For nearly three decades, Rev. Murray presided over the city’s oldest Black congregation, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles, turning a struggling community into an 18,000-member powerhouse that channeled millions of dollars into surrounding neighborhoods.
Rev Cecil Chip Murray, voice of calm during L A riots, dies at 94 washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza mall is 41 acres of prime commercial real estate in the nation’s second largest metropolitan area. When the mall came up for sale last year, a group of residents decided to shoot for the moon and started organizing to buy it, at a price tag now in the nine figures.
If their bid is successful, the residents envision bringing in more locally owned businesses with a preference for worker-owned cooperatives; adding new mixed-income housing; building a recording studio; and creating new green space on the lot.
They formed a nonprofit entity to take ownership of the mall, called Downtown Crenshaw. Over the past year they successfully rebuffed two bids from outside investors, and at a March 24 press event they went public with the $28 million in donations they’ve raised for a down payment on the property.