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PUBLIC HOUSING REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES:

IMPLICATIONS FOR JORDAN DOWNS,

ITS COMMUNITY, AND RESIDENTS

FIELD HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

MARCH 15, 2008

Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services

Serial No. 110–101

(

(II)

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES 

BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts, Chairman

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania 

MAXINE WATERS, California 

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York 

LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois 

NYDIA M. VELA ́ ZQUEZ, New York 

MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DENNIS MOORE, Kansas 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

RUBE ́ N HINOJOSA, Texas 

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri 

CAROLYN MCCARTHY, New York 

JOE BACA, California 

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DAVID SCOTT, Georgia 

AL GREEN, Texas 

EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri 

MELISSA L. BEAN, Illinois 

GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin, 

LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee 

PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire 

KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota 

RON KLEIN, Florida 

TIM MAHONEY, Florida 

CHARLES A. WILSON, Ohio 

ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado 

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida 

JIM MARSHALL, Georgia 

DAN BOREN, Oklahoma 

SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama 

DEBORAH PRYCE, Ohio 

MICHAEL N. CASTLE, Delaware 

PETER T. KING, New York 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

RON PAUL, Texas 

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois 

CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

TOM FEENEY, Florida 

JEB HENSARLING, Texas 

SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey 

GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

TOM PRICE, Georgia 

GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky 

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina 

JOHN CAMPBELL, California 

ADAM PUTNAM, Florida 

MICHELE BACHMANN, Minnesota 

PETER J. ROSKAM, Illinois 

THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan 

KEVIN McCARTHY, California 

DEAN HELLER, Nevada

JEANNE M. ROSLANOWICK, Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

(III)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY

MAXINE WATERS, California, Chairwoman

NYDIA M. VELA ́ ZQUEZ, New York 

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts 

EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri 

AL GREEN, Texas 

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri 

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York 

GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin, 

KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota 

CHARLES A. WILSON, Ohio 

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico 

PETER T. KING, New York 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois 

CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky 

JOHN CAMPBELL, California 

THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan 

KEVIN McCARTHY, California 

(V)

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on: 

March 15, 2008 ................................................................................................. 1

Appendix: 

March 15, 2008 ................................................................................................. 33

WITNESSES 

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2008

Blom, Dominique, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Public Housing Investments, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ................. 4

Broomfield, Henry, Chair, Watts Neighborhood Council ..................................... 21

Brown, Eric, Economic Development Director for Watts, Office of Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Council District 15 ........................................................... 8

Henderson, Keith, Business Manager, Jordan Downs Resident Management 

Corporation ........................................................................................................... 19

Hisserich, Helmi A., Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development 

Policy, Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles ................................................ 6

Jones, Marlo, Resident, Jordan Downs Housing Development ............................ 20

Montiel, Rudolf C., President and CEO, Housing Authority of the City of 

Los Angeles ........................................................................................................... 10

Neal, Oscar, Chair, Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce ......................... 22

Pope, Reverend Reginald A., Pastor, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church ........... 18

APPENDIX 

Prepared statements: 

Blom, Dominique .............................................................................................. 34

Broomfield, Henry ............................................................................................ 38

Brown, Eric (Janice Hahn) .............................................................................. 40

Henderson, Keith .............................................................................................. 42

Hisserich, Helmi A. .......................................................................................... 44

Jones, Marlo ...................................................................................................... 49

Montiel, Rudolf C. ............................................................................................ 50

Neal, Oscar ........................................................................................................ 55

Pope, Reverend Reginald A. ............................................................................ 56

(1)

PUBLIC HOUSING REDEVELOPMENT 

STRATEGIES: IMPLICATIONS 

FOR JORDAN DOWNS, ITS 

COMMUNITY, AND RESIDENTS 

Saturday, March 15, 2008

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND

COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY, 

COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, 

Washington, D.C. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m., at Jordan 

Downs Recreation Center, 9900 Grape Street, Los Angeles, California, Hon. Maxine Waters [chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representative Waters 

Also present: Representative Richardson. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I would like to ask all of those in the back 

to take their seats. This hearing of the Subcommittee on Housing 

and Community Opportunity will come to order. 

I would like to say good morning to everyone and thank you all 

for taking time on a busy Saturday to come here and be with us 

in the gymnasium today to explore a lot of the rumors that have 

been taking place. 

I would like to not only thank you for being here, but I would 

like to thank all of the volunteers of the resident council who work 

to make sure that Jordan is connected to our Los Angeles Housing 

Authority and that you are getting the resources that you need and 

that you are basically helping to maintain the upkeep of this community. 

I have been in this gym many times over the past 20 or 30 years 

or so and we do not normally have a formal hearing; usually we 

have town hall meetings or we are meeting around a crisis. Today 

this is a formal hearing of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services of the 

Congress of the United States of America, and it is being recorded 

because we believe that it is important for all of us to be on the 

record about what we are doing, where we are going, and to understand what the facts are about possible or potential development 

here at Jordan Downs and perhaps the rest of South Los Angeles. 

One of the reasons I wanted to hold this hearing today was because we have been through rumors in this community before. 

Over the years, the rumors have been rampant about what was 

going to happen at Jordan Downs, who was going to be relocated, 

2

and what kind of development was going to take the place of what 

we know as Jordan Downs today. We have seen those rumors cause 

a lot of people to act in ways that they thought would protect them 

from being dislocated. 

I can recall one year when the rumors were rampant. Some 

young people coming to my office to say, ‘‘Ms. Waters, we do not 

intend to allow anybody to put our grandmothers out. We do not 

intend to allow anybody to create homelessness. We do not intend 

to let anybody take our community.’’ So remembering the concerns 

of many of our residents from yesteryear, I think it is important 

to get the facts to understand what it is and what it is not so that 

is why we are here today. 

Having said that, we have a number of Members who wanted to 

be with us today but could not be here. We have some Members 

who are right here in California, but they are holding the caucuses 

for the Democratic party endorsements today. All of us who run in 

these various offices in the State of California, and in the United 

States Congress, have to go before delegates and they have to decide whether or not we are going to be officially endorsed by the 

party, so many of them could not be here because of that. 

We will be joined a little bit later by one of our newest Members 

of Congress, Congresswoman Laura Richardson, who is in the district adjacent to this, so we work very closely together. While I represent Jordan Downs, she represents Nickerson Gardens, the other 

big housing development at Imperial Courts to the south of us. She 

will join me as she leaves her caucus today to participate in this 

hearing. 

I want you to know that all over the country, the future of public 

housing development is being discussed. Many of you know that I 

have been very much involved in what is going on in the Gulf 

Coast. I have been very much involved in what is happening to 

public housing tenants, in New Orleans in particular, but also in 

Mississippi. 

As you know, it is no secret that I was very concerned that the 

public housing units in New Orleans were boarded-up after Hurricane Katrina and people were given Section 8 vouchers. Some are 

in FEMA trailers still; some are in still in Houston, Texas; Austin, 

Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and other places. The units are still 

boarded-up and now HUD has decided that they are going to demolish most of those units in New Orleans, including the big ones 

that you know about, La Fete and St. Bernard. These housing 

units are coming down. 

One of the things I have said to HUD authorities and to Mr. 

Montiel here at our own City Housing Authority and one of the 

things we have placed into law as we have passed HOPE VI legislation is that if there is redevelopment in any of our public housing 

developments, there must be one-for-one replacement. 

There must also be phased redevelopment so that people don’t 

get lost and they don’t come up with relocation schemes and we 

don’t know what happens to residents. I want to share that with 

you because I, along with the chairman of the full Financial Services Committee, Chairman Barney Frank, and others are focused 

on public housing development. We intend and we are putting into 

3

law more resident involvement. I know that hurts the ears of some 

people but we believe in resident involvement. 

We believe again in one-for-one replacement if development ever 

takes place, and we believe that there must be phased redevelopment so people don’t get lost in relocations. Also, some of the basic 

beliefs that we have been working with in the Congress of the 

United States. 

Today, in addition to the work we have done on HOPE VI, we 

are focused on Jordan Downs because of the rumors. There have 

been some town hall meetings that have been held here. There 

have been rumors about developers that have been contracted with. 

There have been rumors about the kind of development that would 

take place if, in fact, there is redevelopment. All kinds of rumors. 

I have said to Mr. Montiel, who is the housing authority director, 

that there will never be any development that takes place in secret. 

There will never be anything that begins in the dark of night. 

There should never be any attempt to get a plan together without 

the people who live in Jordan Downs being involved in the development of any plan that takes place. 

Mr. Montiel agrees with me and, of course, I threaten him every 

time I see him and he understands. He is a willing participant here 

today because he is going to tell us everything that he knows about 

any discussion about development here at Jordan Downs. He may 

also want to talk about other developments a bit in South Los Angeles. 

With that, we will begin our hearing. I am going to call on our 

first panel. Let me introduce the entire panel: Ms. Dominique 

Blom, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Public Housing Investments, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Ms. 

Helmi Hisserich, deputy mayor for housing and economic development policy, Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles; Mr. Rudy 

Montiel, executive director, Housing Authority of the City of Los 

Angeles; and Mr. Eric Brown, economic development director for 

Watts, Office of Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Council District 15. 

That is our first panel and we will start with Ms. Dominique 

Blom. Thank you for being here. 

Hold on one moment. For the people in the back of the room, 

please come forward. There are seats up here and we have to be 

careful because of the bounce-back in the auditorium. When you 

are speaking in the back, it bounces and it disturbs the speaker 

and we can’t really hear what they are saying, and that is important. We want to know what everybody is saying today. We want 

to understand them clearly. 

With that, please come forward. We have some seats up here. Do 

we need some more chairs? Can we get some more chairs brought 

in? Where is Mr. Mikael Moore? I would ask Mr. Edgar Saenz. I 

see that April is in the back. Let us get some more chairs so that 

everybody can be seated. I know that we have more chairs in this 

building. Let us just bring them up so that everybody can get comfortable. 

