Weekly Calendar

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of  

May 28, 2007

 

1.      Save Elephant Hill

2.   Save the Southwest Museum 

3.      Westlake Walkabout

4.      Glassell Park Walkabout

5.      LA River Bike Ride

6.      Strategic  Planning with Ron Milam

7.      Article: Cancer risk rises for those near rail

 

 

Visit www.latinourbanforu m.org  or  Myspace.com/ LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

 

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SAVE Elephant Hill Update * URGENT * Action Alert

 

Urge Huizar to Require Full Environmental Review for Elephant Hill

 

In his recent campaign for re-election, Councilmember Jose Huizar ran on an environmental platform.  He promised to make our communities safer, cleaner and greener.  He vowed to expand green and open space.  Last summer as the campaign heated up, he responded to El Sereno residents' pleas for help to ensure equitable services from City agencies responsible for residential developments by introducing a motion to investigate the need for a supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) for Tract 35022, the controversial development of 24 luxury homes on Elephant Hill. 

 

Now, under the threat of a lawsuit by the developers of Elephant Hill, the City agencies charged with undertaking this investigation recommended NO SEIR for Tract 35022 at the May 22nd Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) hearing.

Councilmember Huizar is on this powerful committee.  The report, developed under direction of the Planning Dept., argues that no supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) is required because there are no pending

*discretionary* approvals for Tract 35022. 

 

At the hearing, residents argued that the building permit for Tract 35022—set to be approved by the City in the next few days—is in fact a discretionary approval, thus allowing for additional environmental review of Tract 35022.

The issue of equity in planning decision-making for low-income communities like El Sereno hit home when Joe Edmiston of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy testified that similar situations in Westside communities that came down in

favor of residents.  

 

Fortunately, Councilmember Huizar extended the hearing, allowing residents an opportunity to review and respond to the staff report.  On Friday, the National Resources Defense Council and Chatten-Brown & Carstens submitted an opinion that building permits are a discretionary action. 

 

Councilmember Huizar needs the backing of his constituents to stand firm in his commitment to environmental justice and stop this illegal expansion of a luxury home development in a low-income community.  Please help send a clear message to Councilmember Huizar that our community expects him exercise his considerable authority to ensure that El Sereno residents receive equitable and fair services from City agencies responsible for residential developments.

These developers must be accountable and follow the rules just like everyone else, despite their wealth, influence and threats. 

           

What You Can Do:

 

* Write or call Councilmember Huizar and tell him you will stand with him as he fights for environmental justice in El Sereno by ensuring fair and equitable services from the agencies responsible for the residential development on Elephant Hill.  If the B-permit is approved by the Bureau of Engineering, he must issue a stop work order so that the hillside is not destroyed before this issue is resolved.

* Email: councilmember. huizar@lacity. org or Call 213-473-7014

 

* For copies of the reports and ongoing information about Elephant Hill check out these new blogs:

http://www.saveelep hanthills. blogspot. com/  and http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

 

For more information contact: saveelephanthills@ yahoo.com                           

5/26/07

 

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Save the Southwest   Museum

 

The City's approval process for Autry to relocate the Southwest Museum to Griffith Park has begun.  This is not a "done deal", even if Autry makes it sound so.  Remember when the powers-that- be said the Cornfields would become warehouses.. . that the deal was done?  Today, due to a determined group of community leaders, Los Angeles is blessed with a new State Park. 

 

1)  Want a real future for the Southwest Museum here in Northeast LA ?  Take a look at the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition's Alternative Plan that would reduce the Griffith Park expansion project (and its related impacts) and invest in a vibrant and economically viable MUSEUM in Northeast Los Angeles .  There's no reason that the public cannot benefit by seeing all those priceless artifacts at the original location, in our neighborhood:

http://www.friendso fthesouthwestmus eum.com/newsite/ Brochure051907. pdf

 

Mark your calendars and get informed:

2) take a close look at the environmental analysis just posted online today by the Dept of Recreation and Parks for the proposed Autry expansion project in Griffith Park .  Object?  Oppose?    Attend the Public Meeting.  A second meeting was just added for June 11th and the comment period extended until June 28.

http://www.laparks. org/environmenta l/environmental. htm

 

3) Information provided by the Save Griffith Park webmaster:

 

PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING ON AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER'S AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR EXPANSION IN GRIFFITH PARK

Attached is the notice from the Department of Recreation and Parks announcing the first Public Scoping Meeting of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process for the proposed expansion of the Autry   National Center . (May 29, 6:30 pm, Autry National Center ).  The 
Autry, a privately held institution, is situated on 10 acres of public land in Griffith Park which it leases from the City of Los Angeles for $1 (one dollar) a year.  Both its location on dedicated parkland and its potential environmental impacts on its host,  Griffith Park , make the Autry's  expansion a matter of public interest.

The letter and conceptual plan diagrams provided indicate that the institution is seeking to increase its built area by 129,000 square feet.  Additionally, it is seeking to move a large portion of its parking to the south and east portion of its existing South Lawn thereby obliterating half of this green space and eventually, in Phase II of their conceptual plan, constructing an additional building above this newly created parking lot.

At first look, this seems to contradict assurances from the Autry that they do not intend to increase their footprint in Griffith Park , as was reported in the L.A. Times. The word footprint," however,  which is commonly understood to mean the space a building occupies on a parcel of land, has been redefined admittedly by the Autry to mean the land itself -- all 110 acres of their leasehold. Contradicted as  well, it seems is the Autry's longstanding and oft-repeated  public promise never to remove the green space afforded by their South 
Lawn.  By relabeling the leftover section of turf as "South Lawn" on the diagram, the reality that half the lawn has been lost is obscured.

Because this is a matter of public interest, the project will require various approvals which may include an amendment to its existing ground lease, a conditional use permit with a height allowance (does this mean a zoning variance?) and more. The potential environmental  impacts are listed and they are considerable.

We urge you to attend the meeting and to voice and mail in your comments to the Environmental Supervisor.

