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Council and community praise NoHo project for community benefits package
Summary
Council members and community groups praised a NoHo development with more than $200 million in private investment and a negotiated community benefits package — including childcare, job commitments and living-wage provisions — which council members said sets a model for future projects.
Council members and community representatives on Tuesday publicly praised a proposed NoHo development — described as a roughly $200 million private project — for negotiating a community benefits agreement that includes job training, childcare, clinic space and living-wage jobs.
Council Member Tom LaBonge and council supporters, together with neighborhood organizations, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and developer representatives, said the project includes a substantial public-subsidy component paired with community benefits. Speakers at the podium described negotiated outcomes that they said included: living-wage jobs for a large share of hires, union agreements (for food service and service employees unions), on-site child care and job training programs.
Why it matters: Council members framed the project as a model for how economic development can deliver neighborhood benefits and local hiring. Speakers noted the significance of coordinated work between community groups and the developer to secure commitments on wages and training."This sets the model for how we do development," Council Member (name referenced as Garcetti) said.
Public voices: Antonio Bernabe of the Day Labor Center and representatives of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy spoke in support, saying the development will create job opportunities and services for surrounding communities. Community groups said they had worked with developer Jerry Snyder to craft the benefits package over two years.
Council action: The council entered the community statements into the public record during consideration of the related agenda items. No formal vote on the community benefits package itself was recorded as a separate council action in the transcript; council members thanked community organizers and developer representatives for their work.
Ending: Supporters called the agreement "one of the best projects in this country for adding childcare, for looking at good jobs in the community," and asked the council to use it as a template for future approvals.