I am so pleased to see the participation that we are seeing and 

I want the chairs to be brought in to accommodate everybody who 

is here. Will you point to the seats so people can come and take 

them? All right. We have people with their hands up where there 

4

are chairs. Please come in. I would like April to go back to the office and find out if there are more chairs in the building somewhere. Would you ask if they have even more folding chairs they 

can bring in? They can bring them down front. We have lots of 

chairs over here to my left. Come right in. 

Excuse me, Ms. Blom. We will start in just a moment. Let us get 

everybody settled. 

While they are getting seated, I would like all of my witnesses 

here to know that without objection, your written statements will 

be made a part of the record, and each of you will be recognized 

for 5 minutes. You don’t have to read your testimony; you can give 

us a summary if you would like. You certainly may read it, but I 

am going to ask you to keep it within 5 minutes. 

Mr. Greg Brown, do you want to take a seat up here with us? 

Thank you, Edgar. Hello, Ms. Day. How are you doing? Even 

though my eyes are not that good, I can see you. Okay. We are 

doing pretty good. We only have a few more people standing in the 

back. Come right down front. Right down front. We have plenty of 

chairs over here to my left. Hello, Mr. King. How are you doing? 

Good to see you. There are interpreters in the back there. Thank 

you. How are you doing? Good to see you. Come right down front. 

Come right down. We have some chairs right over here for you. As 

I understand it, Mr. Rudy Montiel’s testimony is in Spanish. It has 

been transcribed. 

Mr. MONTIEL. My testimony was transcribed. 

Chairwoman WATERS. And it is at the table to be passed out? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I understand that is the case. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Okay. Staff, I would like to ask our translators to announce that Mr. Rudy Montiel’s testimony is in Spanish 

at the table so that they can get a copy and follow it also along 

with him as he testifies. I guess they can do it that way. 

All right. We are going to begin again, and I am going to ask Ms. 

Dominique Blom, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of 

Public Housing Investments, U.S. Department of Housing and 

Urban Development, to begin her testimony. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF DOMINIQUE BLOM, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF PUBLIC HOUSING INVESTMENTS, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

Ms. BLOM. Thank you very much. Good morning, Chairwoman 

Waters. I am Dominique Blom, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

the Office of Public Housing Investments at the U.S. Department 

of Housing and Urban Development. 

Thank you very much for inviting me to testify today. Over the 

last 15 years, the HOPE VI Program has provided funding for the 

revitalization of distressed public housing developments. While the 

HOPE VI Program represents a significant investment in these 

communities, the Program is not available or appropriate for all 

public housing revitalization efforts. 

The four most significant funding alternatives to the HOPE VI 

revitalization program operated by the Department are: HOPE VI 

demolition grants; the Mixed-Finance Public Housing Program; the 

Capital Fund Financing Program; and the Public Housing Mortgage Program. 

5

HOPE VI demolition grants provide housing authorities with resources to raze distressed developments and relocate families. The 

result is a cleared site that more readily attracts resources for the 

revitalization of the project. These grants are an especially important resource for housing authorities that do not have a HOPE VI 

revitalization grant, but do have access to other funding sources. Since 1996, HUD has provided over $395 million in demolition 

funds across 127 public housing agencies. In the case of the Dana 

Strand site here in Los Angeles, the Housing Authority applied 

several times for a HOPE VI revitalization grant but did not receive HOPE VI funding. However, the Agency was awarded $3.2 

million in demolition grant funds in 2001. Demolition was completed in 2003 and the cleared site attracted approximately $54 

million in redevelopment funding which was used to build 236 public housing and tax credit units for low-income families. 

The Mixed-Finance Public Housing Program, which was used to 

redevelop Dana Strand, allows HUD and Housing Authorities to 

mix public and private funds to develop and operate housing developments. Since 2004, public housing agencies have used this program to construct over 12,000 units of public and other affordable 

housing across 121 projects spending $670 million in Federal public 

housing funds and $1.4 billion in leverage resources. 

The third alternative program available through the Department 

to redevelop public housing is the Capital Fund Financing Program. This program allows public housing agencies to borrow from 

banks or issue bonds using their Capital Fund grants for debt service. Public housing agencies are able to leverage up to one-third of 

their Capital Funds to complete modernization or redevelopment of 

distressed public housing developments. As of December 31, 2007, 

HUD has approved 106 transactions in which 186 public housing 

agencies are participating. The total amount of loan and bond financing approved across these projects exceeds $3 billion. 

For example, in California, the Oxnard and Santa Clara housing authorities raised over $10 million in bond financing. More recently, the Kern County Housing Authority undertook a direct loan 

in excess of $6 million using the Program. 

In addition to these resources, HUD recently established the 

Public Housing Mortgage Program. This program allows public 

housing agencies to borrow funds for affordable housing purposes 

by providing a mortgage on public housing real estate. The most 

recently approved transaction under this program allowed the Tacoma Housing Authority to mortgage public housing land to facilitate a $16 million bridge loan for infrastructure development. This 

investment was combined with additional funds that will ultimately yield over 360 affordable homeownership and rental units. 

The primary reasons for housing agencies to pursue these alternative funding sources are the scarcity of HOPE VI redevelopment 

funds, the planning costs and the time involved in submitting a 

HOPE VI revitalization application, and the belief that the project 

may not be competitive for HOPE VI funding. 

Although these alternative funding sources do not provide dedicated resources for Community and Supportive Services, the Department operates several programs that public housing authorities can draw on to support these activities, such as the Resident 

6

Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency Grant Program and the Family 

Self-Sufficiency Program. Moreover, resident and community involvement is a required component across each of the funding 

streams I have discussed. 

Despite the smaller scale of non-HOPE VI revitalization projects, 

the spillover impacts on the surrounding neighborhood are similar 

to those documented under the HOPE VI Program. These efforts 

tend to result in higher quality housing, a lower crime rate, and 

increased property values and business development in the surrounding neighborhood. 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the non-HOPE VI revitalization programs operated by HUD. We believe the programs I 

have outlined today are invaluable resources to public housing 

agencies in their efforts to improve the quality and quantity of affordable housing in their communities. I am happy to respond to 

any questions that you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Blom can be found on page 34 

of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. 

Next we will hear from Ms. Helmi Hisserich. Would you please 

pronounce your last name to make sure we are saying it correctly. 

STATEMENT OF HELMI A. HISSERICH, DEPUTY MAYOR OF 

HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY, OFFICE 

OF THE MAYOR, CITY OF LOS ANGELES 

Ms. HISSERICH. Thank you. Good morning, Chairwoman Waters. 

My name is Helmi Hisserich. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Hisserich. Thank you very much. 

Ms. HISSERICH. Yes. I am the deputy mayor for housing and economic development policy in the administration of Mayor 

Villaraigosa. In the interest of time, I will summarize my comments and provide my written testimony; it is in the back of the 

room. 

One of my primary responsibilities as Deputy Mayor is to ensure 

that the City agencies that are working on housing are working together not only on broad citywide housing goals, but also on specific strategic actions. I would like to first talk a little bit about the 

housing crisis in Los Angeles and what we are confronting, and 

then I will spend a few minutes discussing how redevelopment of 

public housing fits into the overall plan. 

I want to thank you for the hearing today because this is an important opportunity to consider redevelopment of public housing 

and also to clear up confusion surrounding the discussion of public 

housing in Jordan Downs. 

Los Angeles is in the midst of a housing crisis that is among the 

worst in the country. Last July, Forbes.com ranked Los Angeles the 

number one least affordable housing market in the United States 

based on a study that compared housing prices to incomes. Last 

August, the Center for Housing Policy ranked Los Angeles No. 1 

out of 31 metropolitan areas nationwide as having the greatest percentage of working households spending more than half of their income on housing. 

Last September, the Los Angeles Home and Services Authority 

updated the City’s homeless count and found Los Angeles has the 

7

Nation’s largest homeless population, with over 40,000 unhoused 

people. According to the census, an estimated 25 percent of Los Angeles households live in severely overcrowded conditions that are 

equivalent to five people living together in a one bedroom apartment. 

Current rental vacancy rates in Los Angeles are at an all-time 

low. They are below 5 percent, and in some parts of the City, rental 

vacancy rates are as low as 2 percent. In other words, Los Angeles 

is fully occupied. Now, due to the foreclosure crisis and the tightening of the credit market, more pressure is being put on LA’s already full rental housing market and rents throughout Los Angeles 

are going up. 

One of the reasons Los Angeles is in this crisis is because the 

City has not built enough housing to meet the needs of the population. In order to keep pace with population growth, the City 

should be adding approximately 13,000 units of new housing every 

year. However, in the past 17 years, Los Angeles has only met that 

number twice, in 2006 and 2007. 

For many years, Los Angeles has produced far fewer units than 

it needs. Not only has Los Angeles not built enough housing, the 

housing that has been built has been at prices few people can afford. If we are to address the real housing need in Los Angeles, we 

must build housing for people living on SSI, housing for people 

earning $10 an hour, housing for people earning $20 an hour. In 

other words, we need to build new housing in Los Angeles that is 

affordable to low- and moderate-income people. 

The Mayor has taken a proactive position on the development of 

affordable housing. Our office has been actively looking for opportunities to encourage development of affordable and workforce housing near transit systems. During the past few years, most of the 

City’s housing development and investment has occurred in downtown, Hollywood, and North Hollywood. That is why when Rudy 

Montiel of HACLA presented the Mayor last year with the concept 

of redeveloping 1950’s-era public housing into mixed-income urban 

villages, the idea caught the Mayor’s attention. If a plan could be 

created that could bring investment, affordable housing, and jobs 

to Watts, the Mayor is interested. 

However, before any idea can become a reality, the funding must 

be identified, the community must be engaged, and a plan must be 

developed. That is why it is important for all of us to begin at the 

same place. Today, no money has been committed, community engagement has not begun, and there is no plan in place. But when 

the time comes, rest assured that community involvement will play 

a key role in this process. 