 

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Saturday, June 9, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Westlake/Macarthur Park Walk Audit.  The Latino Urban Forum was able to connect California Walks to the Center City Neighborhood Partners to do a walk audit in the largely Latino community of Pico/Union. Walks audits are a great way to help people examine, and improve streets. The team is looking for Spanish speaking planners to help facilitate the walk audit. Please consider volunteering to facilitate groups of 5-10 people.  Each group will survey a targeted area of Westlake for 2 to 2 ½ hours.  We're also looking for people to assist the facilitators by recording information and getting help from participants to record further information and take photographs.  Facilitators and assistants will need to undergo a training on either May 21, 9-11 am or May 31 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. 

Contact Jennifer Allen at Livable Places 213 622.5980 x23

 

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Saturday, June 9, 2007 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

THE GREAT GLASSELL PARK- CYPRESS PARK WALKABOUT

 Dear community member,

I'd like to inform you about our Walkabout and invite you to join us. A Walkabout collects and documents information to inventory elements that contribute, or detract, from the health and viability of a community. It's an effective outreach tool that brings divergent sectors of a community together, on common ground, to share a sense of place and mutual ownership. It creates a strong tie to community and supports consensus building while working toward a pedestrian friendly, even pedestrian seductive, streetscape.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, June 9. The community will meet at 8:00am at the Glassell Park Community/Senior Center to be welcomed by Council President Garcetti, Councilmember Reyes, and Councilmember Huizar before breaking into 25 groups and being shuttled to locations along the 12.5 miles we'll be documenting. Our intent is to have a facilitator in each group who has a background, or experience, in city planning.

We'll have checklists to document our experience. We will also have aerial maps for each group along with street stripping maps. Our documentation will be quite thorough, as we will be measuring, photographing, and experiencing our neighborhoods step by step. Our Walk Audit will review the current build out of the street VS the street designation of each street as well as the land uses and urban form.

Given the incoming Community Design Overlay for Cypress Park and Glassell Park, this is an timely opportunity to outreach and educate community members to help them engage in an informed dialogue with the City and to connect with their neighbors to advocate for safe, healthy, livable neighborhoods. ††

We've hired Deborah Murphy; associate AIA in Urban Design & Planning, who organized the Hollywood Walkabout. †Deborah has been `hands-on' since the beginning. She'll be facilitating all the community meetings, the core group training, and will provide the summary analysis. †

Please join the scores of volunteers on this one special day to mark this seminal event. Come to one of the two community outreach meetings or become part of the core group and be involved in all aspects of the project. Feel free to contact me.

 

Helene Schpak

hschpk@sbcglobal. net

323-422-1330

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Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Keep LA Beautiful and help clean the surrounding area around Fuller Lofts on Gloves, tools and lunch will be provided. Grab your old jeans, t-shirts & sneakers and give the neighborhood a makeover.

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Saturday June 10, 2007

LA River Bike Ride

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Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 10 am - 3 pm

STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH RON MILAM

What's your community's mission?  What's your vision?  Values?  What will you do to make your vision reality?  Knowing the answers to these questions plays a key role in your nonprofit group's success, whether it be a shared house, cohousing group, ecovillage, or other type of co-op living or working situation. READ MORE AT http://laecovillage .org/strategicpl anningmilam. html

 

Fee:                                   $75 (sliding scale available)

Pre-registration required:  213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

 

Location:        L.A. Eco-Village,

117 Bimini Pl, LA 90004

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ART

 

May 18th - June 23rd, 2007

LA Botanical ;  A project by Joyce Campbell

LA Botanical is an ongoing project, massive and perhaps unachievable in its full potential scope, to  document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a documented use - be it food,  medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel,  stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen. The plants are documented as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic  form ubiquitous the 1850's-1890s, the period during  in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants to a major metropolitan center.

The project is an attempt to reconcile Campbell 's own rural background with her life here in Los Angeles ,  one of the most sprawling and unsustainable  metropolises on earth.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles . It has the potential to reveal who lives  here, from where they originate, what they value, how  they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe  themselves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to  see Los Angeles , not as a desiccated industrial  wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a  field of abundant life that might be harvested to  satisfy our needs.

            Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont , California .

Joyce¹s recent work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques to examine the collision of natural and cultural systems.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.

While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

 

Location:        Gallery 727

                        727 S. Spring Street #12

                        LA, CA.  90014

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Articles:

 

Cancer risk rises for those near rail yards

 

A study says Commerce neighborhoods near several major facilities face a greater threat from diesel soot than residents elsewhere.

 

By Janet Wilson, Times Staff Writer

 

May 25, 2007

 

Residents who live in the shadow of Southern California 's booming rail yards face cancer risks from soot as much as 140% greater than in the rest of the region, according to new studies by state air regulators.

 

In addition, clouds of diesel exhaust blown by the wind from the rail yards blanket wide swaths of Greater Los Angeles, upping annual cancer risks slightly for millions more residents.

 

"The risks are much higher than they ought to be, and we need to do everything we can to reduce them," said Michael Scheible, deputy executive officer of the California Air Resources Board.

 

The health risk assessments, which were released in draft form this week, were prepared as part of a voluntary agreement between the nation's two largest railroads and the state air board. Such assessments have been done only once before in California , at a Roseville rail yard.

 

Hardest hit in the region are neighborhoods in Commerce that are near one Union Pacific and three BNSF yards. Residents in the tidy, working-class neighborhoods of Bandini and Ayers-Leonis are 70% to 140% more likely to contract cancer from diesel soot than people in the rest of Los Angeles .

Regulators said some homes are only a few feet from rail-yard fence lines, and there are schools and parks near the yards, which operate around the clock 365 days a year.

 

Other rail yards and neighborhoods covered by the initial round of studies include Union Pacific's Los Angeles Transportation Center , Mira Loma near Union Pacific's yard in Riverside County and a BNSF facility in Wilmington .

In those places, residents are 11% to 26% more likely to contract cancer from soot.

 

Railroad officials said the studies showed that the rail yards produce less than 1% of the region's diesel particulate emissions. But they said they were concerned about their contribution to local health risks and were spending millions of dollars to slash emissions in coming years with hundreds of new locomotives, anti-idling devices, cleaner fuels and other measures.

 

"We're certainly part of the issue," said Lanny Schmid, director of Union Pacific's environmental programs. "We like to think we're a small part of the issue, and we're going to get it even smaller."

