Making A Stand In District 8

By Forescee Hogan-Rowles

"... of all the candidates running for the now-vacant City Council seat, Forescee is the most capable and less beholden to any interests..."

· The 8th District suffered nearly 70% of the damage sustained during the riots in 1992, and yet, saw the fewest number of properties restored in the intervening years. Thus, during the go-go 90s, while most other areas around the City enjoyed the benefits of one of the longest periods of economic expansion in our nation`s history, employment opportunities in the 8th literally disappeared; · The 8th District is home to more than 220,000 residents, a good sized city by any standard, yet the District has the fewest number of family-owned businesses, on a per-capita basis, than any of the other 14 Los Angeles City Council Districts. Consequently, where there is little or no family income, there can be no home ownership and little true wealth creation; · Further, as a direct consequence to the dearth of jobs, the 8th District has the highest rate of joblessness (compared to unemployment, which is something different altogether), about 7%, as compared to the rest of the City. That number is even higher than the national average!

In the time of her tenure at CFRC, she has successfully grown the state and federally certified small business lending agency from a struggling public-private partnership with less than $200,000.00 available to fund new businesses, in 1995, to a nationally recognized model of economic development managing a revolving fund of nearly $7,500,000.00. Her stewardship of these funds has, in substantial part, contributed to the success of places like The Body Shop, on Crenshaw Boulevard.

As she talked about her plans to bring a new kind of energy to the effort to revitalize what can be described as the Heart and Soul of Los Angeles, it soon became apparent that, of all the candidates running for the now-vacant City Council seat, Forescee is the most capable and less beholden to any interests, save those of us who live in and around this vital community.