Some Inglewood Small Business Owners Near Sports Venues Struggling To Stay Afloat | KQED

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 15, 2024…

• The LA County city of Inglewood has been on a roll the last few years. SoFi Stadium, home to two NFL teams, the L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers opened in 2020 at a cost of over $5 billion. And just this year, the Intuit Dome became the home of the LA Clippers. While the sport venues were supposed to be a boon for the area, some Black-owned small business owners say they’re actually doing more damage than good.
• The Palm Springs City Council unanimously approved a settlement with Section 14 residents and descendants Thursday night. The neighborhood was home to mostly Black and Latino families, whose homes were burned down by the city in the 1960’s.

Entertainment Venues Creating Challenges For Small Business Owners In Inglewood

Inglewood in Los Angeles County has seen a major renaissance recently. SoFi Stadium, home to the Rams and Chargers in the NFL, opened in 2020. The venue has already hosted the Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship and Wrestlemania. Nearby, The Forum has undergone renovations and is now one of the premier music venues for larger acts in the city. And just this year, the Intuit Dome became the new home of the NBA’s LA Clippers.

These Inglewood mega-venues and the new commercial development around them have sparked talk of an unstoppable economic boom in this city of 100,000 residents, long a bastion of Southern California Black life and political clout. But some Black business owners tell a different story.

“My lowest day of sales was the Super Bowl. Super Bowl Sunday was the lowest! You know why? Because they shut off the street and told people do not come down Prairie if you are not attending the game. They said do not!,” said Karolyn Plummer, the owner of Sweet Red Peach, a dessert shop across SoFi Stadium. “I took a table out there, and we were hustling cakes.” Plummer and some of her fellow business owners say traffic around the venues has been a nightmare, and there are often road closures on event days, meaning regular customers have to go out of their way to get to their businesses.

But city officials refute these complaints. Inglewood Mayor James Butts says the venues have indeed led to an economic renaissance for the city, saying there are at least 3,000 more new businesses than there were four years ago.

In a historic move, the Palm Springs City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to approve a settlement offer for the surviving former residents and descendants of a Black and Latino neighborhood that the city burned to the ground 60 years ago to make way for commercial development.