Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) proposes to build Farmers Field, a 72,000-seat football stadium in the South Park neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles. Residents living near the proposed stadium are especially vulnerable to impacts including displacement, rising costs of housing, lack of employment opportunity, increasing neighborhood policing, and lack of access to open space.
With only 45 days to respond to a 10,000-page draft Environmental Impact Statement, local residents collaborated with HIP, the Los Angeles CommunityAction Network, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA on a consensus-based HIA. The process included a panel of 12 residents who represented constituencies that would be affected by the development.
The HIA findings included evidence contrary to the developer's claims that Farmers Field would not contribute to disruptive gentrification. The resident panel found that likely health impacts would include decreased quality of mental health, social cohesion, and medical care, and more chronic disease and injuries. Poverty, housing affordability, and access to open space all were projected to worsen.
Farmer's Field Text Box (1)The HIA report was used in a campaign led by advocates that secured a commitment from AEG to include the following in the project: $15 million for affordable housing; $5 million for parks/open space, neighborhood improvement plans, and funding for a community team to promote health and protect tenant rights in the area; and local hiring commitments. In addition, the HIA engaged in the decision making process the very residents who would be impacted by the project. Community members on the panel described feeling empowered through their participation in the project and subsequent advocacy efforts.
