Who killed Manchester Square?

Neon Tommy checks in on the long-suffering effort to relocate residents of the LAX-adjacent neighborhood called Manchester Square, the only spot in the city where you can stand at the corner of 99th and 99th. The story comes with a nice quality audio slide show, apparently by reporter Hillel Aron. Excerpt:

The reason Manchester Square is so quiet is because more than three quarters of the buildings are gone, demolished, replaced by long fields of grass surrounded by chain link fence. Most of the area looks like a giant park that no one is allowed to use.

This was no premeditated plan. It is what has happened in the absence of a plan. Though the city government's expansion strategies have changed a number of times over the last 12 or so years, the practice of buying up Manchester Square property has taken on a momentum of its own. It can't be stopped, but it can't quite finish the job either.

Forget it, Jake. It's the airport.

Neon Tommy