Vernon is the tiny city south of Downtown Los Angeles that has such a brazenly corrupt past that it could have inspired a great season of True Detective (instead it inspired a kind of boring one). The population has long stayed tightly capped around 100, and most residents have/had close ties to the very small and powerful group that ran the city government—some were related, some worked for the city, and almost all lived in super-cheap housing owned by the city (there was a lot of overlap among the groups too). But now the population of Vernon will double with the opening of the city's first privately owned housing complex: the Vernon Village Park Apartments, opened Saturday.
Vernon Village Park, developed by Meta Housing, will bring 102 new residents into its 45 apartments; according to the LA Times, only 12 units will go to families working for private companies in Vernon: "The rest are being rented out to people from surrounding cities and communities such as Los Angeles, Maywood and Bell." In 2011, the state nearly disincorporated Vernon for all of the shady shit unearthed there—uncontested elections, super-high government salaries, non-competitive bidding processes, etc. Vernon watchers are hoping the new development will bring in a fresh crop of voters without any ties to the people who run the city.
The apartment complex comes with a community garden, playground, computer lab, and laundry, which will be nice for residents in a city that has "no parks, theaters or public libraries."
· In a dramatic change for Vernon, doors open to new residents [LAT]
· All About the Troubled Little City That True Detective is About to Make Famous [Curbed LA]
· Rent in Vernon is Cheaper Than in the LA Projects [Curbed LA]
· Famously Corrupt Vernon Trying to be Less Scandalous by Letting More People Live There [Curbed LA]