Before beginning a community engagement process, the City 

must determine how realistic the funding sources are for the 

project. As you know, the redevelopment of public housing hinges 

on the City’s ability to leverage local resources with Federal, State, 

and private sector money. Next year, the Housing Authority intends to seek HOPE VI funding. 

The Major supports this in concept and in anticipation of this, 

the Mayor has initiated a capital planning effort with all of the departments of the City that have housing funds. These departments 

include the Housing Authority, the Los Angeles Housing DepartVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
8

ment, the Community Redevelopment Agency, the Los Angeles 

Homeless Services Authority, and the Community Development 

Department. 

The purpose of the capital plan is to identify all the resources 

available to support the creation of affordable housing in Los Angeles over the next 5 years. During the year ahead, the Mayor looks 

forward to working with elected and local leaders to develop a process for community engagement in Watts and to determine if the redevelopment of public housing here could be implemented. We 

must begin with a good plan and the plan must begin with the 

community. 

We have been reviewing best practices throughout the country 

and the Mayor has drafted a set of principles that he believes are 

necessary for successful redevelopment of public housing. I will 

briefly share with you some of these principles. 

First, involve the residents in the planning. The Mayor believes 

the planning effort should involve the people who live and work in 

the neighborhood. Residents should be engaged in the process from 

the start and throughout. 

Second, ensure no loss of public housing. One-for-one replacement of public housing units is a priority, and development must 

be phased-in in a way that minimizes displacement of existing tenants. Emphasis should be placed on on-site relocation of tenants. 

Third, building a housing ladder—build housing for a mix of incomes that includes public housing, affordable housing, and market 

rate housing. Emphasize housing for families and make both rental 

and homeownership opportunities available at varying income levels. Maximize to the greatest extent possible affordable housing. 

Any such redevelopment project should connect to the schools 

and parks. Projects should connect to public transportation. 

Projects should connect to jobs. Any redevelopment effort must be 

envisioned as a chance to create an economic ladder in South Los 

Angeles. Permanent jobs in growth industries must be part of the 

plan along with job training, job placement, local entrepreneurship, 

minority contracting, employment opportunities for neighborhood 

residents during and after construction, and making the neighborhood safe. 

Finally, make the neighborhood green. Whether it is solar panels 

or rooftop gardens, a new development should be a model for sustainable design that will reduce the carbon footprint of Los Angeles 

and make the air in the neighborhood easier to breathe. 

Thank you for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hisserich can be found on page 

44 of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. Next we will hear 

from Mr. Eric Brown, economic development director for Watts, Office of Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Council District 15. 

STATEMENT OF ERIC BROWN, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR WATTS, OFFICE OF COUNCILWOMAN JANICE 

HAHN, COUNCIL DISTRICT 15

Mr. BROWN. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Waters. My name is 

Eric Brown, and I am the deputy representing Councilwoman JanVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
9

ice Hahn today. I would like to read a letter that she has submitted 

to your committee: 

‘‘Dear Congresswoman Waters: 

‘‘I would like to commend you for holding a hearing on behalf of 

the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity in the 

Jordan Downs Development. I understand there are extreme difficulties and challenges that are presented in the creation of affordable housing. Creating new jobs, new housing, and safe communities have been my main goals since I was elected to represent 

this community in 2001. 

‘‘I have more housing developments in my council district than 

any other council district in the City. Most of these developments 

are some of the oldest public housing stock in the City. I think that 

the Federal Government has neglected these developments in many 

ways and the constituents of my district deserve better. 

‘‘(1) The idea of redeveloping any of our public housing developments is very unnerving to many people, particularly the residents. 

Because of that, I will only support a redevelopment that builds replacement housing before any current housing is demolished. This, 

in my opinion, is the only acceptable way to go about the redevelopment, and because of that, the acquisition of new land near Jordan 

Downs is vital to any plans for redevelopment. 

‘‘(2) The main principle for redeveloping Jordan Downs is to revitalize this community. Redeveloping Jordan Downs would bring 

jobs, retail, and homeownership to a neighborhood that both needs 

and deserves these things. 

‘‘(3) I have had two other successful redevelopment projects in 

my district, Harbor Village and Dana Strand, that have been very 

successful. Dana Strand in the Wilmington, for example, is currently underway and when completed will consist of 400 units, consisting of 100 senior units, 120 townhomes, 116 rental units, and 

a possible 77 units for homeownership. 

‘‘(4) I feel there could be great potential for the Jordan Downs redevelopment project if we can create a strong public and private 

partnership with all levels of government. The impact of this 

project could be a model for developments around our City, State, 

and country. 

‘‘(5) I believe that redeveloping Jordan Downs will require an 

equal partnership with the community, all levels of government, 

and private entities to create a transparent process to make this 

project a success. Most importantly, we must include the current 

residents of Jordan Downs. Oftentimes, they are the last to get information and weigh in on the decisions that most impact their 

lives. The residents of Jordan Downs must be included in this process from the very beginning. 

‘‘Thank you again for holding this hearing and for allowing me 

to give my input. 

‘‘Sincerely, Janice Hahn, Councilwoman, 15th District, City of 

Los Angeles.’’ 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hahn can be found on page 40 

of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. 

10

Last on this panel, we will hear from Mr. Rudy Montiel, the executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. 

STATEMENT OF RUDOLF C. MONTIEL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, 

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES 

Mr. MONTIEL. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I would like you to speak right into the 

microphone and speak up so everybody can hear you. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Can everybody hear me? Good. Why are we talking 

about redevelopment? I think we understand redevelopment is necessary. It is a national issue. You can see the housing. The housing 

is 1940’s vintage. The rooms are small, the kitchens are small. 

They are not energy efficient. Many of these developments are not 

close to good public schools. They lack good public safety. 

So do we have a plan? No, we don’t have a plan. We have a concept. We have a vision that was articulated by the Deputy Mayor 

quite well. It is a vision that is not focused on Jordan Downs. It 

is citywide. We are looking at other opportunities citywide. 

It is a focus that is based on development of new units for public 

housing on a one-to-one replacement. May I say that again? Oneto-one replacement. I will even say it in Spanish. It will be a 

phased redevelopment because as was stated earlier, Los Angeles 

is full. We have nowhere for our people to live, for our families to 

live if we displace them from Jordan Downs. 

It will be green. It will have all the latest efforts to make our 

development sustainable, both the construction and the operation 

phase. I want to emphasize that nothing happens without involving 

the residents. We will not do anything without involving the residents. 

Now, are there rumors? Are there things that people are hearing? Yes. I am here as the chief executive officer of the Housing 

Authority of the City of Los Angeles to tell the public today that 

we have no definite plan for redevelopment of Jordan Downs. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Would you repeat that, please? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I am here to tell the public that we have no definite plan for redevelopment of Jordan Downs today. What is our 

concept? Everybody can see that there is vacant land adjacent to 

Jordan Downs. Would we like to acquire it? Of course we would. 

What I am showing now is item one, and we passed out some 

smaller versions of this. They are in the audience. This is vacant 

land that is adjacent to Jordan Downs. This is Jordan, this is 97th, 

this is 103rd, this is Great Street, and this is Alameda. As you can 

tell, there is a tremendous amount of vacant land. The concept 

would be if we were to acquire this land, we would build new units. 

Once the new units were up, then we could move families from the 

old units to the new units and then essentially demolish vacant 

units and build more. 

Some people have heard that we have talked with the LAUSD. 

We have because we believe that Jordan High School in the right 

community led effort in partnership with city agencies, LAUSD led 

by the Mayor’s office, we could indeed envision a time when Jordan 

High School would be as nice as the brand new high school over 

in Southgate that is right there. In addition to that, there is potenVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
11

tial here on the Alameda corridor to develop retail opportunities 

that could not only serve the residents of the new Jordan Downs 

but also serve as a place where there could be places of employment for people. 

Part of our concept says that we would have local hiring agreements when we do redevelopment so that the people who live there 

today who have the social equity also have the opportunity to prosper in this redevelopment. Will we involve the nonprofit sector? Absolutely. Many of the nonprofits are very skilled at providing the 

services that we as a housing authority are not skilled at. 

Will we involve the private sector? Absolutely. The private sector 

can develop vertical development far more efficiently than the 

housing authority. This is what it is all about. A major partnership, 

nonprofit, for-profit, public entities, and public/private coming together to redevelop a new urban village. 

Where are we today? Today we don’t have a definite plan. Today 

the land is not acquired. When we acquire the land, if we acquire 

the land, then we could begin the process of engaging the public, 

engaging our community to determine what we can do together at 

Jordan Downs. Definitely at this point we have not entered into a 

negotiation, much less a contract with any developer, with any nonprofit, with any for-profit. It simply isn’t true. 

I would ask you, as you hear these rumors, the people in the audience, if you are concerned, if you have doubts, if you have heard 

rumors, call me. Marianna DeSoto is at the back of the room. She 

has business cards. It is area code (213) 252–1810 

Chairwoman WATERS. And they can call you? 

Mr. MONTIEL. They can call. Madam Chairwoman, thank you 

again for the opportunity to testify. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Montiel can be found on page 50 

of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. At this point, we will ask questions of our 

panel before we call the second panel. I an going to start with our 

first witness, Ms. Blom. But before I do, I see that one of our city 

council persons just entered the room, Councilman Bernard Parks. 

Ms. Blom, you started talking with us about HOPE VI. A lot of 

people here know what HOPE VI is and a lot of people don’t know. 

What is HOPE VI and why do you think your testimony about 

HOPE VI is important to what we are doing here today? 

Ms. BLOM. Thank you, Ms. Waters. The HOPE VI Program was 

a program that began in 1993 to fund housing authorities for the 

redevelopment of distressed public housing. Currently the Department is providing 20 million grants to housing authorities on a 

competitive basis. 

The Fiscal Year 2008 Notice of Funding Availability will become 

available soon to housing authorities, and the Housing Authority of 

the City of Los Angeles would be able to apply under that notice 

of funding availability for this project or for other projects within 

its portfolio that are of a distressed nature and provides grant 

funds to the housing authorities to relocate the families, provide 

community and supportive services to the families, demolish the 

development and then rebuild in a mixed-income setting so that 

families will be able to return and come back to a redeveloped 

12

project that has a mix of public housing, affordable housing, and 

hopefully market rate housing as well. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. Ms. Hisserich. Are we all here? 

