Accelerating Equitable Community Development Strategies and Urban Greening at Taylor Yard

While urban greening initiatives yield many undeniable benefits, these efforts may also lead to gentrification, which often prices out low-income residents in surrounding communities. As neighborhoods become more desirable, housing prices spike, and residents who have long borne the brunt of environmental hazards are further victimized once such hazards have been remediated.

Taylor Yard, a formerly contaminated rail maintenance yard, has recently been remediated and transformed into a 100-acre park. Combined with a proposed new Metrolink station at the park, this development, while undoubtedly an improvement from an environmental perspective, is likely to displace communities that should instead benefit from such investments.

With funding from the Bezos Earth Foundation, the Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA) will partner with the Los Angeles Regional Open Space and Affordable Housing (LA ROSAH) Collaborative to launch preemptive community-driven planning to prevent the displacement of long-term residents of the communities adjacent to Taylor Yard. Funding will go toward the development and implementation of the Taylor Yard Equity Strategy, a tool that addresses the risks of gentrification, and toward the implementation of equity strategies in neighborhoods affected by other large-scale urban greening initiatives.