RECOVERING FROM THE RIOTS: THREE YEARS LATER : County Program Helping Businesses Get Back on Track : Florence-Area Pharmacy, a Neighborhood Fixture for 30 Years, Rebuilds on Old Site After Receiving Loan

Three years ago, Irwin Sitkoff lost his Florence-area pharmacy to looters and arsonists in the riots following the verdicts in the first Rodney G. King beating trial.

Sitkoff anguished over the decision to rebuild. He had been filling prescriptions and recommending medicines to neighbors for 30 years. But as he stood before his charred, smoldering business in the early morning hours of May 1, 1992, Sitkoff recalled: “The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Are we wanted here?’ You don’t want to be in a place where you don’t feel right.�

But as more and more customers and neighbors came by that day to commiserate and help him pick through the debris, Sitkoff opted to rebuild. “I decided I wanted to finish my career here,� he said. “The neighborhood was very good to us; otherwise, I never would have come back.�

Today, Sitkoff is back “stronger than we were before� with extra customer amenities such as free blood-pressure testing and a room off the main store where clients are fitted for orthopedic stockings or learn to monitor their own blood-sugar levels.

Sitkoff credits part of his return to the county Community Development Commission, which stepped in with a $40,000 rebuilding loan after his insurance company came up $150,000 short on covering the pharmacy’s $500,000 in damage.

A private bank made up the difference.

Three years later, the development commission is poised to help more businesses in unincorporated county areas with a recent $50-million package of grants and loan guarantees from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD also funds one of the commission’s most high-profile programs, the Urban County Community Development Block Grant--the nation’s largest--which covers the unincorporated county and 48 cities.

Launched in 1982, the CDC administers public housing, economic and redevelopment programs for the county with an annual budget of about $250 million.

The recent HUD money has been earmarked for low-interest improvement loans to businesses in the Willowbrook and Florence-Firestone areas. Funds can be used for land acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and relocation.

Businesses that receive the loans, however, must set aside 51% of their jobs for low- and moderate-income workers.

“We want to create and retain jobs,� said Carlos Jackson, commission executive director.

The areas targeted by the commission are part of the city and county Supplement Empowerment Zone, a federally funded program created to help increase jobs and economic opportunity in neighborhoods affected by the riots.

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Poverty rates in the zone are three times higher than the national average and unemployment is nearly four times the nationwide average.

In addition to loans, businesses in the zone can receive tax credits for purchasing machinery, parts and construction materials, and by hiring local residents.

While the focus of the recent HUD grants and loan guarantees is Willowbrook and Florence-Firestone, CDC is also involved in areas that sustained comparatively little damage in the riots.

Percell Keeling, a Windsor Hills restaurateur, said a $400,000 loan from the agency is helping him relocate his restaurant and health-food store across the street to the Wich Stand site, a former 1950s drive-in.

“I’m totally behind this program,� he said.

The loan will go primarily toward refurbishing the 38-year-old restaurant to specifications for designated historic landmarks.

The move will boost the size of his business by 3,900 square feet, which he plans to use for increased restaurant seating and yoga and aerobics classes.

In addition to the loan, the CDC program also enrolled Keeling in a course at Cal State Los Angeles that helped him hone his business skills.