trojan
Volume XCV, Number 54
University of Southern California
Wednesday, April 4, 1984
ATHER AU DAILY TROJAN
Mimes descended on campus Tuesday as part of a public theatrical performance in front of Tommy Trojan.
Local area to be revitalized
Vermont Avenue subject of program
By Susan Loux
City Writer
The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is establishing a commercial low-interest refurbishment program in an effort to revitalize business on the Vermont Avenue corridor and has expanded its low-interest housing loan program for the Exposition Park periphery with hopes of upgrading the area. Bill Jones, CRA's director of rehabilitation, said.
The CRA is targeting businesses on Vermont Avenue between Adams Boulevard and Jefferson Boulevard. Commercial landlords and tenants will be offered loans of up to 550,000 at a 3 percent interest rate to overhaul the interior and exterior of their stores.
Businesses would have 15 years to repay the loan, which cannot be spent for inventory, Brown said.
Implementing the program would be a slow process, he said.
"We have a lot to overcome," Brown said, referring to the Commercial Area Revival Effort (CARE), a Los Angeles City revitalization project that ran from
1977	to 1982, yet yielded no improvements except an artist's rendition of anticipated renovations and a slide show of then existing conditions.
"The real problem is the skep-
Mondale wins New York primary
By Catalina Camia
Assistant Gty Editor
With 252 delegates and a lot of pride at stake, Walter Mondale convincingly defeated Sen. Gary Hart in the hotiy contested New’ York Democratic primary Tuesday by earning the support of the Jewish and labor voters.
After more than 95 percent of the votes were counted, former vice president Mondale was the clearcut winner with 46 percent of the votes. The race was a battle for second place, as Hart had earned 28 percent to Rev. Jesse Jackson's 26 percent.
Reports from NBC Newsradio in New York City-said Mondale's support was largely from older voters and laborers. NBC also reported that early tallies had Mondale earning the Jewish vote by a
2-1 margin.
In terms of delegates, Mondale was leading with 151 committed supporters, to Hart's 83 and Jackson's 18. Prior to the New York race, Mondale had earned 728.25 delegates to 440 for Hart and 93.50
for Jackson. A candidate must earn 1,967 delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president.
"Mondale got me down to his level, but he won't do that again," Hart said, according to Associated Press reports.
In another AP report, Mondale said the Hart campaign spent about three times as much money as the former vice president did.
"But Americans weren't looking at that," Mondale said. "Citizens of New York were asking that key question (who would make a better president) and I think that's why we won."
Earlier Tuesday, Assemblyman Mark Alan Siegel, chairman of the Hart campaign in New York City, said he believed his candidate would have a strong showing, but felt that most of the older voters would be swayed toward Mondale and the black voters would go to Jackson.
"The black vote is tied to Jackson along with even some of the younger, more progressive voters," Siegel said. "Hart is trying hard to attract a
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Easter absences OK, Chaplain says
By John Kirby
City Writer
Students who miss one or two days during Easter week for religious reasons will not be penalized for the absences as long as prior arrangements are made with the students' instructors, said Alvin Rudisill, university chaplain.
"That has been university policy for quite some time," he said.
Rudisill has sent out memos to the various department heads around the university so they would not be caught off-guard by the situation.
"We don't want this to blind-side them," Rudisill said.
The reason for this reminder is that the variability of the Easter holiday coupled with the new academic calendar, currently in its second year of use, have placed the Easter and Passover holidays near the end of the school year.
"The Easter holidays fall at a most unusual time in the semester, right before finals," Rudisill said."It's just about as late as it ever gets."
Passover begins April 17 this year and continues until April 24, and Easter Sundav is April 22.
Although the student must negotiate with the instructor to make sure any classwork or
tests missed are made-up, Rudisill said the validity of an ab-sense for religious reasons is tantamount to a medical excuse.
While the major Christian holidays are Good Friday and Easter Sunday, students might be absent on other days during the week due to the variety of Christian holy days.
