Study Calls for Aid to Latinos as Key to Rebuilding City

A new study suggests that the impact of last spring’s civil unrest on Los Angeles’ Latino community continues to be underestimated by the city’s political and civic leaders and warns that improving Latino economic well-being is essential to any rebuilding effort.

The study, released Monday by the Tomas Rivera Center, a nationally recognized Latino research institute based in Claremont, also found that, relative to their numbers, Latinos continue to lack the political power and representation to press their agenda in Los Angeles. Part of the reason, researchers said, lies in the “disconnection” between entrenched Eastside residents and the newly emerging Latino neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles.

“The Latino population is divided . . . and we need a citywide forum to come up with a citywide agenda,” said the study’s author, Manuel Pastor Jr., at a City Hall news conference that was also attended by City Councilmen Mike Hernandez and Mark Ridley-Thomas.

But while highlighting the disparities within the city’s diverse Latino community, the study concludes that a pattern of economic impoverishment was at the root of the disturbance. Failure to come up with long-term solutions to conditions of poverty and unemployment could spark further unrest, said Pastor.

“What happened in L.A. was essentially a bread riot,” said Pastor. “In that sense, the economic situation is still there, the underlying conditions still exist.”

The study also found that:

* Economics was an important factor in the pattern of violence and property damage. In areas where damage occurred, poverty and unemployment are twice as high and per capita income and home ownership half that of the rest of the city.

* Latinos made up 49% of the population in the neighborhoods most affected by the unrest.

* Immigration authorities took advantage of the unrest to pursue illegal immigrants, creating fear in the community and diverting resources from the more pressing task of restoring order.

* Private and public agencies were sometimes poorly equipped to provide for the emergency needs of Latinos.

* Tensions between African-Americans and Latinos emerged as rebuilding began and may deepen because of scarce resources.

But while calling for more attention to the special needs and problems of Latinos, the report urges Latinos to work together with other ethnic minorities.

“Some Latino leaders have suggested that the Latino population now comprises the largest single ethnic or racial group in Los Angeles and should therefore press for its specific interests,” the study says. “While Latino needs must be carefully defined, a program shaped by narrowly defined interests will not be viable. . . . Coalition efforts are pragmatic as well as consistent with the vision of a multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial city.”

The study also recommends improved vocational training, an increase in the minimum wage and increased unionization as ways to improve the condition of Latino workers. In addition, it calls for sustained efforts to increase the number of Latino registered voters and recommends that undocumented residents be allowed to participate in many neighborhood planning and rebuilding efforts.