 

But angry, anxious Commerce residents and others who were informed of the higher health risks at a City Hall briefing Wednesday night said faster action was needed. They also were disturbed that risks of respiratory disease, asthma and impaired lung function — all shown in numerous studies to increase with exposure to diesel soot — were not included in the health assessments.

 

"We need to figure out what we can do now, right now," said Commerce Mayor Robert Fierro, who added that as a schoolteacher he regularly received absentee notes for children who have suffered from asthma attacks or bronchitis.

 

"We've lived in Commerce since the 1950s, and I come from a family of four generations of asthma in the home," resident Nancy Ramos said. "My 4-year-old grandson is already dealing with asthma, including two ambulance visits."

 

"Quite honestly it's laughable" not to include health risks such as asthma and respiratory disease, said Ian MacMillan, who conducts similar health risk studies for the Los Angeles Unified School District .

 

Scheible said state health guidelines, which were prepared in the late 1980s, don't call for non-cancer health risks to be included, and, he said, they are more difficult to assess accurately. But he said that if enough people wanted officials to try, they would see if it could be done for the final reports.

 

The analyses showed that in addition to locomotives, giant cranes, refrigerated cars and aging short-haul trucks contribute to diesel emissions in the yards.

 

Trucks on nearby freeways and busy streets also add risk. The Commerce yards, for instance, spewed out a combined 40 tons of soot in 2005, while short-haul trucks on nearby streets put out about 113 tons.

 

Modeling and weather data used in the study showed that lower levels of soot spread for miles from the yards. The Union Pacific Los Angeles facility, which is less than a mile from downtown, spread a fine blanket of soot as much as four miles east and north of the facility, increasing cancer risk for 1.2 million residents by an average 10 chances in a million.

 

A past study has shown that cancer risks are highest at the ports that feed the rail yards.

 

But activists and local air regulators said the elevated cancer risks near the yards were "extremely high" compared with those near refineries and other "stationary sources," which are tightly regulated.

 

Allowable levels of risk from factories and other industrial sources are between 10 and 25 chances per million in the Los Angeles air basin, said South Coast Air Quality Management District spokesman Sam Atwood. Railroads claim exemption from local and state air pollution laws under interstate commerce clauses.

 

"Living next to a rail yard is like having a factory with 100 smokestacks going all the time," said Angelo Logan, head of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.

 

Mark Stehly, assistant vice president of environmental for BNSF, said it was unfair to compare factories with rail yards because locomotives and other mobile equipment cannot be fitted with the same types of heavy, high-volume emission control devices as factories.

 

"For [a rail yard] to be treated as a stationary source, it's appealing in its simplicity, but it's really not true. They are mobile sources," he said.

 

Additional meetings will be held on the studies in the next two months. The study findings are at http://www.arb. ca.gov/railyard/ hra/hra.htm

 

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Urban Eats:

 

Farmer Markets in the Hood!

 

Tianguis:  South Central Farmers Market.

Support Community Sustainable Agriculture (C.S.A.)

Music, high quality produce,

www.southcentralfar mers.com

 

Date:               First Sunday of every month (May 6^th)

Time:             10:00 am. to 4:00 p.m.

Location:         41^st and Alameda

 

 

" East Los Angeles Farmer's Market" every Saturday from 9 AM TO 1 PM

Features fruits and vegetables grown locally by local farmers. In addition, you'll find one of a kind creations offered by local artisans and meet representatives from local community organizations.

 

Location: First Street (between Rowan and Ditman).

 

 

Homegirl Café!

1818 East First Street

LA, CA.  90014

 

Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe

7^th Street across from Macarthur Park

 

To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@ yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.

Metro Fares on the Up and Up

So I've perused the purple pamphlets Metro was passing out last week. And I've seen the press release and read about the public hearing where the official pronouncement was made, thanks to LAist. Fares will be going up in July, and like transit users across LA County, I'll have to figure out what exactly the changes will mean to my own pocket book.

My first thought is that tokens are going to become a lot more popular, as regular fares will stay the same for two years, and because the cost of a day pass will be going up to $5, part of the compromise the Metro Board voted for this past Thursday. Which means you'll want to get a day pass only if you'll be catching 4 or more lines, 3 or less and you'll be better off using tokens.

Figuring out whether I'll need a monthly pass will take a little more figuring...

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of

May 21, 2007

1. Save Elephant Hill

2. Sustainable Transportation Forum

3. Cork Meeting

4. Health Assessment Meeting

5. Reinventing Downtown

6. Beyond Gridlock:

7. Westlake Walkabout

8. Glassell Park Walkabout

9. LA River Bike Ride

10. Strategic Planning with Ron Milam

Taylor Yard State Park!

I spent late afternoon and early evening Sunday hanging around Taylor Yard (Rio De Los Angeles) a new State Park along the LA River. It was beautiful to watch 100s of children, young adults and adults, playing soccer in the soccer fields, jogging around the park, playing near the newly created wetlands or just strolling around the newly planted meadows. This park was an old brown field that the community had to fight hard to create and it is well utilized.

Most of people at the park were low-income people of color, many of whom live in near by apartments without yards. They were having a great time enjoying nature and public space.

Over the hill from Taylor Yards the city has an opportunity to create a new park near the Silverlake reservoir but the neighbors do not want the city to create a park because it may attract the wrong people. People of color over whelming vote for water, air and open space bonds yet we do not get our fair share of these projects.

The future of creating environmental stewardship in LA is to appealing to LA growing low-income community by creating more parks like Taylor Yards!

James Rojas .

Visit www.latinourbanforu m.org or Myspace.com/ LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007 @ 2:00 p.m.

Attend Hearing – Agencies to Report on Environmental Review for Elephant Hill

Communities of Color need the planning! Our communities are always over looked by the city departments.

The City needs to do a supplemental EIR because the other one is 17 years old, a lot can happen in that time.

PLUM Meeting

Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location: LA City Hall, Room 350

The report by City agencies investigating the need for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for the expanded development on Elephant Hill - Tract 35022 - will soon be presented to the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee.

On January 23, 2007, PLUM directed the Planning Dept. (lead agency), the Bureau of Engineering and the Department of Building and Safety with assistance from the City Attorney to develop this report.

