Escaping the Inevitable: Why community representation in Westchester is so important
There’s an interesting bond that you make with your hometown. Whether you’ve only lived in it for a handful of years or it’s the only place you know, there’ll always be a prideful tone laced in your voice when someone asks you where you’re from.
Driving down the street, you can easily point out a new business and tell stories about your experiences at the one that used to be there before it. You can find yourself returning to your favorite restaurant and still ordering the same thing you’ve gotten since you started going there years ago.
There’s an inseparable connection you’ve made with this location, but what happens when it disappears? When your neighbors are driven away by spikes in rent, or the space becomes unlivable because another entity decides that the land is perfect for their new project?
Just a few years ago, this is exactly what happened to the once-flourishing neighborhood of Manchester Square, located just a few minutes away from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This process of displacement of an entire town by airport authorities was decades-long, and it’s not far-fetched for residents of the expanding airport’s neighboring town of Westchester to fear a similar fate.
At the end of 2021, LAX is projected to begin construction on a $14 billion expansion plan to improve what Fodor’s Travel Guide deemed the worst airport in the world.
Although a few survey respondents from my Westchester Community Needs Report stated that they believed the construction was a promising plan to improve traffic congestion that cuts through the town, many either were against it or did not know anything about it. The lack of sufficient news coverage about billion-dollar plans like this that directly affect residents is shocking.
Following my research on the Westchester community in general, I found that there is a stunning lack of coverage on community issues like public safety and the increasing homeless crisis. As Silicon Beach continues to dominate local news coverage of the surrounding area and LAX plans to repair its reputation, representation of Westchester is falling.
To approach this issue of representation and major news coverage gaps, there is no better way than to provide a platform for my neighbors’ voices to be heard. An important detail that I noticed from my survey respondents was that they love their town, and I want to make sure that they don’t feel left behind amongst the changes that are happening in the community.
When I looked at LAist’s “Race In LA” project, I was immediately amazed by how they were able to give LA residents a voice by providing them with a platform to tell their stories. Similarly, I want to give Westchester residents a voice and show that this community is more than just the “Home of LAX.” I want to tell their stories about why they live in Westchester and share their experiences within our diverse community.
To achieve this, I will create another survey more focused on how residents feel about their representation as a community. With this, I also want to invite more of a discussion. To facilitate this, I’d take advantage of community message boards on Facebook and Nextdoor and encourage ongoing discussion with residents on the issues that our community is facing.
One of the most important details that I want to approach with this story is ensuring that I don’t have any coverage gaps. My community is diverse, and I want this project to reflect exactly that.
What I found with my survey is that I didn’t capture the diversity in age and ethnicity that I was looking for, so I want to be sure to try to achieve that here. In addition, I want to aim for diversity in socioeconomic status to accurately represent the community.
To tell this story, I want to make sure that I am giving a voice to the Westchester community, but also show people what our community is about. In doing this, I want to have a photo-focused story where the incredible art pieces that are around the town are showcased, as well as photos of members of the community, all linked to a resident’s personal opinion on community issues or a story about their experience in Westchester.
