Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. continues to take the lead as the City’s spokesperson in order to convince the Federal Transit Administration to award them over a billion dollars for the Inglewood Transit Connector project.
Initial construction costs of the Inglewood Transit Connector began at $1.15 billion in 2019 but has since swelled to nearly $3 billion, according to documents published to the City’s website.
The City has only assembled close to a third of the costs.
In order to push the project to the finish line the mayor needs as little input from the public as possible.
The mayor has gained control of the entire City, including the Inglewood Police Department which stopped publishing annual crime stats after 2019 in order to paint a rosier picture of the City than what are the residents daily reality. The crime stats not being updated coincides with the announcement of the transit project.
Our City is fiscally healthy because we gained over $31 million in federal dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed the City to balance its budget for fiscal years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, although its bleeding costs due to increased law enforcement services provided by outside agencies.
After the federal funding runs out, then what?
The City’s latest effort is a Q&A by the Los Angeles Business Journal with Mayor Butts where he is supplied with carefully screened questions to compliment his prepared script.
The LA Business Journal is not readily available to the City’s 100,000+ residents but a select audience willing to pay for a subscription.
Here’s a snippet of the latest.
How has your city sustained interest as an attractive option for companies seeking new alternatives and locations, given the challenges of the past few years on the economy and daily work life?
The City of Inglewood stands as a premier national destination strategically positioned just three miles away from LAX, one of the nation’s busiest airports. With its proximity to Downtown Los Angeles and surrounded by Los Angeles on three sides, Inglewood is situated at the heart of the South Bay, making it an exceptionally desirable location. The Inglewood sports and entertainment district is unmatched in California, attracting a continuous stream of visitors. This influx of tens of thousands of cars and hundreds of thousands of people, combined with high-end retail, entertainment and sports offerings, creates a thriving ecosystem of “opportunity purchases” before and after events. The resulting sales taxes bolster the City’s ability to invest in critical infrastructure, public safety and essential services, further enhancing the City’s overall appeal to businesses.
To read the full interview click here.