Documentation obtained since the January PLUM hearing provides further details about the Tract expansion. A geology and soils report approval letter dated March 6, 2006 from Building & Safety states: "The referenced reports concerning recommendations for development of 52 lots for proposed single-family residents have been reviewed by the Grading Division…Reports for development of Lots 1-24 of tract 35022 were previously approved in the above referenced Department letters. The current reports include those lots and several other lots as one development. " (Italics added.)

Because additional environmental review is allowed under state law when there is proof that a project has expanded beyond its original plans, concerned residents and organizations have formally requested that the report answer key questions including: What decision, law or authority allowed tract 35022 to be expanded? And, under what law or authority was the 1992 EIR applied to the expanded tract lots?

El Sereno residents deserve equitable and fair services from City agencies responsible for planning and overseeing the construction of residential developments. Developers who work in El Sereno should be required to follow the rules like everyone else.

What You Can Do:

The File Number for this item is #04-1413.

Write or call PLUM committee members to ensure that the report answers the questions asked by residents and others about the expansion of Tract 35022; mention File #04-1413. Thank PLUM members for directing City agencies to develop this report.

Email: Barbara.Greaves@ lacity.org or write to: Planning & Land Use Committee, City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles , CA 90012 . Individual Committee members can be contacted as follows:

Ed Reyes, Chair: councilmember. reyes@council. lacity.org or 213-473-7001 Jose Huizar: councilmember. huizar@lacity. org or 213-473-7014 Jack Weiss: councilmember. weiss@lacity. org or 213-473-7005

For ongoing information about Elephant Hill check out these new blogs:

http://www.saveelep hanthills. blogspot. com/ and http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

For more information contact: Casey Reagan at 213-804-2471 or cjreagan@roadrunner .com

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm

Sustainable Transportation Forum, Contested Streets Movie is a T.A. produced, Cicala Filmworks made documentary that explores the rich diversity of New York City street life before the introduction of automobiles and shows how New York can follow the example of other modern cities that have reclaimed their streets as vibrant public spaces. The run time of the film is approximately 1 hour and we will try and begin promptly at 12:00pm. So bring your lunch and come early to enjoy, imagine and be inspired!

Location: Metro Head Quarters Board Overflow Room on the 3rd floor. (Located adjacent to Cafeteria)

Address: One Gateway Plaza , Los Angeles 90012

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007 from noon - 1 pm

Cork Meeting: Tom Banner from Cork USA will review the production and use of one of the world's great sustainable materials, cork. Cork is a sustainably grown and harvested product and has found myriad uses in building construction today. Tom will review the process from harvest to installation, and will describe the many products that have been developed from cork and their sustainable characteristics.

Location: Brown Bag lunch
LACCD Board Room
770 Wilshire Blvd , at Flower
Please use public transit, DASH, Red Line, METRO all nearby.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Health Risk Assessment Meeting.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) cordially invites interested parties to any of four community meetings that will be held in Southern California from May 23-25, 2007. As part of its efforts to promote a comprehensive emissions reduction program, the staff of the ARB, in cooperation with representatives from Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and BNSF Railway (BNSF), will conduct four public meetings to present a progress report on the overall emission reduction efforts and explain the results of the ARB draft railyard health risk assessments for seven railyards located in Southern California. If you have questions about the public meeting notice or upcoming public meetings, please contact Mr. Harold Holmes, Manager, Engineering Evaluation Section at (916) 324-8029 or via email at: hholmes@arb. ca.gov.

Location: Commerce City Hall Council Chambers, 2535 Commerce Way - Commerce , CA 90040

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Wednesday, May 23 2007, 7PM

RE-INVENTING DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES: Creating context sensitive new street standards and urban design guidelines

Location: AIA Los Angeles , Wiltern Building

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800

Los Angeles , CA 90010

(take Metro Red Line to Wilshire and Western or park in parking structure just south of Wilshire, enter one block east of Western)

Space is limited RSVP required to Stephanie_Reich@ longbeach. gov by

Tuesday, May22

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Thursday, May 24, 2007 @ 8:00 a.m.

BEYOND GRIDLOCK: A HOUSING BLUEPRINT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNA Southern California Association of Governments 7th Annual Regional Housing Summit | $50 res reqd

Location: Wilshire Grand Hotel, 930 Wilshire Blvd , Los Angeles

, (213) 236-1861 | MAP| MORE »

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Saturday, June 9, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Westlake/Macarthur Park Walk Audit. The Latino Urban Forum was able to connect California Walks to the Center City Neighborhood Partners to do a walk audit in the largely Latino community of Pico/Union. Walks audits are a great way to help people examine, and improve streets. The team is looking for Spanish speaking planners to help facilitate the walk audit. Please consider volunteering to facilitate groups of 5-10 people. Each group will survey a targeted area of Westlake for 2 to 2 ½ hours. We're also looking for people to assist the facilitators by recording information and getting help from participants to record further information and take photographs. Facilitators and assistants will need to undergo a training on either May 21, 9-11 am or May 31 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Contact Jennifer Allen at Livable Places 213 622.5980 x23

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___

Saturday, June 9, 2007 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Great Glassell Park and Cypress Park Walkabout. This walkabout is being organized by The Glassell Park Improvement Association, the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council, Council Offices #1 (Reyes), #13 (Garcetti) and #14 (Huizar) and the Department of City Planning. We are conducting a Walk Audit of the major streets in the both communities to review the current build out of the street VS the street designation of each street as well as the land uses and urban form. Looking for volunteers to help facilitate groups of community volunteers for the walk audits. Please respond to Deborah Murphy at deborah.murphy@ roadrunner. com

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Keep LA Beautiful and help clean the surrounding area around Fuller Lofts on Gloves, tools and lunch will be provided. Grab your old jeans, t-shirts & sneakers and give the neighborhood a makeover.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Saturday June 10, 2007

LA River Bike Ride

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 10 am - 3 pm

STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH RON MILAM

What's your community's mission? What's your vision? Values? What will you do to make your vision reality? Knowing the answers to these questions plays a key role in your nonprofit group's success, whether it be a shared house, cohousing group, ecovillage, or other type of co-op living or working situation. READ MORE AT http://laecovillage .org/strategicpl anningmilam. html

Fee: $75 (sliding scale available)

Pre-registration required: 213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

Location: L.A. Eco-Village,

117 Bimini Pl, LA 90004

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___

ART

May 18th - June 23rd, 2007

LA Botanical ; A project by Joyce Campbell

LA Botanical is an ongoing project, massive and perhaps unachievable in its full potential scope, to document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a documented use - be it food, medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel, stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen. The plants are documented as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic form ubiquitous the 1850's-1890s, the period during in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants to a major metropolitan center.

