More worse demo?

The Garment & Citizen, a downtown free newspaper that lands in Echo Park driveways and increasingly has been relevant to the neighborhood at large, published a story March 2 about the woes of two would-be service providers in Echo Park. The story is sub-headlined "Parking, Grocery on Hold in Echo Park." One of the providers is the Foursquare Church at Angelus Temple, which the story says is being hobbled in its efforts clear away apartment rental units it owns to create parking for its congregants. The story's implication is that efforts to expand an HPOZ in the vicinity of Echo Park Lake have not only hog-tied the church, but have stopped a Tennessee grocery store chain from providing food to the neighborhood -- alarmist and almost certainly untrue.

Before we assemble an angry mob against preservation folks (who include myself, though I speak ONLY for myself here), let me point out: Foursquare's tear-down dreams mean the eviction -- already achieved in some cases -- of lower-income tenants, who probably will have to leave the neighborhood, if they want to live indoors. The tear-downs would be followed by a tall parking structure to uglify the vicinity and blot out a sense of history that is so valuable to the well-being of any community.

Nonetheless, Council President Garcetti has supported the Temple's project.