Yes. You mentioned a kind of vision that the Mayor has for housing development and expansion in the city because of a housing crisis. You alluded to a plan of sorts for perhaps South Los Angeles. 

Could you tell us a little more about that? Is there a definite plan 

for South Los Angeles that you know about at this time? 

Ms. HISSERICH. For housing, there is not a definite plan for 

South Los Angeles. The Mayor is very interested in developing 

housing in South Los Angeles, throughout South Los Angeles, and 

throughout the City of Los Angeles. The goal for housing is to develop mixed-income communities throughout Los Angeles. What 

that means is that there is a great deal of discussion in the City 

about traffic in parts of the west side. 

The Mayor believes by putting a fair share of affordable housing 

in parts of the City where there is not affordable housing, they can 

relieve traffic. Similarly, because of economic disadvantages in 

South Los Angeles, the Mayor believes that by creating mixed-income communities in South Los Angeles we can create jobs and 

economic opportunity in South Los Angeles that aren’t available 

today. The redevelopment of public housing is something that we 

are looking at throughout the City at all public housing sites but 

there isn’t a plan as such in South Los Angeles for that. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. I’m trying to get you to be as 

specific as you can. I appreciate that. Here in South Los Angeles 

we have Nickerson, of course Jordan, Imperial Courts, Gonzaque, 

and Avalon. There is a rumor that there is a plan for downtown 

somewhere to get rid of all of the public housing. Is that true? 

Ms. HISSERICH. Oh, that is absolutely untrue. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Okay. All right. 

Ms. HISSERICH. There is no such plan. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Okay. Very good. Thank you. 

Mr. Brown, thank you for sharing with us the letter from Janice 

Hahn. I think she was very clear that she would like to see improvements and that if there is a way to make life better, to make 

the public housing developments better, she would like to see that. 

She is adamantly opposed to this dislocation, displacement in any 

plan. There must be community involvement. As of today, she does 

not know of any plan to do any development here at Jordan because no land has been acquired. No money has been put up. Am 

I correctly stating her position? 

Mr. BROWN. You are absolutely correct, Chairwoman Waters. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Is there anything you want to add to that? 

Mr. BROWN. No, thank you. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. Now, Mr. Rudy Montiel. I have 

a lot of questions for you. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Okay. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Let us start with the land. You pointed 

out to all of us the land and you gave all of our residents a copy 

of this layout that includes Jordan. It shows where the land is and 

the surrounding streets. Where are you in the acquisition of the 

land? Are you actively trying to acquire that land? 

13

Mr. MONTIEL. We have actively pursued acquisition of land for 

about the last year, Madam Chairwoman. The land had been tied 

up in litigation. It is a public record issue. At this point, we do not 

have control of the land. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Why is it tied up in litigation? 

Mr. MONTIEL. It is tied up in litigation between the sellers and 

another buyer. It goes back to 2003. 

Chairwoman WATERS. So it sounds as if someone attempted to 

buy that land, and they have some kind of option of right-of-refusal, and that has not been resolved. Is that correct? 

Mr. MONTIEL. That is correct. We understand the resolution on 

that is forthcoming through the court shortly. 

Chairwoman WATERS. So you have not spent a dime of your 

money. There has been no Federal money. There has been no 

CDBG money. There has been no home money, anything spent to 

acquire that land at this point. Is that right? 

Mr. MONTIEL. We have not spent a single dollar of any type of 

money. 

Chairwoman WATERS. If the court cleared up the litigation anytime soon, and you moved to acquire the land, do you have the 

money to do it? 

Mr. MONTIEL. We have the funds to acquire the land or the lines 

of credit to accomplish that. Yes, ma’am. 

Chairwoman WATERS. How much does that land cost? 

Mr. MONTIEL. That is an interesting question because we believe 

that the land is worth less than the owners believe that the land 

is worth. 

Chairwoman WATERS. How much are they asking for the land? 

Mr. MONTIEL. They are asking for $40 million. 

Chairwoman WATERS. They are asking for $40 million for the 

land. Of course, if you were trying to get it, if you were going to 

pursue it, you would be negotiating to try and get it at a cheaper 

price? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Absolutely. 

Chairwoman WATERS. If you got involved in such negotiation in 

the next week or month or 6 months, how long do you think it 

would take to acquire the land? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I believe that once the lands were out of the litigation stage, etc., it would probably require between 90 and 180 days 

to actually get a contract on the land. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Is there any toxic material deposited on 

that land? 

Mr. MONTIEL. We believe that there may be some environmental 

impact to at least the first 6 to 12 inches of soil on the land. 

Chairwoman WATERS. If so, that would add to the cost. Cleanup cost would have to be incurred in order to prepare the land for 

development. Do you have that money? Are you expecting that 

from the Federal Government in the Brownfields Act or where 

would you get that money from? 

Mr. MONTIEL. My sense is that once the site was under control, 

we would then begin to develop the plan that we were talking 

about, not only with the resident involvement, but also on the financial side bringing together the City resources, and the State 

14

and Federal resources. The Brownfields Act could potentially be a 

source of funding for any clean-up. 

Chairwoman WATERS. As you know, citizens, whether they are 

residents of Jordan Downs or any other part of the City, are concerned about the environmental problems that would be involved 

with land where you may have deposits. How would you involve 

the citizens in making sure that their concerns can be satisfied 

that if there was a plan to develop that land, it would be cleaned 

up and saved? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Indeed. There are several requirements at the 

State, the local, and even the Federal level that require community 

involvement. Obviously on the redevelopment side your legislation 

is very strong when it comes to tenant protections. We agree with 

it almost to the letter of the legislation. It is good legislation. 

Secondly, on the NEPA and CEQA, the environmental permitting 

processes for the State of California are extremely rigorous, among 

the most rigorous in the Nation. Finally, just the local planning 

process of the comp plan for this part of the City is being developed 

by the planning department so at some point when we were trying 

to do something here we would have to involve the planning department and they would have certain public notice requirements 

as well in meeting requirements. 

Chairwoman WATERS. There is a rumor that you have already 

contracted with developers. Do you, or have you, entered into any 

agreements with developers to develop Jordan Downs? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Absolutely not. 

Chairwoman WATERS. You have signed no contracts? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I have signed no contracts. 

Chairwoman WATERS. You have put no requests out for proposal? 

Mr. MONTIEL. The only request for proposal that we have put 

out, Madam Chairwoman, is for HOPE VI consultants for citywide 

development. 

Chairwoman WATERS. But this would not necessarily be a HOPE 

VI project. Is that right? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Not necessarily. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Not necessarily. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Not necessarily. Ideally HOPE VI money would be 

very helpful here, but at this point in the process we are not sure 

what the plan would bring. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Does this project depend on HOPE VI 

money? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I don’t think that it would depend on HOPE VI 

money, although HOPE VI money would be very attractive because 

it provides the soft-side dollars, resident training, the job opportunity, the family self-sufficiency dollars. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Ms. Blom, how much money did the President put in the budget for HOPE VI? 

Ms. BLOM. The President did not ask for any funds as part of the 

Fiscal Year 2008 or Fiscal Year 2009 budget submission. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I think it is important to know that the 

President has not requested any funding for HOPE VI. We have a 

HOPE VI bill, my legislation that would fund HOPE VI if it goes 

through the Congress of the United States. Of course it would be 

on the President’s desk for signature, but I think it is important 

15

for Mr. Montiel to know that if he is depending on HOPE VI 

money, it may or may not be available to him. Okay. So we have 

no developers. Do you have any private entities that have invested 

any money in the proposed Jordan Downs redevelopment? 

Mr. MONTIEL. You know, that is an excellent question. If there 

are private entities that have invested any money on Jordan 

Downs it has not been, and I repeat it has not been at the direction 

of the housing authority of the City of Los Angeles. 

Chairwoman WATERS. So does that mean that you don’t know 

about any money that has come from any private source as an investment for redevelopment of Jordan Downs? Is that what you’re 

telling me? 

Mr. MONTIEL. That is what I am telling you. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Because you know that is one of the rumors. 

Mr. MONTIEL. I understand that. 

Chairwoman WATERS. There has been no investment by a private 

entity. I want the people to understand what you are saying very 

clearly, there has been no investment of private money at this 

time. Is that correct? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Not in our direction. By saying that, I am saying 

that I do not know of anyone who has made an investment in that 

property. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. Thank you very much. How 

many vacant units do you have? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I would have to ask our manager, Martin Purrey. 

Martin, are you in the room? If you will give me a second, Madam 

Chairwoman, Mr. Ricks, our director of public housing, will give me 

that answer. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Okay. 

Mr. MONTIEL. We have 20 vacant units here at Jordan Downs 

today, two zero. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Two zero. There has been a rumor, Mr. 

Montiel, that you may not have been investing in upkeep at Jordan 

Downs and Nickerson because you are anticipating redevelopment 

and you are allowing the units to be boarded-up and you are not 

putting money towards the upkeep that it should be put toward. 

Is that true? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Well, I would answer that, Madam Chairwoman, 

this way. Not only is it not true, but during my administration that 

began at the end of 2004, we have actually reduced the number of 

vacant units citywide. Now, we have taken a phased approach and 

we have focused on some communities faster than others. 

Jordan Downs used to have a lot of vacant units. Today it has 

a lot less, only 20. Ramona Gardens on the east side of town had 

at one time about 120 units. Today they don’t have any vacant 

units. We are now getting to the point where we have let an RFP 

for asbestos abatement citywide to accelerate the process of filling 

vacant units targeting Nickerson Gardens where we have over 200 

vacant units right now. 

Chairwoman WATERS. That is a lot. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes. I would add, Madam Chairwoman, that many 

of these vacant units have been vacant for over 5 years. 

