政治学教授里贾纳·弗里(Regina freer)是一名政治旁观者.A. inside -将社区积极分子的心带入城市规划的动态
On a hot May morning in downtown Los Angeles, 在市政厅议会会议厅华丽的空间里，空气是闷热的. 洛杉矶城市规划委员会正在考虑南加州大学的一项提案，该提案将创造500万平方英尺的新商业和住宅空间, and the place is packed. South L.A. 抗议该计划的居民和支持该计划的南加州大学学生和当地企业肩并肩地坐在软垫座椅上，沿着周边站成参差不齐的一排排.
政治学教授里贾纳·弗里尔(Regina Freer)坐在前排，坐在议会会议厅的一个座位上. She listens intently as a parade of residents, students, university officials, 小企业主则会发表两分钟的感人演讲. After more than 80 people have their say, the planning commission deliberates for another several hours. 他们的决定是:6比2赞成南加州大学的计划，但南加州大学必须将预留给经济适用房的200万美元增加到800万美元.
Freer casts one of the "no" votes, 这反映了她的理念，即做最好的事情，而不仅仅是为了开发者和大学, 但对那些可能因该计划而流离失所的工薪阶层居民来说也是如此. “随着大学的发展，它们会融入现有的社区，”她说. “他们是成为社区的一部分，还是接管社区?"
“我在Oxy的经历影响了我的世界观，”她补充道. "Civic engagement is not charity. It's about partnership. We enter into a partnership not just to get, but to give. It's both."
1992年4月29日，弗里尔打开电视，看着洛杉矶被烧毁. 陪审团刚刚宣布四名洛杉矶警察无罪，他们对黑人驾车者罗德尼·金进行了野蛮袭击, 长期以来在该市酝酿的种族紧张局势终于爆发了.
当时，弗里尔正在密歇根大学攻读政治学硕士学位. Born a year after the 1965 Watts riots—her mother is black, her father, white—she grew up in a South L.A. neighborhood whose ethnic footprint was gradually changing. 因为一个种族主义房东拒绝把房子租给弗里尔的父母, the Freers bought another house down the block.
自从她进入加州大学伯克利分校读本科以来，她就搬得越来越远. She had no intention of returning to her hometown, 一个由低层商业建筑组成的工薪阶层和中产阶级非洲裔美国人聚居地, modest bungalows, and the gated campus of USC. But the 1992 rampage torched businesses on Crenshaw Boulevard, less than a mile from her parents' house. 其中一家是卖酒的商店，弗里尔小时候经常在那里买糖果.
她决定，在她的家乡分崩离析之前，是时候参与进来了. "Tragedy prompted me to come home," says Freer, 她搬回了童年的家，开始为她关于南洛杉矶种族间关系的博士论文采访当地居民.A. (which she completed in 1999). “确实出了问题，我想帮忙解决它."
弗利尔于1996年加入十大正规网赌平台，担任讲师，并开始教授L.A. politics and history, coalitional politics, 这将成为她社区学习课程的基础. 在这些公民参与课程中，学生探索和做L的民族志研究.A. 博伊尔高地、莱默特公园和韩国城等社区.
弗里尔关于洛杉矶冲突历史的课程帮助朱莉娅·帕西乌托走上了她的职业道路. An urban and environmental policy major from Templeton, Pasciuto was intimidated at first by the size of the city. But in the class, she stepped outside "the Oxy bubble" and explored downtown, Skid Row, Bunker Hill, and other L.A. sites. With Freer's help, Pasciuto subsequently interned with the L.A. Department of City Planning. She is now studying for a master's in urban planning at UCLA.
"The entire experience was hugely eye-opening. I think L.A现在真的很漂亮，”Pasciuto说，他称Freer是“我在Oxy最喜欢的教授之一”. 她充满活力，对洛杉矶内外发生的事情了如指掌."
2005年，洛杉矶市长安东尼奥·维拉莱戈萨任命弗里尔为有影响力的九人规划委员会成员，该委员会负责监督土地使用, housing, open space, 城市469平方英里范围内的交通问题——她最初不愿意接受这个职位. 弗里尔认为自己是一名学者和社区组织者，而不是市政厅内部人士. But then she realized that she could help change L.A. for the better. “这是一个参与决策的机会，我可以在对我真正重要的问题上发挥作用, like affordable housing and environmental justice concerns," says Freer, who was appointed vice president of the commission in 2008.
“里贾纳帮助将健康、宜居和健康作为规划过程的一部分," says Robert Gottlieb, the Henry R. 卢斯大学城市与环境研究教授，牛津大学城市与环境政策研究所所长.
"Unlike some of the other commissioners, she's not speaking for her economic interest," adds fellow commission member and former L.A. City Council member Michael Woo. "She's looked upon as someone who knows the history of L.A., about the decision-making process, about the big picture."
In addition to her work with the Planning Commission, 弗里尔是洛杉矶黑人工人中心的顾问委员会成员, 它研究并关注美国黑人的就业需求.A., 也是自由山基金会社区基金委员会的成员, 这是一家洛杉矶的非营利组织，投资于社区环境项目, poverty and economic justice, and gay rights. Shane Goldsmith, 自由山基金会的副总裁兼首席项目官, 弗里尔在一些项目中发挥了不可或缺的作用，比如帮助评估拨款申请人的评估工具，以及培养未来城市专员的培训项目. “Regina非常平易近人，总是愿意挽起袖子帮助我们，”戈德史密斯说. "She helps keep us out in the world."
Freer has written extensively about Los Angeles, co-authoring The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City with professors Gottlieb, Mark Vallianatos, and Peter Dreier, and publishing several papers on Charlotta Bass, 20世纪早期的一位黑人报纸编辑和活动家，曾竞选美国总统.S. 他的竞选口号是“不管赢还是输，我们只要提出问题就能赢”."
"I agree!" says Freer, who is now writing a biography of Bass. “我并不总是站在胜利的一边，但我总是试图提出问题."