The project is an attempt to reconcile Campbell 's own rural background with her life here in Los Angeles , one of the most sprawling and unsustainable metropolises on earth.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles . It has the potential to reveal who lives here, from where they originate, what they value, how they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe themselves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to see Los Angeles , not as a desiccated industrial wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a field of abundant life that might be harvested to satisfy our needs.

Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont , California .

Joyce¹s recent work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques to examine the collision of natural and cultural systems.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.

While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

Location: Gallery 727

727 S. Spring Street #12

LA, CA. 90014

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

May 19, 2007 from noon to 5:00 pm

Los Angeles Women Remembered and Honored. The Studio for Southern California History will host a Story Symposium for its current exhibit Los Angeles Women: A Record of Experience. This event is intended to be a broader conversation between scholars, experts, students, and the general public regarding the role of women in Southern California history. In honor of Mother's Day (the previous Sunday), those who bring their mom or daughter to the Story Symposium will receive a flower while supplies last. This event is free but reservations are recommended Contact Person: Sharon Sekhon. Telephone Number: 213 – 229 – 8890 Email Address: sharons@socalstudio .org

Location: National Center for the Preservation of Democracy

111 N. Central Avenue

Little Tokyo ..

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

Articles:

Urban Eats:

Farmer Markets in the Hood!

Tianguis: South Central Farmers Market.

Support Community Sustainable Agriculture (C.S.A.)

Music, high quality produce,

www.southcentralfar mers.com

Date: First Sunday of every month (May 6^th)

Time: 10:00 am. to 4:00 p.m.

Location: 41^st and Alameda

" East Los Angeles Farmer's Market" every Saturday from 9 AM TO 1 PM

Features fruits and vegetables grown locally by local farmers. In addition, you'll find one of a kind creations offered by local artisans and meet representatives from local community organizations.

Location: First Street (between Rowan and Ditman).

Homegirl Café!

1818 East First Street

LA, CA. 90014

Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe

7^th Street across from Macarthur Park

To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@ yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.

LA Botanical Exhibition

Sustainable/Edible and Incredible LA: LA Botanical Exhibition

May 18th - June 23rd, 2007
Reception: Friday May 18th 2007 from 7-10pm

Gallery 727, 727 S. Spring Street, LA CA. 90014

Growing through sidewalk cracks, below your feet or in blighted vacant lots and along curbsides are the ubiquitous scrubby weeds that we take for granted as part of the Southern California landscape. However, many of these weeds are edible, medicinal and have cultural importance.

As a child growing up in Boyle Heights my grandmother took me on neighborhood walks. She cut leaves and flowers from the weeds we found along the way. These cuttings were used for teas, soups, and other purposes. My grandmother’s knowledge of LA urban flora amazed me.

Many of these non-native, evasive plants grow wild in LA’s landscape because of our temperate climate. Different ethnic groups who settled in the fertile LA Basin planted these plants. These plants, some which grow wild, tell us about people’s origins and their methods of survival.

Nowhere else in Los Angeles’ urban landscape are plants and space so illuminated and celebrated than in the front yard. Throughout history LA immigrants have grown their dreams and left their marks in their front yards. From the Japanese American planting bonsai to Latinos planting cactus, these plants illustrate culturally ethnic identity the urban landscape.

Landscape is just as important as LA’s vernacular architecture. However, in many cases little value is placed on preserving or understanding our landscape. LA Botanical, a project by Joyce Campbell, is an attempt to document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a use - be it food, medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel, stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen.

Joyce documents the plants as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic form popular in the 1850's-1890s, the period during in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants into a city.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles. It’s potential reveal who lives here, their origin, their values, how they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe them selves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to see Los Angeles, not as a desiccated industrial wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a field of abundant life that might be harvested to satisfy our needs.

Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand. While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, Activities and Events that promote our mission as of

May 14, 2007

1. Pico/Olympic One-Way Boulevard Proposal

2. Bike to Work Week

3. LANI's Fifth Annual Community Forum

4. LA Botanical

5. Learning from San Diego

6. Toward a design and politics for metroburbia

7. Save Elephant Hill

8. Sustainable Transportation Forum

9. Cork Meeting

10. Westlake Walkabout

11. Glassell Park Walkabout

12. LA River Bike Ride

13. Strategic Planning with Ron Milam

14. SouthCentral Farmers at the United Nations

15. LA Weekly 2007 People

Visit www.latinourbanforum.org or Myspace.com/LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanforum.blogspot.com/

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

Monday, May 14, 2007 from 6:30-8:30 pm

Pico/Olympic one-way Boulevards Proposal, meeting. Special Guests: Gloria Jeff, LADOT General Manager; Allyn Rifkin, Transportation Planner/Engineer; representatives from Supervisor Yaroslavsky' s office. Transportation Planner/Engineer Allyn Rifkin will be presenting and answering questions about preliminary study of the proposal to convert Pico and Olympic to one-way traffic flow.
Please RSVP to len.nguyen@lacity.org

Location:

West LA Municipal Building

1645 Corinth Avenue, 2nd Floor

West LA 90025

PARKING: Available in the city lot at the NW corner of Iowa and Corinth

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May 14-18, 2007

Bike to Work Week!

Thursday, May 17, 2007, local cyclists will converge on Hollywood and Western in a demonstration of cycling solidarity and at 9 am they will ride down to City Hall.

The Hollywood and Western Pit Stop is hosted by illuminateLA and will offer refreshments, swag and encouragement to cyclists from 7 am to 10 am.