16

Chairwoman WATERS. So while you are in the process of thinking 

about redevelopment, of looking at land acquisition, working on a 

plan perhaps are you going to continue to do the work that is necessary to make sure that the units and the people who live here 

now are safe and secure and that they are getting the kind of repairs and upkeep that is necessary for a good quality of life? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes, ma’am, to the extent that we utilize our relatively small capital budget. As you know, capital fund allocations 

have actually been reduced over the last 5 years from Congress and 

from the administration of budgets. If those were to increase, we 

would obviously do more work. But as far as utilizing the money 

that we are getting, we have actually gone from being 3 years in 

arrears to trying to spend the money we get the same year we get 

it. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I am aware of that problem and that is 

one of the things my subcommittee is working on. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Indeed. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I guess what I am saying is that you have 

20 units, and that is not a lot. That is relatively small compared 

to some of the other public housing developments. However, because as the Mayor’s representative has said, we have a housing 

crisis, those units are needed by somebody. I am talking about ordinary repairs of paint, changing washbasins, putting in flooring. Do 

you plan on doing that? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes. In fact, under Mr. Ricks’ direction, our new 

director of public housing, he has initiated a very aggressive program of accelerating repairs and accelerating major improvements 

to the facility throughout the City starting with roofs, playgrounds, 

and systems such as electrical and plumbing. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Now, if you redevelop it, would probably 

follow the HOPE VI model. The HOPE VI model is that you have 

market rate units. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes. 

Chairwoman WATERS. That means the fair market rate that has 

been charged out in the larger society. You also have homeownership opportunities? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes. 

Chairwoman WATERS. And then, of course, you have opportunities for those who qualify for public housing. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes. 

Chairwoman WATERS. How then can you do one-for-one replacement of all the people who are in public housing if you are going 

to dedicate some of these units to market rate and homeownership? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Excellent question. In our concept, in our vision 

because, again, no plan exists, it would be for increasing the number of units that are onsite because additional land would be provided as we said. Plus the density on the existing land would also 

increase so in some ways you would have some denser housing. 

I believe our Mayor periodically calls it elegit density which 

would allow more units here going from about 700 to about 2,100 

units in the overall development and that would allow for public 

housing one-to-one replacement. For workforce housing a similar 

number, about 700 units, and then about 700 units of market rate 

and homeownership opportunities. 

17

Chairwoman WATERS. What is workforce housing? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Workforce housing is best defined perhaps in 

terms of the area of immediate income. Public housing is typically 

around 30 percent of the low area. Workforce housing would go 

from there probably all the way to 80, 90, or 100 percent where you 

have working families who still cannot afford the market rent in 

the City of Los Angeles. As the Deputy Mayor said, it is very expensive. Then the market rate would probably start at 100, 110, or 

120 percent on up. 

Chairwoman WATERS. So you anticipate that should you do development here, you would expand the number of available units 

so that you could accommodate the concept that you just described, 

market rate and homeownership, and still have housing available 

for people who qualify for public housing. But you talked about 

density. Could you have more density without the approval of the 

people who live here? 

Mr. MONTIEL. No. 

Chairwoman WATERS. So if the people who live here say, ‘‘It is 

dense enough. We don’t want any more density’’ how then would 

you accommodate the concept? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Well, if the people were to say that we cannot have 

any more density and the project, as they say in development 

terms, would not pencil without more density. It would really drive 

the question of whether or not Jordan Downs gets redeveloped. As 

we have discussed before, we are looking at other opportunities 

throughout the City understanding that if Jordan Downs doesn’t 

happen, where else can we begin redevelopment. 

Chairwoman WATERS. As I remember this development, we have 

outdoor space that we don’t want to lose. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Correct. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Does the proposed development anticipate 

utilizing that outdoor space to create the density? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes and no. Let me answer it this way. We believe 

that in the new urban approach to redeveloping public housing at 

Jordan Downs, although there is a lot of space here, it is not that 

well-utilized. For example, you have a field here at the school that 

gets used about 10 percent of the time. You have a field here. Then 

you have a lot of green space between the units. 

I am wondering as you go to other places in Southern California 

that are very attractive to people on limit in Santa Monica and 

places like that, this is a perfect example. It has elegit density, yet 

it has the amenities for people willing to pay top dollar to get it. 

That is a concept, how to better utilize the space. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I understand what you are saying, but 

when you look at a development like Playa Vista and you compare 

the way the space is used, and then you take a look at Jordan 

Downs or Nickerson or Gonzaque or Avalon Gardens, you will probably find that there are more children per unit than in Playa Vista 

which means in this era of everybody embracing green space, you 

probably will need sizable green space. 

Mr. MONTIEL. Indeed. Indeed. Good playgrounds and good activities for the children. I think the councilwoman saw that in the redevelopment of Dana Strand. There was an effort to provide good 

18

protected green space for the children at Dana Strand and that 

seems to work well. 

Chairwoman WATERS. That is good. Well, I thank you, Mr. 

Montiel. I thank all of our panelists for your testimony. Mr. 

Montiel, you are going to stay with us? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Yes, ma’am. I will be here all afternoon. 

Chairwoman WATERS. We are going to call up our second panel. 

The Chair notes that some Members may have additional questions 

for you. Without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 

30 days for our Members to submit written questions to these witnesses and to place their responses in the record. Thank you, 

panel. 

We will call on our second panel at this time. We basically have 

heard from HUD, the City of Los Angeles, the Housing Authority 

of the City of Los Angeles, and the Councilwoman who represents 

this district. 

At this time we are going to hear from those people who live and/

or work in the community who will share with us their understanding about what is taking place. I will introduce those witnesses to you at this time. 

Mr. Keith Henderson, business manager, Jordan Downs Resident 

Management Corporation; Mr. Marlo Jones, resident, Jordan 

Downs Housing Development; Mr. Henry Broomfield, chair, Watts 

Neighborhood Council; Reverend Reginald A. Pope, Pastor, Bethel 

Missionary Baptist Church; Reverend Greg Bynum, Pastor, Lighthouse Church & Community Outreach. He is not here? All right. 

He is not here at this time. Mr. Oscar Neal, chair, WattsWillowbrook Chamber of Commerce. 

We are going to start with Reverend Reginald Pope, Pastor of 

Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. I would like to welcome all of 

our members of this panel with us today. We have to say certain 

things to go into the official record. That is why they have to keep 

handing me these pieces of paper. Without objection, your written 

statements will be made a part of the record, and you will now be 

recognized for 5 minutes. 

Thank you, Reverend Pope. 

STATEMENT OF REVEREND REGINALD A. POPE, PASTOR, 

BETHEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 

Rev. POPE. Thank you. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Speak right into the microphone and 

speak up so they can hear you way in the back, Reverend Pope. 

Rev. POPE. Honorable Congresswoman Maxine Waters, members 

of the Subcommittee on Housing, community members and friends, 

my name is Reginald A. Pope, Pastor of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, located about one half mile from the Jordan Downs 

Housing Facility. 

As a person who has served this community over the past 32 

years, I am very concerned about the possibility of the Jordan 

Downs Housing Projects being redeveloped. Rumor has it that 

plans are being made to completely redevelop the area and, if so, 

it is vitally important that all entities in the community have a say 

in the planning process. Redevelopment will affect families of our 

congregation who reside in the complex, our church itself which 

19

nurtures those families, and the entire atmosphere of the community. 

Therefore, let it be known for certainty if redevelopment is being 

planned, who are the persons doing the planning, what efforts have 

been made to adequately inform and involve the entire community, 

what will happen to the residents of the complex, what will replace 

the facility, and what are the timelines for beginning and completion of the project? 

Madam Chairwoman, thank you for allowing me to speak today. 

[The prepared statement of Reverend Pope can be found on page 

56 of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much, Reverend Pope. I 

know that you have a previous commitment and that you won’t be 

able to stay. While I am thanking you for your testimony, let me 

thank you for your love of this community, your service to the community, and the open doors of your church that we all visit on a 

regular basis and I will be with you for this, I think, weekend 

where the conference takes place. We depend on you. My last appreciation is about the transportation that you have provided for 

the attempts that we have made to do job training with the fiber 

optics class. I want to tell you that was very much needed and appreciated by all who were the beneficiaries. Thank you so much, 

Reverend Pope. 

Rev. POPE. Thank you very much. 

Our next panelist will be Mr. Keith Henderson, the Business 

Manager, Jordan Downs Resident Management Corporation. 

STATEMENT OF KEITH HENDERSON, BUSINESS MANAGER, 

JORDAN DOWNS RESIDENT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION 

Mr. HENDERSON. Good afternoon, Congresswoman Maxine Waters. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Good afternoon. 

Mr. HENDERSON. We welcome you with firm handshakes and 

open arms. My name is Keith Henderson, and I am the business 

manager of the Jordan Downs Resident Management Corporation 

(RMC). I was elected 3 years ago by the residents to represent the 

residents of the housing development. What I do as part of the 

RMC is address concerns of the residents and take those concerns 

to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. We also plan 

events for the residents of Jordan Downs with the help of the City 

of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and the Los 

Angeles WorkSource Center. 

Today, I am here to speak about the redevelopment process of 

Jordan Downs Housing Development and all the issues attached to 

it. As far as what I know about the situation, I do not know anything yet about any plans to redevelop Jordan Downs. However, I 

have heard many things about it, such as talk about tearing down 

all 700 units and building half of them back, leaving the other half 

of the residents to fend for themselves. But if and when I get information as a community leader, I am the first one to let the community know. 

I feel that there needs to be beautification such as painting the 

inside and outside of the dwellings. This will improve the look of 

Jordan Downs so it will not look so much like a Federal penitenVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
20

tiary. Now, as far as redevelopment goes, redevelopment can be 

anything from breaking down bricks to adding a fishing pond in 

the park. We, as the RMC, do not know what is really going on but 

we are obligated to ask and do all the work necessary to become 

well-informed. We are here to listen and see what happens next. 

