School closures have rocked this LA-area district – are they destroying it, or saving it?

As the US faces challenges to public school funding, activists warn that more people should pay attention to what’s happened in Inglewood, CaliforniaInglewood, California – a few miles east of Los Angeles international airport – is known as the city of champions. The NBA champion Lakers once called Inglewood’s Forum – famously dubbed “the fabulous Forum” by announcer Chick Hearn – home.By the mid-2000s, with the Lakers gone and another local landmark – nearby Hollywood Park racetrack – closed, the city was close to bankruptcy. Then came a series of deals – often attributed to the leadership of the mayor James Butts – that reinvigorated the city, as a new epicenter of sports and entertainment such as the new spaceship-like SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome. When the 2028 Olympics roll around