There will also be entertainment and Hollywood Pro Bike Shop will be offering bicycle tune-ups, all of which will serve to prep the crowd for a ride downtown to "Bang the Drum" at City Hall. Bike to Work Day is intended to encourage the cycling community to keep on riding, to educate motorists about cyclists rights to the road and to urge our leaders to support the cycling community with appropriate enforcement. Call Stephen at 323.962.6540 or email him

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Thursday, May 17, 2007 From 8:00 am to 2:30 pm

LANI's Fifth Annual Community Forum

Workshop topics include: Accounting for Nonprofits, Billboards, Farmer's Markets, Business Development, Community Murals, Disaster Preparedness at a Neighborhood Level Transportation Linkages Water Quality and Your Community

Register at www.lani.org or by calling (213) 627-1822 x20. The event is free and includes parking.

Location

USC Davidson Conference Center

3415 S. Figueroa Street

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Friday, May 18, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

TOWARD A DESIGN AND POLITICS FOR METROBURBIA

This symposium is about design in the emerging American city.

Featured speakers include ; Mario Gandelsonas, Michael Dear, Robert E. Somol, Roger Sherman, Dana Cuff

Introductions from Hitoshi Abe, Jonathan Zazloff

Panel discussion with

Albert Pope, Ed Mitchell, Interboro Partners

This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

Parking will be available in Lot 3 for $8.

Please see attachment or www.cityLAB.aud.ucla.edu for more information.

Questions? Please email citylab@aud.ucla.edu.

Location: UCLA

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

Friday May 18, 2007 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Learning from San Diego : Fostering Sustainable Downtown Revitalization

RSVP to 323 932-9393 info@aplusd.org

Location:
A + D Museum

5900 Wilshire Boulevard

LA, CA. 90036

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007 @ 2:00 p.m.

Attend Hearing – Agencies to Report on Environmental Review for Elephant Hill

The report by City agencies investigating the need for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for the expanded development on Elephant Hill - Tract 35022 - will soon be presented to the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee. Residents and other supporters are urged to attend the PLUM hearing at 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 22nd in Room 350, City Hall.

On January 23, 2007, PLUM directed the Planning Dept. (lead agency), the Bureau of Engineering and the Department of Building and Safety with assistance from the City Attorney to develop this report.

Documentation obtained since the January PLUM hearing provides further details about the Tract expansion. A geology and soils report approval letter dated March 6, 2006 from Building & Safety states: "The referenced reports concerning recommendations for development of 52 lots for proposed single-family residents have been reviewed by the Grading Division…Reports for development of Lots 1-24 of tract 35022 were previously approved in the above referenced Department letters. The current reports include those lots and several other lots as one development. " (Italics added.)

Because additional environmental review is allowed under state law when there is proof that a project has expanded beyond its original plans, concerned residents and organizations have formally requested that the report answer key questions including: What decision, law or authority allowed tract 35022 to be expanded? And, under what law or authority was the 1992 EIR applied to the expanded tract lots?

El Sereno residents deserve equitable and fair services from City agencies responsible for planning and overseeing the construction of residential developments. Developers who work in El Sereno should be required to follow the rules like everyone else.

What You Can Do:

1. Attend the PLUM hearing on the agency report investigating the need for a Supplemental EIR for Tract 35022 on Elephant Hill, 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 22,
2007, in Room 350, City Hall. The File Number for this item is #04-1413.

2. Write or call PLUM committee members to ensure that the report answers the questions asked by residents and others about the expansion of Tract 35022; mention File #04-1413. Thank PLUM members for directing City agencies to develop this report.

Email: Barbara.Greaves@lacity.org or write to: Planning & Land Use Committee, City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles , CA 90012 . Individual Committee members can be contacted as follows:

Ed Reyes, Chair: councilmember.reyes@council.lacity.org or 213-473-7001.
Jose Huizar: councilmember.huizar@lacity.org or 213-473-7014.

Jack Weiss: councilmember.weiss@lacity.org or 213-473-7005.

3. For ongoing information about Elephant Hill check out these new blogs:

http://www.saveelephanthills.blogspot.com/ and http://latinourbanforum.blogspot.com/

For more information contact: Casey Reagan at 213-804-2471 or cjreagan@roadrunner.com

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm

Sustainable Transportation Forum, Contested Streets Movie is a T.A. produced, Cicala Filmworks made documentary that explores the rich diversity of New York City street life before the introduction of automobiles and shows how New York can follow the example of other modern cities that have reclaimed their streets as vibrant public spaces. The run time of the film is approximately 1 hour and we will try and begin promptly at 12:00pm. So bring your lunch and come early to enjoy, imagine and be inspired!

Location: Metro Head Quarters Board Overflow Room on the 3rd floor. (Located adjacent to Cafeteria)

Address: One Gateway Plaza , Los Angeles 90012

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Wednesday May 23, 2007 from noon - 1 pm

Cork Meeting: Tom Banner from Cork USA will review the production and use of one of the world's great sustainable materials, cork. Cork is a sustainably grown and harvested product and has found myriad uses in building construction today. Tom will review the process from harvest to installation, and will describe the many products that have been developed from cork and their sustainable characteristics.

Location: Brown Bag lunch

LACCD Board Room

770 Wilshire Blvd , at Flower

Please use public transit, DASH, Red Line, METRO all nearby.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _____--

Saturday, June 9, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Westlake/Macarthur Park Walk Audit. The Latino Urban Forum was able to connect California Walks to the Center City Neighborhood Partners to do a walk audit in the largely Latino community of Pico/Union. Walks audits are a great way to help people examine, and improve streets. The team is looking for Spanish speaking planners to help facilitate the walk audit. Please consider volunteering to facilitate groups of 5-10 people. Each group will survey a targeted area of Westlake for 2 to 2 ½ hours. We're also looking for people to assist the facilitators by recording information and getting help from participants to record further information and take photographs. Facilitators and assistants will need to undergo a training on either May 21, 9-11 am or May 31 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Contact Jennifer Allen at Livable Places 213 622.5980 x23

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Saturday, June 9, 2007 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Great Glassell Park and Cypress Park Walkabout. This walkabout is being organized by The Glassell Park Improvement Association, the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council, Council Offices #1 (Reyes), #13 (Garcetti) and #14 (Huizar) and the Department of City Planning. We are conducting a Walk Audit of the major streets in the both communities to review the current build out of the street VS the street designation of each street as well as the land uses and urban form. Looking for volunteers to help facilitate groups of community volunteers for the walk audits. Please respond to Deborah Murphy at deborah.murphy@roadrunner.com

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Keep LA Beautiful and help clean the surrounding area around Fuller Lofts on Gloves, tools and lunch will be provided. Grab your old jeans, t-shirts & sneakers and give the neighborhood a makeover.