Rudisill said different denominations place varying degrees of importance on each of the days during Easter week, all of which are holy in the Christian religion.
Strictly observant Jews will spend both the first two days and the last two days of Pass-(Continued on page 10)
ticism on the part of the owner," Brown said.
The CRA has had to try to earn the confidence of tenants, who had become cynical of refurbishing projects. Brown called the dty effort "another example of a government project promising but not delivering."
Money that w’as left over from CARE was transferred to the CRA project. The CRA is an agency that works within the municipality and is governed by state legislation.
Marketing consultants are in the process of reviewing and improving an initial plan. A full report is expected within one month. Brown said.
He said he envisions a more pedestrian-oriented area as the result of the improvements. He said he would like to see low office buildings built along with a larger community shopping center to spark area market interest.
Improvements on buildings would result in more visitors and increased sales, which in turn would necessitate the hiring of more help. Stimulating business is the project's main goal, Brown said.
He called the Vermont corridor's present state a "typical, outdated strip shopping facility."
Routine street improvements such as curb and sidewalk overhauls, tree plantation and new street furniture will complement the planned facelifts for buildings.
Bill Jones, CRA's director of rehabilitation, said the commercial loan project did not take off at its inception in 1982 because the reduced interest rate of 8 percent, when combined with
the added expense of complying with federal labor standards, took away the incentive for small businesses to upgrade themselves.
The rate was soon brought up to the market rate of 14 percent by the time all federal regulations w-ere satisfied, Jones said.
The rate was lowered to 3 percent to compensate for the added expense, he said.
He expects to see results within four years, he added.
The low-interest housing program will encompass the area from Adams to Jefferson Boulevards, along Vermont Avenue, and from Adams to Jefferson between Hoover Street and the Harbor Freew-ay, Exposition Boulevard from west of Vermont east to the Harbor Freeway, south of Exposition to 41st Street, and Wisconsin Place east to the Harbor Freeway.
Residents in this area will be offered up to $27,500 per dwelling unit on sliding interest rates, ranging from deferred rates to 12 percent, based on income. Loans must be paid off within 30 years. Brown said.
Since 1983, when the housing program first got underway, about 50 units have taken advantage of the low-loan program, he added.
The loan program has proven to be highly successful in restoring historical buildings and upgrading apartment buildings, he said.
Along with a basic refurbishing of the housing units, Jones said he hopes the loans will be useful in making the dwellings "safe, sanitary and decent."
The CRA hopes to encourage safety with the project, and is targeting electrical and plumbing problems and overcrowding
Conflict marks student, towing company relations
By Jason Knott
Gty W'riter
University students have had frequent problems with the towing company that services this campus and the surrounding area, including two unrelated incidents this past week, said Kim Parrish, manager of Hank's Wilshire Tow Inc.
Both incidents involve assaults between students and drivers employed by the towing company at 2400 W. Washington Blvd.
In one case, Douglas Kalema, a graduate student in cinema, said he was beaten March 25 by two drivers as he attempted to retrieve his car.
The other incident involved an unidentified student striking a tow truck driver as his car was being towed away, said the female co-owner of Hank's, w-ho would only identify herself as Lynn.
Kalema said he has already filed a charge of battery against the towing company and will also file a lawsuit.
Parrish said the company has had a lot of problems with what he said are irate university students.
"The majority are arrogant — they don't want to hear anything," he said. "They just want their car back."
Parrish estimates that the company has problems with seven out of every 10 students it deals with. He estimated the company handles three or four cases a week from the university at this time of year, and even more at the beginning of each semester.
"We have a lot of problems with USC students being nasty," Lynn said.
Kalema said his ordeal began at 10:30 p.m. when he parked his Volkswagen in a red zone on 34th Street in front of Webb Tower and ran upstairs for 10 minutes.
Despite the violation, Kalema insisted that he has been allowed to park there previously, but on March 25, he discovered his car had been towed awav.
Kalema said a university' parking officer told him there had been a mistake and he was instructed to call University Security.
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