Welcome to the Remix. This time, our economics neighborhood spin takes us to the story of Downtown Crenshaw Rising and the Liberty Community Land Trust in Los Angeles.
Four years ago, Downtown Crenshaw Rising made national news. A group of community activists had connected with philanthropy, impact investors, architects, and other technical assistance providers to put together a $115 million bid to acquire the 40-plus-acre site of the Crenshaw Mall, located in the city’s leading Black commercial center—and retool it to support worker co-ops, two grocery stores, a hydroponic farm, affordable housing, community space, and more. Echoing the post-emancipation call for “40 acres and a mule,” Los Angeles activists sought “40 acres and a mall.”
Even though the Downtown Crenshaw group outbid the $111 million offered by Harridge, an established Los Angeles real estate developer, the seller chose Harridge. A lawsuit challenging the sale to Harridge remains in the courts.
But even amid a pending lawsuit, community building continues as well, with the group pivoting to develop a scattered-site community land trust (CLT). In the last four years, the CLT has acquired 14 buildings which provide 129 units of permanently affordable housing. And more community building is under way, such as the development of a co-op incubator to support the creation of a network of worker co-op businesses.
For this article, I interviewed Damien Goodmon. Goodmon is a cofounder of both Downtown Crenshaw Rising and the Liberty Community Land Trust, both of which are part of a broader Liberty Ecosystem. The name “Liberty” is a callback to the first Black-owned bank in Los Angeles, which operated in the city from 1924 until 1961.
In the interview, Goodmon offers rich detail of what it takes to build a solidarity economy on the ground. There have been many steps along the way—from organizing for a transit line to employ local residents to current efforts to build out the Liberty Ecosystem. The real work of solidarity economy is often far from glamorous.
Goodmon notes that the group has spent 25 years “building connections, building a network of organizations, identifying technical expertise, building community trust.” To have a tall tree, Goodmon emphasizes, “you need to have deep roots.”
So, as you read this column, I encourage you to consider what lessons you take from this story—and how to apply these lessons in your community.
Until the next Remix column, I remain
Your Remix Man:
Steve Dubb
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