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Saturday June 10, 2007

LA River Bike Ride

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 10 am - 3 pm

STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH RON MILAM

At L.A. Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Pl , LA 90004

What's your community's mission? What's your vision? Values? What will you do to make your vision reality? Knowing the answers to these questions plays a key role in your nonprofit group's success, whether it be a shared house, cohousing group, ecovillage, or other type of co-op living or working situation.

Topics covered in this workshop include:

Welcome & Introductions

Expectations

Preparing to Plan

Decision making options

Vision, Mission , Activities and Values

SWOT Analysis

Identifying and Prioritizing Strategic Issues Defining Strategic Goals and Objectives & Establishing a Monitoring Schedule Plan Presentation Summary & Evaluations

Fee:

$75 (sliding scale available)

Pre-registration required: 213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

Note: Bring a brown bag lunch or enjoy lunch on your own at a local inexpensive restaurant

READ MORE AT http://laecovillage.org/strategicplanningmilam.html

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ART

May 18th - June 23rd, 2007

Reception: Friday May 18th 2007 7-10pm

LA Botanical ; A project by Joyce Campbell

LA Botanical is an ongoing project, massive and perhaps unachievable in its full potential scope, to document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a documented use - be it food, medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel, stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen. The plants are documented as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic form ubiquitous the 1850's-1890s, the period during in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants to a major metropolitan center.

The project is an attempt to reconcile Campbell 's own rural background with her life here in Los Angeles , one of the most sprawling and unsustainable metropolises on earth.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles . It has the potential to reveal who lives here, from where they originate, what they value, how they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe themselves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to see Los Angeles , not as a desiccated industrial wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a field of abundant life that might be harvested to satisfy our needs.

Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont , California .

Joyce¹s recent work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques to examine the collision of natural and cultural systems.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.

While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

Location: Gallery 727

727 S. Spring Street #12

LA, CA. 90014

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

May 19, 2007 from noon to 5:00 pm

Los Angeles Women Remembered and Honored. The Studio for Southern California History will host a Story Symposium for its current exhibit Los Angeles Women: A Record of Experience. This event is intended to be a broader conversation between scholars, experts, students, and the general public regarding the role of women in Southern California history. In honor of Mother's Day (the previous Sunday), those who bring their mom or daughter to the Story Symposium will receive a flower while supplies last. This event is free but reservations are recommended Contact Person: Sharon Sekhon. Telephone Number: 213 – 229 – 8890 Email Address: sharons@socalstudio.org

Location:

National Center for the Preservation of Democracy

111 N. Central Avenue

Little Tokyo ..

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

Articles:

South Central Farmers' Delegation Heads to The United Nations

South Central Farmers have been invited to attend the Sixth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, on May 14-25, 2007 at the United Nations (UN) in New York .

South Central Los Angeles, CA May 14, 2007, as the anniversary of the eviction and destruction of the South Central Farm (previously located at 41st and Long Beach Ave) approaches a delegation from the South Central Farmers heads to New York City to participate in the Sixth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN.

For fourteen years, the 14-acre South Central Farm (SCF) was the largest and most biologically- diverse urban farm in the United States . The farm was established in 1992 at a site located in an industrial warehouse zone of South Central Los Angeles. After a three-year campaign to save the farm, the Farmers were evicted and the crops bulldozed in June 2006. The Farm had 360 individual family plots cultivated by a culturally-diverse community that includes members of indigenous Mixtec, Nahua, Seri, Yaqui, and Zapotec peoples among many others.

Each plot comprised an impressive collection of diverse native crops sown from heirloom seeds that have been kept and conserved by families for countless generations. A pilot study by a University of Washington anthropologist classified 37 different fruit and vegetable species according to their scientific, indigenous, and English names. The ethnobotanical species inventory provided descriptions of the nutritional and medicinal properties of these plants recognized by the cultivators at South Central Farm (please see Appendix 1). The study estimated that in June 2005 there were about 150 different plants cultivated at South Central including multiple varieties across fruits, vegetables, herbs, cacti, and culturally significant trees (e.g., Chorisia speciosa). The study concluded that the SCF was a significant site for the conservation of the genetic diversity of the crops associated with the Mesoamerican " Vavilov Center ," one of the world's great centers involved in the original domestication of wild plants for food. Maize (corn), bean, squash, chile, avocado, chayote, guayaba, guava, peach, plum, lime, chipilin, mango, banana, and cactus were among the dozens of native heirloom fruit and vegetable crops cultivated at the SCF.

The study concluded that crop biodiversity was evident within horticultural varieties. For example, the Oaxacan green dent maize cultivated at the South Central Farm includes 8 to 10 distinct alleles (genetic variants).

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is the only official body within the UN that addresses issues exclusive to Indigenous people.

Josefina Medina and Rufina Juarez will be part of this delegation and as representatives, they have been appointed to speak on behalf of the struggle of the SCF. "Our primary role is to denounce the injustice and suffering that was imposed on the SCF, families, women and children, as geographically displaced indigenous peoples, by the City of Los Angeles and the same LAPD that rioted on the poor people of Los Angeles on May 1st 2007", stated Rufina Juarez, elected representative of the South Central Farmers. They will present a three minute statement to the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Peoples.

"Our written statement will be submitted to the Permanent Forum and will be recorded and analyzed by the members and included for policy recommendations to the appropriate UN agencies after the Forum has ended. These agencies have mandates to address, prevent and intervene in human rights abuses to all people, but this forum mandates them to give special attention to issues affecting Indigenous People.", commented Rufina Juarez

"Our secondary role is to network among indigenous peoples throughout the world who are struggling for "land and natural resources" and who identify themselves as "geographically displaced indigenous peoples" (the themes of this years Forum). We expect to learn a lot about our struggle and be able to reframe it within an international perspective and in comparison to other indigenous struggles worldwide!", stated Josefina Medina, South Central Farmer.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

LA Weekly

Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza Port in a Storm By DAVID ZAHNISER
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - 12:00 pm

Environmental attorney Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza remembers vividly the night police officers showed up at her home, instructing her and her neighbors to evacuate because of a chlorine-gas leak nearby.

