General Plan Update - City of Inglewood

2.3 Economic Trends and Conditions
used for large concerts and weekly church services, but has lost its position within
Los Angeles as the premiere entertainment venue.
• The Forum, which is currently under the ownership of the Faithful Central Bible
Church, is exploring the idea of using its underutilized parking area for housing and
retail development.
Downtown
• Within the downtown area, there is an increased focus on economic development
and mixed use development. It is the City’s hope to have a vibrant downtown,
centering on Market Street, that has commercial, residential, business,
governmental and entertainment uses.
• For the future, a Business Improvement District (BID) is being considered to
revitalize the downtown business environment.
The following presents the key demographic and economic findings and trends in the
City of Inglewood and surrounding area, including: demographic trends; residential
trends; employment trends; growth projections and market conditions and trends.
• Issues
• The City’s existing employment base, with one-third of all jobs in the services
sector, has the effect of lowering the average wage of local employment
opportunities.
• The City’s population age, 25 years and older, has achieved markedly lower levels
of higher education than the total for the South Bay Cities and Los Angeles
County.
• The City is currently witnessing leakage in most of its retail categories, with only
General Merchandise performing above the Los Angeles County per capita average
retail sales.
• In 2004, the unemployment rate in Inglewood was the second highest among the
South Bay Cities at 8.3 percent, compared to 6.6 percent for Los Angeles County.
• Manufacturing declined by 31.9 percent from an estimated 2,685 jobs in 2001 to
1829 jobs in 2004.
• The annual average salary in the City of Inglewood declined by 4.5 percent in
constant 2005 dollars from $42,683 to $40,773 from 2001 to 2004.
• Per capita taxable retail sales in Inglewood were relatively low at $5,998 amongst
the cities in the South Bay; about 67 percent of the $8,980 area average.
• The City is generally lacking in strong regional retail centers.
• The City is currently lacking in job training and workforce development programs.
• References
California State Board of Equalization. Taxable sales data for the City of Inglewood,
annual data for 1994 and 2004.
California Department of Finance, 2005. Economic and demographic data.
City of Inglewood General Plan Update Technical Background Report
2.3-45