Advocates call for bank regulation
Groups want banks held accountable
Federal financial regulators recently held the final meeting about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in downtown Los Angeles. It culminated the first public opportunity to assess reforms left out of the recent financial reform legislation passed by Congress.
While many consumer protections were included in the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act, there have been no major changes to the CRA for a decade and a half despite various shift in the lending industry and financial landscape. CRA has been a key component in assisting low-income and non-White neighborhoods access mainstream financial institutions.
The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) and its allies have organized public testimonies from small business owners, community financial lenders, organizations, and concerned citizens to identify critical disparities in the current law.
Groups are urging regulators to strengthen oversight and enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act as a way of assisting with the nation’s economic recovery.
Lack of enforcement of CRA allowed the practices many lenders, mortgagors, and loan organizations to devastate thousands of families, businesses, and neighborhoods in California.
“The whole purpose of CRA was really to ensure fair access to lending and investment services in low and moderate income communities,” Vermont-Slauson Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Marva Smith Battle-Bey said. “We just think the feds can do a better job than what’s going on today.”
The CRA, passed in 1977, was landmark legislation requiring financial institutions to serve the lending, investment, and financial service needs of their communities.
“CRA once meant an end to overt redlining. But in recent years, banks have run amok. The regulators need to do their job better to be sure that neighborhoods have access to safe lending,” said CRC Executive Director Alan Fisher. “These hearings are an opportunity for small businesses and overlooked neighborhoods to be heard.”
“In addition, if there is significant litigation bearing on bank performance and responsiveness to low-income communities or communities of color, a hold should be placed on the (banks’ merger) application,” Fisher said. “The current situation where banks are sold overnight by the FDIC has left no opportunity for the community to comment or for community involvement.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A former Palmdale apartment manager who said he was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed without provocation in a confrontation with sheriff’s deputies received an additional $6,000 in punitive damages in addition to $575,000 awarded two days earlier by the same jury.
The Los Angeles Superior Court panel deliberated for about one and half hours Friday before assessing the damages in favor of Noel Bender and against Deputy Scott Sorrow.
Seven of television’s hottest and most sought after musicians and more importantly musical directors, took the stage last week, not to perform but to spotlight their accomplishments and celebrate Black Music Month.
These contemporary music pioneers, assembled for the first time, spoke candidly about the industry, particularly their role in shaping the music television audiences worldwide have come to enjoy.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—More than 51,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County, a 3 percent drop from 2009, according to a report released today.
The report, by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which counts the homeless once every two years, found that social service agencies and homeless prevention programs have helped keep the numbers level despite the economic downturn.
Scripture teaches us to “Love thy neighbor.” For many of us, that means checking in on a senior, dropping off a meal to a family with a newborn, watching a child for a single working parent, helping with chores when someone is ill or offering a word of encouragement when someone has lost a job.
But would you ever imagine that caring for your neighbor means helping them get access to the Internet?
In 1961 the Freedom Riders were young, unafraid and bold enough to believe they could make a difference and combat Jim Crow segregation and bigotry in the Deep South.
The four courageous California college students—Edward Johnson, Robert Farrell, and Helen and Robert Singleton—participated in the rides, seeking to improve the lives of their southern brothers and sisters while clearly endangering their own.