Mendoza, a sophomore in college at the time, fled with her family shortly after midnight to wait out the chemical scare in nearby Whittier . By then, she had grown accustomed to the oddities of living near the industrial section of Montebello , from the dozens of freight cars that stopped traffic each morning at railroad crossings to the strange smell that wafted through her city each summer.

But those experiences meant little until after college, when Mendoza went to a teach-in on the Persian Gulf War in San Francisco and heard an African-American community activist talk about lead-paint poisoning among low-income children. Suddenly, Mendoza began asking whether her working class, Mexican-American neighborhood suffered from its own disproportionate share of environmental problems.

"It was the first time I'd ever seen a person of color talking about environmental issues, and it just blew me away," she says. "I was asking lots of questions, and she gave me a newsletter she was working on called `Race, Poverty and the Environment. ' It was like a light switched on in my head. All these things I had experienced were suddenly put into context."

Mendoza soon found a way to tackle environmental justice issues head on: by getting a law degree and becoming an attorney with the group Environmental Defense. That organization worked with Los Angeles World Airports to come up with a plan for reducing the impact of jet noise on the neighborhoods that surround LAX, securing $500 million to pay for the soundproofing of homes and other environmental initiatives.

Even more significant, the 38-year-old Mendoza was tapped as one of five people assigned by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to oversee the Port of Los Angeles , which, combined with the Port of Long Beach , is the biggest source of diesel pollution in Southern California .

Since her appointment to the city's harbor commission in July 2005, Mendoza has supervised the port's effort to convert industrial stretches of waterfront in Wilmington and San Pedro into public space. And she has worked with the port to prepare a clean-air action plan, one that calls for the replacement of 16,000 "dirty" diesel trucks and upgrades to the ships and locomotives that move through the port.

Now a resident of Valley Village , Mendoza is frequently overshadowed by the harbor commission's more flamboyant environmentalist — the cowboy-hat wearing S. David Freeman, a former Tennessean who speaks in a colorful, occasionally profanity-laced, drawl. But she is also the one who brings rigor to the commission's deliberations, asking hard questions about the port's business practices and its efforts to make port neighborhoods more liveable.

"She doesn't let David just run the show," observes Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes the port.

Under Mendoza 's watch, the harbor commission hired the port's first female executive director — Geraldine Knatz, formerly of the Port of Long Beach . And its next step may be the most controversial yet: levying a fee on each container that passes through the port on its way to Southern California and the rest of the nation, and using the proceeds to pay for new environmental measures and port transportation projects.

The container fee has been vetoed repeatedly by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger up in Sacramento . But with Mendoza and Freeman in charge, the measure may just serve as the next big change at the nation's busiest port complex.

Cynthia Ruiz

Trash talker

By DAVID ZAHNISER

Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - 12:00 pm

Nothing says Los Angeles quite like the random pieces of furniture that line our city's dumpy and unloved boulevards. Perhaps you already know the drill: First you see the mattress, propped up against a streetlamp. Then a couch. Then a chest of drawers. Then the individual drawers, piled up in an untidy heap on the curb.

Cynthia Ruiz thinks constantly about that furniture, and all of the other garbage moving through L.A. 's sewer lines, storm drains and trash bins. Picked by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to lead the city's powerful Board of Public Works, Ruiz wants to make the city's streets a little less ugly through a mix of marketing, civic outreach and oddly infectious enthusiasm.

A resident of El Sereno, Ruiz is known to greet garbage collectors at 6 a.m. before they head off on their routes. Her eyes light up as she talks about plans for roving "bulky item" crews to seek out dumped furniture. And she can make a trip to the Hyperion Treatment Plant, the sewage processing facility north of El Segundo, sound like the most entertaining day of your life.

"More and more people are asking the question, `Where does our water go? Where does our solid waste go?'" says Ruiz, as she gives yet another pitch for her Hyperion tour. "And look, it's right across the street from the beach!"

Growing up in Los Angeles , Ruiz saw her father work a day job as a financial planner, then play percussion at night in a Latin jazz band. Her mother, who is Cherokee with a bit of Irish, was a liaison between county government and the region's Native American community. Throughout those years, Ruiz took note of the conservation- minded advertising aimed at the nation's schoolchildren, from the jaunty "Don't Be a Litterbug" to the tragic stare of Iron Eyes Cody, the Native American actor who got all misty at the sight of a smoggy, trash-strewn freeway.

At 17, when she was a student-body leader at Cal State Los Angeles, Ruiz met Villaraigosa, then enrolled at UCLA. The pair were introduced through MEChA, the Chicano student group that pushed for more students of color to attend college.

Decades later, Ruiz and Villaraigosa are collaborating on a different goal — getting Los Angeles to recycle 70 percent of its waste by 2015. To meet that target, Ruiz is working to bring a recycling program to the city's renters and raise awareness in immigrant communities about the city's "blue bins" — 95-gallon trash receptacles earmarked for glass, paper and plastic. And remembering the influence of the ads she saw growing up, Ruiz has embraced the use of an animated octopus character as part of a "Keep Los Angeles Beautiful" campaign.

"It was important to me to have a sea creature as a mascot, because I wanted kids to understand and make the connection — that when they throw trash in the gutter, it goes directly into the ocean untreated."

With Ruiz at the helm, public works officials are even producing a Spanish-language glossary to translate the city's conservation terms. But like everything else involving trash, that effort turned out to be more complicated than expected. "Everybody," Ruiz points out, "was using a different word for `mulch.'"

Urban Eats:

Farmer Markets in the Hood!

Tianguis: South Central Farmers Market.

Support Community Sustainable Agriculture (C.S.A.)

Music, high quality produce,

www.southcentralfarmers.com

Date: First Sunday of every month (May 6th)

Time: 10:00 am. to 4:00 p.m.

Location: 41st and Alameda

" East Los Angeles Farmer's Market" every Saturday from 9 AM TO 1 PM

Features fruits and vegetables grown locally by local farmers. In addition, you'll find one of a kind creations offered by local artisans and meet representatives from local community organizations.

Location: First Street (between Rowan and Ditman).

Homegirl Café!

1818 East First Street

LA, CA. 90014

Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe

7th Street across from Macarthur Park

To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.