Here it is: the 2015 Curbed Cup race for the Los Angeles Neighborhood of the Year. Round one of our tournament features 16 'hoods vying for the coveted golden jpeg—we'll have two matchups every day through Thursday, then take a look at our tournament bracket on Friday. Voting for each poll ends 24 hours after opening (and will be watched closely for any shenanigans). Let the games begin!
Carson spent most of the year fighting to win a new NFL stadium (to host the Chargers and Raiders), for which it even decided to finally clean up a toxic old landfill site. Also, in response to a public records request, they claimed there were literally no documents pertaining to the stadium negotiations. But there's so much more to Carson than just an increasingly improbable stadium plan: they started the year considering a boycott of a local newspaper for reporting crimes that happened near Carson and peaked in the fall when an independent report found their *city clerk was a real nightmare of a racist. Oh, Carson.
Inglewood's 2015 was also mostly spent in a ridiculous pursuit of an NFL stadium (less ridiculous in that they'll probably end up getting it). They pushed the plan through, using a popular vote to circumvent the state's onerous environmental review laws and committing an enormous amount of public money to "reimburse" megarich stadium developer Stan Kroenke (rich on his own and ALSO married to a Walmart heiress). But the best part was when the people behind the now-defunct Downtown LA stadium plan hired former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge to call the Inglewood plan a terrorist target. Joke was on us later in the year, though, when the FAA said the stadium plan was both too high and too shiny. Regardless, Inglewood has pressed ahead—the old Hollywood Park Racetrack was demolished in June to make way for the stadium.
· Curbed Cup 2015 [Curbed LA]