I’m doing an IG Live Sept 5th at 6pm Pacific with Elizabeth Gómez Ibarra and Ortopedia Urbana. We’ll discuss the social history, planning innovations, and future of the Florence-Firestone community in South Central LA. The conversation is a precursor to our inaugural Latin Labic placemaking event at the Florence-Firestone Community Organization on 9/14! Join the conversation.
In Fall 2024, the Florence-Firestone Community Organization (FFCO) — where I proudly serve as VP — is partnering with Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA to integrate the neighborhood into these Urban Planning and Chicano Studies courses:
Building on our past efforts, FFCO will host neighborhood walking tours and discussions, conduct in-class guest lectures, and provide readings and resources (see below) to learn about the Florence-Firestone community in South Central LA.
Local news coverage of Florence-Firestone lamentably focuses on social ills. While the community endures challenges and struggle, there is more to it than the clickbait headlines. Our decades-long community-driven work proves it. The creation of Embedded Planning in Florence-Firestone (now a worldwide movement!) proves it. The birth of FFCO as a community advocacy voice during COVID proves it. Florence-Firestone is a vibrant and historic community. Students will experience it.
Below is a variety of key resources on Florence-Firestone. I am proud to have worked on most of these projects. These help reframe the narrative about our community. They tell a fuller story of partnerships, solidarity, and hope.
Note: This is a living document updated as needed throughout the semester/quarter. Any revision history will be indicated at the bottom of this page.
Embedded Planning was born on the streets of Florence-Firestone: https://c1typlann3r.blog/embeddedplanning/
Florence-Firestone Community Plan (2019): https://c1typlann3r.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/florence-firestone-community-plan-final.pdf
Florence-Firestone Vision Plan (2009): https://c1typlann3r.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/florence-firestone-vision-plan-2009-final.pdf
Florence-Firestone Step by Step Pedestrian Plan Draft (2023): http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/place/stepbystep/florencefirestone.htm
Florence-Firestone Historic Context Statement (from Metro Area Plan 2023 Draft): https://planning.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ff_hcs_survey_dpr_forms_bind.pdf
Metro Area Plan Historic Resource Map (see Florence-Firestone on map): https://dudek.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b5957133802f4ed0bb2611939aee69eb
Florence-Firestone Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Specific Plan (2022): https://case.planning.lacounty.gov/assets/upl/project/fftod_board-letter-20230207.pdf
Florence-Firestone TOD Story Map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e9823a0f2a9440399f04f1bbb44d97d2
Vision Zero Florence-Firestone project awarded $21.49 million Federal implementation grant: https://lacounty.gov/2023/02/08/la-county-vision-zero-project-in-florence-firestone-awarded-21-49-million-federal-implementation-grant/
Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Report: Recommendations to Improve Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety in Florence-Firestone: https://safetrec.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/17-0929_cpbst-florence-firestone-recommendations-report.pdf
The CPBST at Work in Florence-Firestone: https://catsip.berkeley.edu/safety-stories/stories-field/cpbst-work-florence-firestone
Florence-Firestone Community Parks and Recreation Plan: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dpr/182627_Florence-FirestoneMasterPlan.pdf
Paseo Through Time in Florence-Firestone (book): https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7kgx455x0ttx57/FF-2-2018.pdf?dl=0
Everyday Heroes of Florence-Firestone (KCET article): https://www.kcet.org/history-society/everyday-heroes-of-florence-firestone
@FlorenceFirestone on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/florencefirestone/
Racial Equity in Planning for Unincorporated Los Angeles County. Building Justice. A brief study of the histories, legacies, and impacts at the intersection of systemic racism and planning in Florence-Firestone: https://c1typlann3r.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/d55ca-f-fequity_final-compressed.pdf
After Years Of Waiting, A South LA Neighborhood Has A New Library: https://laist.com/news/politics/florence-library-years-of-waiting-opens-south-los-angeles
