Word: rebuilding
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...after the gulf war. Until a few weeks ago, truck convoys from Jordan transported 6,000 tons of goods a day into Iraq, but only about 70% were the food and medicine permitted by the U.N. The remainder, say U.S. intelligence officials, consisted of materials Saddam has used to rebuild the infrastructure damaged by allied bombs...
Last month Ueberroth moved his Rebuild L.A. staff into donated offices downtown and appointed to a still growing 50-member board community, corporate and government representatives, reflecting his "tripod" approach to the task. He says he is committed to breaking down the barriers that have sealed wealth out of the city's minority communities. "It's important that this neighborhood gets greenlined instead of redlined," he proclaims. But in the two months since he became Los Angeles' designated rebuilder, his critics say he has made little progress toward that goal, and they are skeptical that his efforts will be enough...
...meantime, creative black entrepreneurs like John Bryant are filling the gap. Just days after the riots, Bryant formed Operation Hope, a nonprofit community-development organization. The next day he secured the $370,000 needed to rebuild a South Central landmark, a pharmacy owned by Gilbert Mathieu, destroyed in the riots. Bryant's goal for the next year is to finance similar deals for 100 businesses with average loans of $200,000. "If we don't create other Gil Mathieus, then we shouldn't be around," he says. Jenkins, for one, is confident they will. "In the '60s," he says...
Though Ueberroth has taped the Rebuild L.A. name to a dozen private initiatives since May, he knows the "rebirth" of South Central Los Angeles will not happen without some pushing and pain. Ultimately, it depends on whether the government decides to provide incentives for long-term investment in inner cities. "It has to be for good business reasons so it will last," he says. "If you do it for charitable reasons, it goes away as soon as the money runs out." He sees the prompt creation of enterprise zones as critical to the long-term success of his efforts...
Ueberroth believes that his Rebuild L.A. program will be able to prove itself in five years. That is an ambitious goal. But an even more ambitious ! task will be to ensure that the effort remains successful five years -- and 25 years -- after that. To achieve such lasting improvements will require more than a spurt of money and a flurry of energy; it will require engaging the people of South Central L.A. and giving them a stake in the outcome...