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Redress and The Recreation Center (2 of 2)
The current effort to build a Rec Center has
been going on for eight years. Over twenty years ago, the community was
promised a gymnasium in Little Tokyo as part of redevelopment. Instead
of a gymnasium next to the community center, we have the Noguchi Plaza.
lt will take a community wide campaign to make a Rec Center a reality
on the only available and viable space, First Street North. We will not
win this campaign by waiting for City Council to do the right thing or
by hoping that another site will become available in the future. We will
again need to gather petitions, speak to any and all organizations and
lobby Councilwoman Jan Perry. We did not win redress and we will not
get a Rec Center by being quiet. We demanded redress and even challenged
those politicians who opposed the bill.
VISION FOR LITTLE TOKYO
NCRR has its roots in Little Tokyo. Many of the individuals who formed the
organization were people who had participated in the redevelopment struggle
of the 1970’s as part of the Little Tokyo Peoples Rights Organization
(LTPRO). Before the lsseis were evicted from the Beacon and Narasaki Hotels,
LTPRO pressured the city to wait for the Little Tokyo Towers to be built. They
worKeci with the Latino families of the Sun Hotel, saw almost a 1000 units
of low income housing destroyed, and demanded that relocation benefits be provided
for those evicted.
NCRR commends the vision of the Little Tokyo Service Center CDC and the concrete
work that they have done to revitalize Little Tokyo. By renovating the San
Pedro Firm Building and building Casa Heiwa, LTSC CDC has brought residents
back to Little Tokyo. It is still not the numbers it was before redevelopment,
but it is a start. LTSC CDC has shown its ability to work with other organizations
such as the East West Players, Visual Communications and Art Core in the creation
of the Union Center for the Arts thus preserving Old Union Church. We look
forward to the opening of the Far East Café, a place where we celebrated
many important events as Japanese Americans. All these projects have enriched
our community as well as Little Tokyo. Their work is an example for other communities
to follow.
Although redress may have benefited individuals, the struggle empowered our
community and our victory contributed to the movement for greater civil rights
in this country and abroad. A Rec Center on First Street North will provide
a permanent home for the senior lunch program, Koreisha Chu Shokukai and bring
families and children back to Little Tokyo for tournaments and sports. It will
serve the people of Little Tokyo, the broader Japanese American community,
the neighboring communities and will show how strengthening communities strengthens
the entire city of Los Angeles.
We came together as a community to win redress. We can come together again
and build a Rec Center in Little Tokyo.
Redress Now! Recreation Center Now!