Florence-Firestone Stands Up For Its Library, Lays Down the Foundation for a Movement: https://la.streetsblog.org/2019/09/27/florence-firestone-stands-up-for-its-library-lays-down-the-foundation-for-a-movement
Florence-Firestone Will Not Be Forgotten: https://ascjcapstone.com/terms/spring-2020/ethanwar/
A South Central Neighborhood Suffers from the Loss of its Community Library: https://medium.com/intersections-south-la/a-south-central-neighborhood-suffers-from-the-loss-of-its-community-library-df783979ac60
Black Panther History, Immigrant Stories Highlighted in Book about South Central’s Florence-Firestone Community: https://medium.com/intersections-south-la/black-panther-history-immigrant-stories-highlighted-in-book-about-south-centrals-d9c75a2d6380
For the First Time Ever, Three Young Latinx Women are Leading this South Central Coalition: https://medium.com/intersections-south-la/for-the-first-time-ever-three-young-latinx-women-are-leading-this-south-central-neighborhood-1330ecda360c
How a Tire Shop in South L.A. Became a Community Hub for Locals: https://medium.com/intersections-south-la/how-a-tire-shop-in-south-l-a-became-a-community-hub-for-locals-8bf37c21e25a
Libraries in the ‘Hood: A Social History of the Florence and Graham Branch Libraries in the Community of Florence-Firestone, 1912-2012 (thesis proposal): https://c1typlann3r.blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/jpbell-thesis-proposal-libr285.pdf
Stories of Everyday Heroes (LA County Library): https://lacountylibrary.org/ffeverydayheroes/
Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA survey reveals severe economic impacts of COVID-19 in Southeast Los Angeles County area: https://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/publicat/pat-brown-institute-cal-state-la-survey-reveals-severe-economic-impacts-covid-19
Florence-Firestone Community Organization: https://ffcola.org/
Florence-Firestone Community Leaders: https://www.facebook.com/FFCLPage
Inner City Visions: https://innercityvisions.org/
Juntos FF Together: https://www.instagram.com/juntosfftogether/
Florence-Firestone Merchants Association: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100051324773983
Florence-Firestone/Walnut Park Chamber of Commerce: https://www.facebook.com/FFWPChamber/
Podcast interviews I have done that reference Florence-Firestone: https://c1typlann3r.blog/interviews/
Bronco Magazine article and video on Embedded Planning and Florence-Firestone: https://broncomag.cpp.edu/article/embedded-planning/
Florence-Firestone Community Organization:
Florence-Firestone Community Organization and SELA Collaborative interview, including Embedded Planning origins in Florence-Firestone (starts at 5:25 min mark):
How a Tire Shop in South L.A. Became a Community Hub for Locals:
I’m returning to teach this MURP course, URP 5120: Planning Ideas and Action, aka Planning Theories and Practices.
Course Description: There are competing views about what planning is and what processes planners should use to carry out their work, including arguments for technocratic, communicative, advocacy, and radical approaches. These views stem from differing understandings in philosophy, political economy, and justice. The course asks you to learn about and critically evaluate alternative planning approaches in the context of planning practice. You will be challenged to explore how to put complex ideas into action as part of planning praxis – putting theories into practice to better the world. By the end of the course, you should be able to recommend planning processes that are appropriate to a given planning problem. You should also be able to articulate the relationship of your recommendations to your own values and those of the profession. Fundamentally, the course is about how to plan. We emphasize processes by which planners can add reason and judgment to planning “messes,” recognizing the rarity of well-defined, purely technical problems in communities.
Fall 2024, Tuesdays 7:30-9:15pm, with alternating instruction in person & virtual weeks.
Read my latest, “I Always Stop in Baker, California — and Not Just for Gas” on Medium.
Excerpt:
“My family does that pit stop in Baker en route between Nevada and Pasadena. Before getting back on the 15, I like to visit Arne’s. It is always haunting seeing it up close rather than mediated through filtered #urbex depictions. This business was once somebody’s American Dream. I see memories of past grand ambitions working against all odds in the harsh California desert, still there but withering away.
Naysayers might describe Baker in those words. I don’t, because I haven’t given up on this place. The remaining residents, businesses, sites, stories, memories, and histories make this a community.“
You must be logged in to post a comment.