Los Angeles
Considering South-Central by Another Name
The City now will call the area South Los Angeles.
Skeptics say jobs and better schools would be a more meaningful change.
April 10, 2003 | Matea Gold and
Greg Braxton, Times Staff Writers
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to replace the
term "South-Central Los Angeles" with "South Los Angeles" on city documents
and signs, a move supporters said would help erase a stigma that has dogged
the southern part of the city.
After the vote, several local television stations said they would follow
the city's lead and eliminate the use of "South-Central" in news reports.
Despite that, some city officials suggested that the name change would do
little to address the underlying social ills that have fed the perception of
South-Central as depressed and crime-ridden.
Without broader efforts to improve schools and increase jobs in the area,
"South Los Angeles" will eventually evoke the same connotation, said
Councilman Nate Holden, who represents portions of the southern part of the
city.
"Changing the name doesn't change the circumstances," said Holden, who
nevertheless voted for the measure.
However, supporters said discouraging the use of "South-Central" would help
many neighborhoods south of the Santa Monica Freeway reclaim their identities
and provide a morale boost that could translate into other benefits.
"With a name change and a new attitude of the people, maybe when the
government decides to bring jobs in, they will bring them to our neighborhood,
instead of ignoring us," said Vermont Square resident Carol Black, who
attended the council meeting.
Helen Johnson, the 72-year-old Vermont Square resident who proposed the
measure, was jubilant after the council vote. "This is a day that I shall
never forget," she said.
Johnson immediately moved to broaden her campaign beyond City Hall, blaming
the news media for perpetuating a term that has become synonymous with urban
poverty and asking reporters to do a better job of identifying the
neighborhoods they are covering.