I personally would like to see the factory adjacent to Jordan 

Downs torn down so we can improve the overall look because it is 

located literally in the middle of Jordan Downs. But the main issue 

to me is if we can’t break down the issues going on inside the development right now, then rebuilding will be useless because we 

will have the same issues after the overall redevelopment. 

In other words, it would be like a new house with old plumbing. 

These issues I speak of range from the high unemployment rate to 

Black on Black crime, Brown on Black crime, police harassment of 

residents, as well as the new gang injunction which I believe is unjust and discriminates based on race. 

Lastly, I would add if anything has materialized, as far as any 

redevelopment plans, then as a board member I would have to ask 

that whomever is doing the redevelopment that we immediately be 

informed and have monthly meetings telling us what is going to 

happen, who is involved, who is responsible for what, and what is 

to come in the future. Most importantly, if there are any jobs involved at any level, residents should be given first opportunity for 

those jobs. 

Also, if there are any plans to temporarily relocate residents, 

they should remain in the community and be give the first opportunity to return to Jordan Downs. And of the utmost concern to 

me, if there are any plans developed, I would hope no units are reduced. If anything there should be more units. 

Thank you again, Congresswoman Waters, for having me testify 

here today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Henderson can be found on page 

42 of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you so much Mr. Henderson, not 

only for being here today, but for your leadership. My staff and others all know of what you are doing and we appreciate it very much. 

I am sure the residents here appreciate the kind of leadership that 

you are providing as the business manager. Thank you. 

Next I am going to call on Mr. Marlo Jones, fondly known as 

Bow Wow. I thank you for being here today, Mr. Jones, but I thank 

you more for the work that you do on preventing gang violence. 

Thank you for the work that you do with Mr. Greg Thomas and 

the CUSH organization. I welcome you and your comments and 

your thoughts about this rumored redevelopment. 

STATEMENT OF MARLO JONES, RESIDENT, JORDAN DOWNS 

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT 

Mr. JONES. Good morning, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and 

committee members. My name is Marlo Jones aka (Bow Wow), and 

I have been the gang intervention specialist for Jordan Downs 

Housing Development for the past 4 years. As you know, the 700 

units in Jordan Downs provide housing to low-income families who 

desperately need this assistance. 

21

Two months ago, I attended a meeting at Jordan Downs sponsored by SCLC and other organizations. I was surprised to hear 

about the possible reconstruction of Jordan Downs. Why are there 

rumors of possibly tearing down the 700 units in Jordan Downs? 

What is the motive? Why is the Housing Authority picking on our 

projects? Why isn’t the Housing Authority investing money into our 

projects resources instead of surveillance camera equipment? Our 

residents here at Jordan Downs do not have a clue or understand 

what is going on. 

We would like to know the truth! If the residents at Jordan 

Downs are relocated, how and when will we find out? Will you already have a plan for relocation? Will we be relocated to Palmdale, 

or Lancaster, California? If so, the residents will face many inconveniences, such as housing, transportation, and law enforcement 

problems. What finances will be provided to the residents when 

and if relocated? Finances such as monies for higher rent, for moving, for transportation costs to stay connected to family and 

friends? Our supermarkets, schools, laundromats, and other stores 

are conveniently located near our homes. 

How do you adapt, moving residents who receive county aid and 

other services to a new area outside Los Angeles? It is very traumatic moving from a mini-community like Jordan Downs to a 

desert like Palmdale or Lancaster. The residents need leadership 

if all the residents are relocated to another area— 

Chairwoman WATERS. Excuse me one moment, Mr. Jones. Slow 

down a little bit. Our translator is trying to keep up with you. Our 

recorder is trying to keep up with you, so slow down just a little 

bit. 

Mr. JONES. Okay. If all of the residents are relocated to another 

area, the services that they receive will no longer be available to 

the people who need the help. I feel that the people in the community of Jordan Downs will be harmed and feel rejected. I would like 

to end with, please be conscientious when making all your decisions. We are underprivileged humans already. 

Thank you for your time and consideration to our concerns and 

thank you, Congresswoman Waters, for having me today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Jones can be found on page 49 

of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much for being here. 

All right. We have Mr. Henry Broomfield, the chair of the Watts 

Neighborhood Council. I want to thank you for your service. I appreciate those persons who take time out of their lives to provide 

leadership for the community. It is not easy. I know that but those 

of you who decide to do it are very much appreciated and I thank 

you for it. 

Mr. Broomfield, please share with us your testimony for today. 

STATEMENT OF HENRY BROOMFIELD, CHAIR, WATTS 

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL 

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Good morning, Congresswoman Waters, and 

committee members. My name is Henry Broomfield, and I am the 

chair of the Watts Neighborhood Council. I am here today to express the thoughts and concerns of the Council and the community 

that we represent. 

22

First, I want to thank Congresswoman Waters for having the 

foresight to hold this hearing right here in the community and for 

making sure that members of the community have the opportunity 

to address this issue that is so important to them. 

As a Council, we have heard concerns and had questions about 

the possible redevelopment of Jordan Downs at almost every 

monthly meeting. People are scared, nervous, and dismayed because of all the rumors floating around our community. We want 

to know what the City is planning. Are they planning to remodel 

or tear down? If remodel, what structure will they do it in? Will 

it be portions that will move people to other units during the process or as a whole and re-locate everyone at the same time? 

The Watts Neighborhood Council is very displeased with the 

Housing Authority because they have allowed so many rumors to 

go unchecked for so long. In their consideration of redeveloping 

housing projects in South Central Los Angeles, they have created 

fear and increased distrust in the community. They have caused 

dismay and made it difficult for active leaders to address resident 

concerns. Our purpose as a Council is to bring the community together, to encourage the community to be involved. How can you 

do that when people don’t know where they will be living monthto-month? 

Most of the questions that we had have been answered. Therefore, the question is, will they be moving half of the residents to 

Palmdale and Lancaster, remodeling their units, and when they 

are done, moving them back in? Then moving the other half out to 

Palmdale and Lancaster and bringing them back once the second 

half is completed? 

At the end of the statement, what I want to say is that our major 

concern is if it is going to be in development and when it will be 

in development that the community and our youth have the opportunity to have good jobs with this, not only building but clerical 

work and different types of work. 

I want to thank you and the staff for allowing me to speak today. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Broomfield can be found on page 

38 of the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you so much. I really appreciate 

your being here. 

Next we are going to hear from Mr. Oscar Neal, chair of the 

Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce. Thank you again for 

coming. The Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce is important to us. Ms. Edna Aliewine is an old friend of mine. I can’t tell 

you how far back we go, because then you would know how old we 

really are. I appreciate the time and effort that has been put in by 

the Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce. You never left this 

community. You stayed with us and I do appreciate it. Mr. Neal, 

we would like to hear from you. 

STATEMENT OF OSCAR NEAL, CHAIR, WATTS–WILLOWBROOK 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Mr. NEAL. Thank you, Congresswoman Waters. My name is 

Oscar Neal. I am the owner of Jordan’s Cafe, and have been a resident of Watts since 1944, a graduate of Jordan High School, and 

23

also the chairperson of the Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce. I became aware of rumors at the beginning of the Dana 

Strand which you heard kind of at the top of the meeting here. 

This was approximately the year 2001/2002. In turn, they tore 

Dana Strand completely down to the ground. 

At this particular time, there were quite a few rumors that the 

City of Los Angeles was trying to get out of the landlord tenant 

business and in turn of the displacement of the residency was that 

they were displaced by choice throughout the United States. Some 

went to Texas and some went to other locations. 

If the Jordan Down plan is a mirror image of the Dana Strand 

plan, I would say that basically you are looking at displacement 

and you are also looking at an impact on businesses, an impact on 

the schools, and also an impact on the churches because there will 

be a certain amount of vacancies that will happen. 

At that particular time, for some reason I don’t know, and I 

thought that basically the other public housing units throughout 

the Los Angeles area was informed as to what was going on in Wilmington in reference to Dana Strand. The Dana Strand project I 

am sure one of the representatives that was up here earlier would 

be able to give you the information but I don’t know if it has been 

completed. Completed means whether the tenants have been able 

to move in. 

I think we heard there were something like 700 tenants and 

after the redevelopment there were something like 400. Again, that 

was the beginning of the rumors that I heard. 

As far as the redevelopment, one of the things we have to realize 

in the Los Angeles area, vacant space in Los Angeles is very, very 

competitive because on one side you have the school system that 

I think is trying to build 14 new schools and on this side you have 

redevelopment of public housing in Los Angeles. 

The interesting thing that I heard earlier was that if we have 

200 vacancies in Jordan Downs, the displacement of people from 

Nickerson—I mean from Jordan Downs. If we have 200 vacancies 

in Nickerson, could we kind of compromise and can we fix it up? 

I don’t know. That is just a question. 

The other thing that happens is that housing in the Watts area 

1,800 square feet is selling for near $400,000, which means that 

you are talking about a household income of $120,000. I think 

along with redevelopment means upward mobility which means we 

are talking about people who should be making in excess of $20 an 

hour. I think if we are looking at that, the timeline of completion 

if we started today, I am sure we are looking at 7 years before the 

project would be completed. 

We are talking about a vacuum of 6 years. In turn, there should 

be a certain amount of training that is done. Then there should 

also be looked into a forgiving system. A forgiving system might be 

one where we know that we have a substance problem in the 

United States. It might be that there is a job that comes available 

and I didn’t pass the test but I should be allowed to go back 3 

months or 6 months to reapply for the job and see if I quality. I 

think with the redevelopment you are looking at many different aspects that impact the community. 

24

Certainly once the redevelopment process starts, if it happens, 

we would have more spendable income in the area. We would have 

a certain degree of pride of ownership. Again, my statement to the 

committee is one basically that the rumors started basically back 

in 2001 as far as I am concerned. 

Again, I would like to thank the committee for allowing me to 

have a few minutes to speak. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Neal can be found on page 55 of 

the appendix.] 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you so very much, Mr. Neal. How 

old is the restaurant? 

Mr. NEAL. We opened in 1942. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Wow. 

