ABOUT US
LTCC advocates on behalf of the Little Tokyo community, and provides the opportunity for the community to speak effectively with one voice for the best interests and betterment of Little Tokyo.
OUR MISSION
By bringing together a broad range of Little Tokyo stakeholders to speak with one voice, we protect, preserve, and promote the character and values of our historic community.
OUR TEAM & WHO WE SERVE
Established in 1999, the Little Tokyo Community Council (LTCC) is the nonprofit community coalition of residents, businesses, and religious, cultural, and community organizations as well as other vested stakeholders in the Little Tokyo community.
WHAT WE DO
PROTECT our community legacy by building political power and engaging with public officials
PRESERVE: Build resilience and a sustainable future by creating a vision for Little Tokyo’s future and collaborating with community partners. See our Sustainable Little Tokyo Community Vision here.
PROMOTE: Support local businesses by bringing in new visitors to our historic Japantown
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1999
LTCC was formed when several community leaders, heads of non-profit organizations, business owners and residents agreed that a formal organization was needed to deal with ongoing issues in Little Tokyo.
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2003
Stopped the City of Los Angeles from constructing a jail next door to Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple on First Street.
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2009
LTCC advocated for a Metro Gold Line station, culminating with the opening of the Little Tokyo/ Arts District station.
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2011
Achieved an underground route or alignment for the Regional Connector Transit project, eliminating potential subdivision of the community.
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2011
Advocated and won significant mitigations from Metro due to Regional Connector construction impacts on the comvmunity – including a marketing program for businesses and community, shuttle services and parking.
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2012
Fought for the construction of the Judge John Aiso parking lot. It is the most affordable short-term parking lot in Little Tokyo, intended to support patronage of local businesses.
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2013
With the City of L.A., created the Little Tokyo Community Design Overlay District to preserve the cultural and pedestrian orientation of the community.
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2013
With Little Tokyo Service Center, spearheaded Sustainable Little Tokyo, a community-driven vision for Little Tokyo prioritizing green initiatives, small business development and cultural/arts programming.
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2014
With Metro support, created Go Little Tokyo, a neighborhood marketing campaign to support Little Tokyo businesses and cultural institutions during construction of the Regional Connector.
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2015
LTCC launches the first ever Delicious Little Tokyo, the first of its growing, annual series to create an interactive way for the public to explore and support small businesses of Little Tokyo.
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2017
Organized for a traffic signal and crosswalk on Third Street/Omar Street, a safe crossing especially for our seniors traveling to the Medical Building on Third Street.
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2017
Negotiated mitigation, including monetary compensation, for small businesses impacted by the construction of the ETCO home development near Weller Court.
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2017
LTCC launches the first ever Haunted Little Tokyo, the first of its annual series in collaboration with local small businesses to encourage unique programs throughout the community during Halloween.
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2018
Gathered community support to discard WSAB light rail lines that could have displaced businesses in Little Tokyo.
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2019
LTCC, LTSC, and Go for Broke helped secure community control of First Street North as a first step towards paving a away for a development that meets Little Tokyo’s community needs and priorities.
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2020
In addition to projects in collaboration with other organizations to support small businesses and Little Tokyo stakeholders during the pandemic, LTCC led the charge on small business support initiatives such as Community Feeding Community, a program built to support the community as a whole by crowdfunding to purchase meals from small businesses and distributing to the community.
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2020
In collaboration with the Little Tokyo Service Center, LTCC launched the Little Tokyo Small Business Relief Fund, aimed to provide financial relief to struggling small businesses during the pandemic. LTCC raised over $250,000 in total dedicated to both Community Feeding Community and Little Tokyo Small Business Relief Fund.
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2020
Created the #LoveLT campaign, which actively provided the public up-to-date information on which Little Tokyo businesses were open and how to support them during the pandemic. #LoveLT then evolved from supporting small businesses through monetary effort into a community sourced effort to help directly promote small businesses by helping them manage their business social channels.
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2020
After a prolonged process with Metro, in which LTCC led community discussions urging Metro’s selection for a developer for the Regional Connector station site joint development to take into consideration, community input, LTCC and community partners pushed Metro to rescind their selection in favor of a new process that centers the vision and priorities of the community.
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2021
Received an expansion for the ground lease of the LTSC/Go For Broke First St. North project, which prompted LTCC to lead the charge along with Sustainable Little Tokyo on visioning the new development for the site, and supporting the project efforts for approval, including nearly tripling its original 77 unit plan to include 220+ units of affordable and permanent supportive housing.
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2022
LTCC and Sustainable Little Tokyo led the community process to update the original 2013 SLT Vision for the Mangrove and 1st/Central parcels, and received commitments from the City and Metro to develop the parcels in tandem, so as to achieve the community vision and priorities through a more holistic approach, based on the community’s vision.
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2023
In partnership with Metro and community partners, LTCC organized the Regional Connector Community Celebration for the opening of the Regional Connector and the Little Tokyo station.
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2024
Groundbreaking for the First Street North apartments, a development by LTSC & GFBNEC that helps to fulfill and realize part of the Sustainable Little Tokyo vision