We went on an excursion today on the L.A. Train system. About a 40 minute trip through LA central to MaCArthur Park – an inner western part of LA which had the reputation of the roughest, greatest homicide area of CA (Kinda’ like St Kilda or Footscray - squared) and spent the day with the Christian agency that was part of turning it around.Too often churches are ‘holy huddles’ in the safe middle class suburbs that neither understand nor connect with the vast masses of people around them.... particularly the poor or those who can’t access the middle class dream. This is an example of how a bunch of Christians connected up with other civic agencies to bring hope to one of the nations most ‘hopeless’ situations. It makes me reflect on how we do or don’t live as Salt and Light in our context:
MacArthur Park is a park in western Los Angeles, California, and named after General MacArthur. It is located right in the middle of an ethnically Central American part of Los Angeles. One side has a lake on the other, there is a bandshell and amphitheatre. In the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. MacArthur Park is famous for the epic song named after it, written by Jimmy Webb. Before the decline of the neighborhood, the park featured the traditional paddle-boats and a large fountain in the center of the lake - it was a popular middle-class destination for over fifty years.
MacArthur Park became known for being a violent place after 1985 when gang-warfare, drug-dealing, shoot-outs and rumored occasional drownings became common. It was considered a hopeledss place... the only Christian presence was churches rocking up to give food to the homeless (which actually reinforced the situation), or preached AT them ( which didn’t communicate at all, but made the Christians feel better!)Beginning around 2000 the LAPD, business groups, church and community leaders formed the Macarthur Park Alliance, which led to a revitalization effort that turned things around: park surveillance, training for illegal street vendors, increased businesses, family-activities in the park, a new metro station, the return of the paddle boats, and large community festivals attracting thousands. In 2005 the park was celebrated for having the HIGHEST reduction of crime statistics per resident in the United States.
We met up with Joe Colletti ( Director of the Institute for Urban Research) and Sandy Romero who helped set up the Alliance and who also envisioned and run ‘Mama’s Hot Tamales’. Here’s what one Newspaper wrote:
“These days when Dina Serrano sells tamales from her cart in MacArthur Park, she no longer fears getting caught and being fined. In an effort to establish some controls and regulations over street vending activities the Los Angeles City Council passed a Sidewalk Vending Ordinance in 1999 that created the opportunity for interested organizations to create special vending districts in commercially zoned areas for street vendors, because noone was there to resource the vendors, nothing changed. Then in 1999, the Episcopal Diocese stepped in and the MacArthur Park Sidewalk Vending Program was created. The diocese would created the first sidewalk-vending program with the support of the ‘Institute for Urban Research and Development’, a diocesan institution.
It was under Joe Colletti’s leadership that the city’s first sidewalk vending district was launched in November of 1999 at MacArthur Park. ( that's Joe on the left talking with Mark)
This program ( as part of a bigger strategy) now provides street vendors with an opportunity to apply their vending skills. Currently, there are 20 beautifully constructed carts modeled after the carts that are found within Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. Vendors sell hot foods such as tamales and folk art and crafts from several Latin American countries.
Serrano, a Salvadoran-born immigrant, now sells her tamales from one of the program’s vending carts. Previously, however, she would sell her tamales on the streets and, as a result, became a frequent target of the city’s code enforcement agencies. Several times she has cried out of feelings of sadness and joy; she still remembers all the times that her tamales were taken away from her, and left in her possession was a court citation. “Now,” she says, “I can sell all the tamales I can without expecting someone to suddenly confront me and take all my food and supplies from me. I even bring my children with me who help me set up my cart and foods.”
Colletti has spent the past number of years building a coalition of public and private community support for the vending program. Such support includes the Office of the Mayor and the Council Office of Ed Reyes as well as several City Departments including the Community Development Department and Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division. Bishop Bruno also participated in the recent ribbon cutting for Mama’s Hot Tamales Café at 2124 W. Seventh St. (one block west of Alvarado Street). 
We had a stimulating time with Joe and Sandy, who manages ‘Mama’s’ hearing the story of how God was at work in the faithfulness - and often messiness of the inner city. One question that arises for me is how we learn from this sort of story. If the Good News can become tangible in such a precinct, then what do we learn about being ‘mission communities where we are? What are the risks, the creativity, the alliances, the discomfort, the opportunities ahead of us?For those of us in a nice leafy, rich suburb such as Eltham, Australia – with our nice safe, cheesy services – what should we be daring? Thoughts?