Mr. NEAL. We have been around a long time. I graduated from 

Jordan High School in 1955 and I went to my 50th high school reunion in 2005. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Wow. That is what you call commitment. 

Thank you very much. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I will take a few minutes to ask a few 

questions of our witnesses who appeared before us today. 

Mr. Henderson, would you take a moment and describe for me 

the kind of fear and uncertainty that you and others have alluded 

to because of the rumors. What is it people say? How do they express their concern? 

Mr. HENDERSON. Well, basically, Congresswoman, the fear and 

uncertainty comes from actually not knowing. The thing is when 

they toss around ‘‘redevelopment’’ so loosely, redevelopment can be 

anything. The first thing that the average person thinks about, 

though, is basically tearing down the bricks. Like I said, it can be 

anything from painting the inside and outside dwelling to adding 

a fishing pond. That is what redevelopment means. It has a lot of 

commas up under it. 

I don’t want anybody to actually get scared, but they have to be 

aware of what is really going on because eventually, if the land 

hasn’t been acquired, it will be. We just need to be prepared as 

residents to basically step up. When I say step up, I mean on a 

whole other level, a financial level. A lot of people’s credit is not 

good so the fear and uncertainty come from actually just living. 

Some people made bad decisions in their lives that they are trying to basically recant for right now so that is what I mean by the 

whole uncertainty of it. The average person feels that they might 

get relocated to the valley, you know. That is not cool. My thing 

is I have been around for 20-plus years here. I don’t know if that 

is a blessing or a curse. 

I would call it a blessing, you know, thanks to my mom and my 

grandmother and all that. Basically I grew up looking at everything that has happened from the respect level of the youngsters 

to the disrespect level of the youngsters today. It is all based on 

if we have our stuff really together then we should be able to elevate. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Have you thought about the best way to 

disseminate information and keep people involved with the facts so 

that the rumors don’t create all of the fear and uncertainty? Have 

you thought about what the housing authority can do to create the 

25

kind of communication with the residents that will keep them updated with facts? 

Mr. HENDERSON. Well, the first thing that I can actually say 

about that is as the RMC, we need to establish a Web site. Everything is becoming digital now. Everybody is using computers but 

through the old way how we normally do we normally flyer the 

neighborhood. For the most part we do have a positive turnout but 

we have to recognize that some of our youth and some of the parents of the youth are actually working so they can’t attend certain 

meetings. Do you know what I am saying? 

So the Web site is the first thing that I can think about that 

would actually be updated with the truth. I don’t know who is 

going to establish it. I would head that but I need to find out how 

to go about basically maintaining it and getting the truth from 

these top people because as a board like basically we are on the 

totem pole. We are on the bottom of it as far as with politics. I feel 

that with the proper education and all that, we can be vastly 

brought up to standard so we as a board, me, Sandra, Claudia 

Moore, Michael Augustine, we can actually get it out to the people 

fast because it is a necessity to know and not have people running 

around here like chickens with their heads cut off, per se. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Mr. Broomfield, thus far we have had Mr. 

Montiel here, and I have tried to ask him as many direct questions 

as I could think of to deal with the rumors. Do you think that some 

of the rumors have been cleared up with his testimony today? 

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Yes, ma’am. I think all the rumors have been 

cleared up. We know there is no project on the table at this time. 

Chairwoman WATERS. I am sorry. Somebody is asking you to 

speak up. 

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Yes, ma’am. Things have been cleared up for 

me today. A lot of the questions I had were about how they were 

going to proceed on the project. I know now there is no project, and 

I know there is no funding for a project, so all the rumors that 

have been spread around have just been rumors. 

Chairwoman WATERS. That is right. Mr. Broomfield, I just had 

some advice about how to communicate better. The Web site which 

I think is absolutely good thinking based on the dependence on 

new technology and the fact that people are involved in that. Do 

you have any other thoughts about how there could be better communication with the housing authority so that rumors could be 

dealt with quickly and facts could be disseminated quickly so that 

people don’t go around in fear that they are going to get shipped 

out of here to some other county and lose their ability to stay in 

their units. Do you have any thoughts about what else could be 

done? 

Mr. BROOMFIELD. Yes, ma’am. I do. Myself and my co-chair, 

Betty Day, we are forming a Web site. Not only are we forming a 

Web site, but we have a newsletter called the ‘‘Watts Voice.’’ We 

are sending information out to the community each and every 

month. We are in the process of building our Web site now as this 

gentleman next to me, Mr. Henderson, stated, and that is what it 

is going to take to get the word out. We are not going to be able 

to stop all the rumors but attend more meetings in the community, 

26

more organizations in the community come together as one so we 

can go back to our people and tell them this is true and this is not. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you. Is Ms. Betty Day in the audience? Would you please stand up? We want to say thank you for 

your service and your work also. I think the Web site is a good 

idea. Knowing what I know about you, even if you had no Web site, 

you would still get the word out if you can. I know you, Betty Day. 

Okay. 

All right. Let me ask Mr. Jones, has this hearing been helpful 

in answering some of the questions that you have heard out in the 

community about what is going on? Has this helped at all? 

Mr. JONES. Yes. It cleared up a lot of rumors. This is much needed by the people, as far as myself, too. The answers to the questions were right on point. By the time the day is over with, there 

will be more rumors about the facts. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Rumors about the facts? 

Mr. JONES. Rumors about the facts. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Do you have any thoughts about how we 

can create better communication to keep the rumors at bay and get 

the facts out? What else can we do? What else can the housing authority do? 

Mr. JONES. I mean, set up a committee as far as possibly have 

some meetings for updates on the redevelopment process. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Mr. Henderson, you have a number of officers that are in the corporation, the resident management corporation. Are they in the room today? 

Mr. HENDERSON. Yes. We have my president, Cassandra Savage. 

She is here. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Hello. Good to see you. Will all of the officers of the Resident Management Corporation please stand. Who 

else is in the room? 

Mr. HENDERSON. Ms. Moore. I don’t know if Claudia Moore is 

here, but if she is not here, she is definitely here in spirit, because 

she has been down so we do want to give a hand clap for her, too. 

Chairwoman WATERS. There is Claudia. Stand up Claudia 

Moore. That is one of my old friends. She started out with us at 

Project Build. How many years ago, Claudia? 

Ms. MOORE. It has been a long time. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Go ahead and tell them. You don’t want 

them to know how old you are—35 years ago we started. It is good 

to see you. Thank you. 

All right. Is it possible that you could think about the corporation 

in conjunction with some others maybe in the community setting 

up a regular communication about this issue in addition to all the 

other issues you talk about but simply an ongoing update on the 

development question. Is that possible? 

Mr. HENDERSON. Yes, everything is possible. The thing is we 

have to have information to do it. As long as that happens, as long 

as that is getting basically handed to us, then us as a community 

and as a board we are obligated to give it out to the public and 

that is where everybody in the neighborhood who don’t really pay 

attention to politics—it is a way of speaking on both levels. Basically politicking is this right here but we still have the brothers 

27

and sisters who don’t pay any attention to politics, so we still have 

a way to communicate with them, too. 

Also, Chairwoman Waters, I want to mention one more member 

on my board, Clara Niece Moore. She has been sick. That is what 

I was talking about. She has been sick and down so I would just 

like to say get well soon and we will see you, you know. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Absolutely. Our thoughts go out to her. 

We want her to get well and we appreciate her volunteering and 

her help in helping to make Jordan Downs the best we can possibly 

make it. 

Mr. Neal, do you have any other ideas? You see people all the 

time. They are in and out and the restaurant is where conversation 

goes on. Do you have any thoughts about how we can better communicate? 

Mr. NEAL. I think that inclusive of all of the public housing, I 

think if all of them communicate, we can put to rest not only rumors at Jordan Downs but rumors there are only 200 vacancies. 

You know, that is a lot of questioning right there. How can you 

have 200 vacancies? That is what started it. When people start seeing things being boarded up, they think the City is planning on 

making some drastic moves and there are a lot of boarded up 

places in Jordan Downs. I think the thing about it is networking 

and communication between all areas, all organizations that represent the Watts-Willowbrook area. I think if they communicate a 

little bit, we can dispel a lot of rumors. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. I would like to 

thank this panel for coming out today and for sharing with us information that I think is very helpful not only to the housing authority but for those of us who have the responsibility for public 

policy in Washington, D.C. 

I am going to deviate a bit from the normal way that these kinds 

of hearings are done in Washington, and I am going to ask some 

questions of the audience. I have to also put something in the 

record. We note that some Members who are not here today, Members of Congress, may have additional questions for this panel 

which they may wish to submit in writing. Without objection, the 

hearing record will remain open for 30 days for Members to submit 

written questions to these witnesses and to place their responses 

in the record. 

Before I dismiss the panel, I want to address the audience. I 

would like to see the hands of people who actually live in Jordan 

Downs. Great response and great participation, and I am so very 

pleased that you are here. 

I would also like to ask the audience by way of show of hands 

how many people have been frightened by the rumors that you 

have heard. I am going to ask some general questions of the entire 

audience in the way that I just asked those two. Do you believe 

there is room for development at Jordan Downs? Do you think this 

is something that may be needed that could possibly help Jordan 

Downs? What do you think? 

How many people think that based on what you heard, that if 

the land was acquired, the new buildings went up, the people from 

the old buildings moved into the new buildings on a phased-in 

basis, and that it is one-for-one replacement and everybody who 

28

lives in Jordan Downs would have an opportunity to live in the 

new building, how many people think that is a worthwhile project? 

How many people trust that the housing authority can really get 

that done? How many people would be willing to be involved in 

helping to make decisions about any proposed development such as 

whether or not there would be more density, as you heard alluded 

to, how much green space there should be, whether or not there 

should be a 3- or 4-story building, whether or not, whether or not. 

How many people believe that it is important to be involved in that 

kind of planning and would be willing to do it? 

How many people believe that you can make the final decision 

about any development? Not simply the size of the development, 

the architecture design, the green space, but you can decide whether or not there is any development or not? How many people believe that? 

