A $20 million development project in South Los Angeles is finally moving forward, but not before a long and messy struggle highlighted problems with the redevelopment process in the community, reported Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report on Monday. 

From the article:

Over the past 10 years, the nonprofit CCSCLA has been sued for breach of contract by the City, sued by construction contractors for nonpayment of invoices, and audited by the state controller over grants to build soccer fields.

Opponents of the group claim a political connection with City Council member Jan Perry -- often mentioned as a candidate for the city's next mayor -- helped to deliver the project at Slauson and Central to Concerned Citizens.

"From the start this was a politically motivated process and it was intended to take a great benefit and give it to people who had supported certain politicians," said Stanley Kramer, who had his land taken to build the project. "It was done from day one illegally."

But Mark Williams of Concerned Citizens says that Jan Perry has turned her back on ordinary South L.A. citizens, favoring instead big development interests like AEG, and that she actually now seeks to destroy Concerned Citizens.

The shopping center will be located at the corner of Slauson and Central avenues. According to the report:

The Slauson-Central shopping center project that inspired that litigation is part of a 20-year effort to construct a new grocery store and a strip mall in South L.A. The plan was to utilize three adjoining plots to create the shopping center, which will be called the "Juanita Tate Marketplace" after the projected Summer 2011 completion date.

Read more about the battle over the development project here.