By Antonio Hernandez, Land Use Community Organizer
On a very warm Saturday morning in South Central Los Angeles, SAJE’s ZED (Zoning for Equitable Development) group joined a walking tour of the Florence-Firestone neighborhood. The walk was led by Jonathan Pacheco Bell (AICP), co-president and public information officer for the Florence-Firestone Community Organization (FFCO). We were there to learn about the history of the neighborhood’s built environment, see how it is being shaped by new development, and hear how the community has been involved in decision making.
FFCO provides resources and support to residents who live in the Florence-Graham area of unincorporated Los Angeles County, connecting them to government resources and offering mental health programs, food assistance, and other programs. Critically, FCCO also helps residents have a voice in how planning and infrastructure decisions get made. Their work includes organizing resident feedback on housing and commercial development and transit projects as well as providing input to government agencies about public safety issues like street and sidewalk conditions.
Throughout the walk, Pacheco Bell centered embedded planning, on-the-ground work that proactively and intentionally engages residents and community partners in the planning and design of local infrastructure. By bringing the lived expertise of residents to technical planning conversations, embedded planning aims to mitigate the harms of historically racist planning and land use practices (e.g., redlining). Embedded planning does this by incorporating the feedback of residents and community partners from the beginning, and not using it as a box to check at the end.
Our two-mile walk started at the largest public park in Florence-Firestone, Franklin D. Roosevelt Park, where Jonathan laid out historical, social, political, and economic factors actively shaping the neighborhood. ZED members learned that the park’s sports areas and green spaces are gated and locked for the majority of the year, open for specific events only. We also discussed the legacies of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, visible in empty lots that have the potential to be transformed into public green spaces or affordable housing rather than snapped up by private investors. And we passed by the Florence Library, an important community space that residents and partners advocated to preserve over decades as it moved from location to location.
Some residents who saw us walking along Florence Avenue stopped to share their stories of changes they’ve seen over the years and decades. We eventually made our way to the FFCO office and enjoyed tacos while we debriefed the tour and discussed organizing opportunities in Florence-Firestone and beyond. Pacheco Bell emphasized how city planners and local governments must continue building trusted working relationships to close the disconnect between planning ambitions and community priorities.
Want to join future ZED walking tours, conversations, and events? Connect with Antonio at (213) 255-6867 or ahernandez@saje.net.
