobs, and the average wages were the lowest of all 15 council districts.

The 8th District also had the least number of firms operating within its 17-square-mile boundaries, according to the report —1,875 firms, compared with the next lowest district, which had 2,438 firms operating.
Table 4: Gross Business Receipts (on page 7 of the report) shows that the 8th District had the lowest amount of business receipts (cash reported taken in by businesses) collected of all city council districts at $7.7 billion, while the next district a notch higher took in $10.7 billion.

As a consequence of the low gross business receipts, the 8th District also brought in the lowest amount of sales tax receipts, only $5.7 million, while the next highest district took in $8.1 million.

Table 3: Value of Building Permits by City Council District, on page 6 of the report, is particularly telling in that it shows the 8th District had the lowest number of commercial building permits valued at $22.1 million while the next closest district had commercial permits valued at $24.7 million. A quote from page 22 reads: ”District 8 has felt a steady decline in the total number of building permits for all types of construction, although it has appeared to stabilize in 2009.” Readers tend to underline this passage, noting it to be particularly significant in that the 8th District’s commercial corridors are dilapidated, replete with prominent vacant lots and with blighted areas such as Marlton Square (the once thriving Santa Barbara Plaza), Manchester and Vermont, Manchester and Broadway et al. They say this underlined information confirms that permits are not being requested to rebuild the 8th District’s commercial corridors since they were ravaged in the 1992 civil unrest.

Indeed, the people have a lot to talk about Sunday. Non-partisan, un-elected 8th District stakeholders wishing to attend the Peoples’ Convention and who have not made the necessary arrangements, may do so by calling DEKA at or visiting .