How many people know and understand that it is your right to 

decide whether or not there is a kind of development that has been 

talked about? How many people would be willing to get the information, look at it, and say, ‘‘I don’t like it. I don’t think it works.’’ 

Or to say, ‘‘I kind of like this. I think it has possibilities. I think 

it works and I want to work with it.’’ How many people are willing 

to go along and either support or not support? How many people? 

How many people feel just a little bit better today because of this 

hearing? How many people know and understand that unless you 

are involved, and unless you make this decision, Maxine Waters 

doesn’t intend that they get a dime from Washington or anyplace 

else? How many people can understand that? 

Okay. What we are going to do is, we are going to ask Mr. 

Montiel to come back up. Thank you for being here, Mr. Montiel. 

Give him a big round of applause. Now, I’m going to ask Mr. 

Montiel to do something that I think is very, very easy to do. I 

would like you to get with our panelists who have participated here 

today and the management corporation, which includes Mr. Pope, 

Mr. Neal, etc., CUSH and Mr. Jones, etc.—everybody—Mr. Broomfield. Come up with a way by which you can have an ongoing meeting or meetings to keep them informed and updated on every step 

that has been thought about. Can you do that? Would you be willing to participate in some kind of ongoing interface with Mr. 

Montiel? All right. 

Mr. Montiel, we know that as in any organization you have a lot 

of personnel and they are assigned to do a lot of things but I am 

going to ask you to do me a favor. For the first three meetings, I 

want you there. Can you do that? 

Mr. MONTIEL. I can do that. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. Okay. Then after those three, if 

the people you are meeting with feel as if you don’t have to be 

there, that you can send someone, would you allow them to decide 

that? 

Mr. MONTIEL. Absolutely. 

Chairwoman WATERS. All right. Do you think we can do this? All 

right. I forgot to mention before we go that a young councilman 

from Compton is so interested in what is happening not only here 

at Jordan but with all of the public housing developments throughVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
29

out the City that he came today. Please welcome Councilman 

Isadore Hall. 

This hearing has drawn a lot of attention. Just as you saw Mr. 

Parks here, we have another candidate who is running for the 

State Senate, who was in one of those caucuses this morning, and 

the last thing he said to me when I left is, ‘‘I am coming too.’’ He 

is in the back of the room, Mr. Roderick Wright. 

Now, I like the idea that elected officials are showing up because 

we must all be held accountable. We must all be held accountable. 

We know that sometimes life is a little bit difficult and it is not 

what most of us would like to have. Sometimes we have to roll with 

the punches. We have to live with some of the cards that are dealt 

to us in life. Many of us believe that with self-determination, with 

the belief in self, with the love for family and community, we can 

do better. We can do better. I believe that and I know a lot of you 

believe that. I know that sometimes you feel as if you have been 

abandoned. I know that sometimes you feel as if you are being harassed. 

I know that you feel that somehow the sun doesn’t shine down 

here at Jordan Downs but I want you to know that even though 

you don’t see everybody all the time, that we are fighting on public 

policy to make sure that the Federal Government understands that 

no matter what happens there must always be public housing units 

available for people in this country. We do everything that we can 

and we are working on the capital question that was alluded to 

today by Mr. Montiel to have more money for renovations and repairs to make public housing units more livable. 

I wish that I had an answer for the crime that too many of us 

are fed up with and sick of. We know as long as we have a lot of 

young people who feel as if they have been dropped off of America’s 

agenda, that they have nowhere to turn, that they have no jobs and 

nobody cares and they are anonymous and they can do what they 

want to do, we are going to have problems. 

All of the elected officials have to work harder for job creation, 

for job training to open up opportunities. And you have to tell them 

if they are not in school, they better get over to the Maxine Waters 

Employment Preparation Center and learn something. We have 

some people we are going to meet with today to try and see if we 

can’t revitalize the fiber optics training that pays so well if you get 

that kind of training. We want folks to try, just try. 

The harder you try, the harder people around you will try. We 

want you to know that you have a right to be assisted by your government and some of us believe very deeply in it. We have a lot 

of successes. There are people in this room who started with 

Project Bill many years ago who own their own homes. Greg 

Brown, where are you? Where is Greg Brown? Greg? There is Greg. 

Greg started with Project Bill. He is a homeowner. He is one of the 

activists of the community looking out for our young people, working in several housing developments. Claudia Moore and others. 

We have had successes and we have had losses. Every time I 

come to Jordan Downs my heart just falls because I think of High 

T and Ray Ray and the young people that we worked with who 

didn’t make it. But, you know, because of the losses, that means 

we have to try to do better so that we prevent more losses. I want 

30

you to know that I am proud of you just for being here today because you know what? A lot of people said that nobody would come, 

but look at this room; it is full. 

Your presence today sends a powerful message. I want you to 

know that I and others are going to stay in step and in tune and 

at every meeting that Mr. Montiel has with those of you who are 

going to do the follow-up to keep up with the information about the 

development, I am going to have a staff person there, too. I may 

be in Washington, but we will have a staff person there, too. 

With that, guess what? Our Congresswomen from the adjacent 

district just walked in the room. She, too, was at the caucus this 

morning where she received support for the endorsement of the 

Democratic Party. She was recently elected to the 37th Congressional District. As you know, that part of the District adjacent to 

this one was represented by Congresswoman Juanita McDonald, 

who passed away. Ms. Richardson was in the State legislature. She 

quickly moved and stepped up to the plate, and hit the ground running. She is doing a great job. 

What I love about her presence on Capitol Hill is that she does 

not mind me crossing over the lines to work not only with Jordan 

but with Nickerson and Imperial Court and with Gonzaque. I don’t 

mind her crossing over to work with Jordan and Avalon Gardens. 

We are working together for all of our housing developments. Welcome, Ms. Richardson. The microphone is yours. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Thank you, Congresswoman Waters. First of 

all, let me say that I apologize for not being here earlier. As she 

said, I was at a meeting and my part just finished. I just came here 

to say a couple of things. First, you need to know how blessed you 

are. Not only do you have Congresswoman Waters who represents 

this area, but she is actually the chairwoman of the subcommittee. 

Why that is important to you is by her being chairwoman, any and 

everything that we can possibly get to enhance this community, she 

is in the position to make that happen, so let us give her a round 

of applause. 

I just want to say that I have been fortunate, as you have been, 

to learn from the Congresswoman. What happens in these developments here are very important to us. We need to make sure that 

as funds now become available, as we hopefully have a new Administration coming forward, that we need to make sure that all of you 

who have stuck in here with us at Jordan Downs, that the enhancements and the improvements that have been long overdue do, 

in fact, happen. 

You just need to know, as she said, she may be in Washington, 

but she has a very close and watchful eye on what is happening 

here. She fought that with the new legislation that was passed that 

there would be community participation, which is what you are 

seeing right now. She fought to ensure that as we make improvements, there will still be homes and places for people to go. Those 

are all things that she made sure happened. 

In other places across the country, it was very common that if 

improvements were done, people would be sent away. I know rumors in my area said that old people are going to Palmdale or they 

are going to Antelope Valley. Your Congresswoman has made sure 

that enhancements are done in a phased way so that way our famiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:38 May 01, 2008 Jkt 041732 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\41732.TXT TERRIE
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lies can still stay together. I am just here to say that I am working 

with her. I have her back. I have enjoyed learning from her and 

we are going to make sure that you are well taken care of. Thank 

you very much. 

Chairwoman WATERS. Thank you very much. I want you to know 

that when I told Mr. Montiel that all I could produce for today was 

water, he said, ‘‘Don’t worry. I have the food.’’ We have food for everybody before you leave here today. 

I would like to thank all of the staff people who are here and I 

would like them to come down front. Would all the staff people 

come down front. Okay. Is Mr. Mikael Moore in the room? I would 

like Mr. Mikael Moore to step out here. This is a young man who 

graduated from Morehouse and is working on the Hill as my chief 

of staff. He is doing a fabulous job on Capitol Hill. Give him a big 

round of applause. 

I also want you to know with the new committee assignment that 

I have, I was able to get new staff. It is very hard to find experts 

dealing with everything from CDBG to Section 108 loan guarantee 

programs or to all of the activities of HUD including HOPE VI, all 

of that. I found a young woman who is one of the smartest young 

consultants I have ever met in life, and I want you to welcome 

Charla Ouertatani, from Washington, D.C. 

We also have with us another young lady whom I think may be 

in this part of Los Angeles for the first time, who works on the 

committee, Ms. Gisele Roget. Thank you very much for being here. 

Right here in Los Angeles, working out of the district office, we 

have Ms. Blanca Jimenez. Blanca, please raise your hand. 

Where is Ms. April Lawrence? Step right up, Ms. April Lawrence. 

Mr. Edgar Saenz. You heard some reference to Playa Vista. We 

have a huge district. Most people don’t know the boundaries of our 

districts. We include not only parts of South Central and Watts. 

We share Watts, the two of us. 

I have parts of South Central Los Angeles. I have the cities of 

Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Lawndale, and I have all of Playa 

Vista and all of the airport so we cover quite a bit of territory in 

this district. 

Also we have Anjelica. Would you please step out there? Marty 

Moore, please step out. Michelle, please step out. 

I want you to know that these young people, or these people 

young and not so young, most of them are pretty young, are hired 

by you. You are the taxpayers. You are the folks who caused them 

to be able to have their job. You may call our office to ask us questions about anything. We do constituent complaints. We help people work out Social Security problems. We do mostly Federal work. 

A lot of times people will call us about city council work or State 

legislature work and we will tell you where who to contact. 

On the Federal level, we are dealing with people who are incarcerated and people who are trying to get people moved closer to 

them. We are dealing with Social Security problems. We are dealing with all of those problems that are under our Federal jurisdiction. We will be working on the No Child Left Behind legislation 

that a lot of you are concerned about, so feel free to call us and 

to call Laura Richardson. We will do everything that we can to 

32

truly be your representatives in Washington. Thank you for being 

here today. You make me proud. This meeting is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:00 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

(33)

A P P E N D I X

March 15, 2008

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