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> What We Do > Community
& Economic Development > Community Organizing & Planning
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| Community
Organizing & Planning |
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The major
long-term vision for LTSC CDC is to revitalize Little Tokyo into
a vibrant community by addressing cultural and community survival,
empowering residents, and promoting the economic health of Little
Tokyo. The Community Organizing and Planning department works
to create a holistic balance of work, play, and housing by participating
in all community planning efforts, particularly those that involve
public agencies and community representative bodies, in an effort
to both inform and advocate our position, as a community-based
organization, on neighborhood issues.
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| Residents Fix Sidewalks -- LT residents, LTSC organizers and City Hall celebrate repairs to dangerous sidewalks. After a series of falls, senior residents took action circulating petitions and calling on Councilwoman Jan Perry (standing 3rd from the right) and Public Works Board President Valerie Shaw (to the left of Perry) to fix the sidewalks. (Photo: Mario Reyes/Rafu Shimpo.) |
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 The Little Tokyo Residents Association (LTRA) currently represents 1,200 residents living in 5 housing complexes and 3 single room occupancy hotels in Little Tokyo. The mission of LTRA is: to identify and represent the needs and rights of low-income housing residents in Little Tokyo and downtown Los Angeles, and to increase their involvement in affordable housing and redevelopment decisions and in civic life generally.
Community organizing staff work with Little Tokyo residents to improve the community and represent the voice of Little Tokyo residents in the ongoing development of Little Tokyo. This entails educating and empowering residents so that they are able to voice their concerns and needs and effect social change through mobilization. Staff and residents have worked to increase voter registration by 70% and have been involved in a variety of successful campaigns, such as halting the construction of a 500-bed jail in Little Tokyo and winning sidewalk repairs and neighborhood beautification efforts.
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Little
Tokyo Recreation Center
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 LTSC is part of the Little Tokyo Recreation Center campaign, a community effort to build a multi-purpose recreation center in Little Tokyo.
We support the vision to build a recreation center in Little Tokyo as it would serve many varied purposes. It would help to support the businesses in Little Tokyo and downtown; it would provide a recreational space for young people and families to frequent; it would be a major tournament center for volleyball, basketball, and the martial arts; it would provide space for a senior citizen nutrition and fitness program; and it would provide space for community arts programs.
For more information on the Recreation Center, visit http://reccenter.ltsc.org.
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| Cultural
and Historical Preservation |
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LTSC continues to play a large role in the cultural and historic preservation of Little Tokyo. LTSC has tangibly contributed by renovating 3 out of the 15 buildings in the Little Tokyo Historic District on First Street: the San Pedro Firm Building, the Union Center for the Arts, and most recently, the Far East Building.
LTSC is currently focusing on cultural preservation issues through the California Japantown Preservation Pilot Project. This initiative was created by the State of California to promote the preservation of California's three remaining Japantowns in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. The effort to preserve the three Japantowns is a community-based response to development plans that threaten the unique cultural character of each Japantown. Using funds from California Senate Bill 307, the three ethnic communities are seeking ways to define cultural preservation and integrity while moving forward with future developments. LTSC works actively with the Little Tokyo Community Council and the City of Los Angeles to create design guidelines and other community planning policies that address these issues.
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| Internet
Services |
Little Tokyo Wireless provides high speed wireless Internet access to nonprofit and small business subscribers in the downtown and Little Tokyo areas. LTSC has also partnered with the City of Los Angeles to provide free wireless access in most areas in Little Tokyo, including cafes, restaurants and public spaces. For more info, visit littletokyounplugged.org.
LTSC is a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Network (APAnet), which provides computer technology services to Asian Pacific Islander American non-profit community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Los Angeles area. APAnet seeks to ensure equal access to communication technologies for community non-profits, providing affordable email accounts, web hosting and other technical support services to local nonprofit groups. For more information, visit APANet.org.
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