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Limbo or Reprieve For Los Angeles River Parklands? Developer Extends Taylor Yard Option Deadline By Six Months

2012-01-04T05:52:14Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Last week I blogged about Taylor Yard, a former rail yard along the Los Angeles River, where developer Trammell Crow was facing an end-of-year deadline to exercise its option to purchase a key portion of the property. As I mentioned in my blog, Trammell Crow’s stated plans to develop the parcel for industrial use conflict with the community’s long-term vision of an expansive riverfront park that would provide open space and parkland for some of L.A.’s most park-poor neighborhoods.

We’ve now learned that the option deadline has been extended by six months, to June 30, 2012. While our preference would have been for Trammell Crow to drop the option, this gives us some time to convince this developer of the community’s commitment to a riverfront park at Taylor Yard. If you haven’t done so already, please read this letter signed by more than 25 community, environmental, social justice and river advocacy groups that strongly support the long-term vision of connecting Rio de Los Angeles State Park to the L.A. River, and sign our petition to show your support for a riverfront park at Taylor Yard.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you informed as events unfold over the next few months.

Photo credit: The City Project

Bleak New Year For Los Angeles River Parklands Unless Developer Walks Away From Sale

2011-12-28T08:16:19Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

The clock is ticking down on 2011. In Los Angeles, this means time is running out for an industrial development firm to decide whether to exercise its option to purchase a key parcel of land along the Los Angeles River. The decision that Trammell Crow Company makes in the next few days will determine the fate of the community’s long-term vision of a restored riverfront and adjacent parklands and green space.

The neighborhoods I’m talking about are located just north of downtown Los Angeles and are among the most park-poor areas in the region. Much like the nearby neighborhood of El Sereno, which I blogged about recently, communities like Cypress Park and Elysian Valley historically have lacked nearby parks and green spaces where kids can play and residents can exercise and experience nature.

These communities have been trying to address this disparity through the planning process. In the 1990s, residents worked with business, faith-based, environmental and social justice groups to develop a long-term vision of a 100-acre state park at Taylor Yard that would include the restoration of adjacent lands along the Los Angeles River. This vision has now been widely adopted by elected officials and government agencies, and was developed through consensus, building largely on the results of community organizing and planning efforts.

After a decade of controversy, lawsuits and relentless community activism, the first phase of Rio de Los Angeles State Park – the first new state park in Los Angeles in a generation – opened to the public on Earth Day of 2007. The next phase would mean extending the park to the banks of the Los Angeles River, through the acquisition of Taylor Yard’s 44-acre Parcel G-2.

The historic landowner, Union Pacific Railroad, has taken a phased approach to abandoning and selling off parcels of land at Taylor Yard. The state purchased the first 40 acres for Rio de Los Angeles State Park in December 2001, and another 18 acres of riverfront when it became available in 2003. The railroad finally demolished the facilities at Parcel G-2 in late 2009, but various factors have thus far complicated public acquisition.

Now, Trammell Crow Company has entered into a purchase option agreement with the railroad, with the stated intention of developing the riverfront Parcel G-2 for industrial use. The purchase option expires at the end of 2011.

Earlier this month, members of the original Coalition for a State Park at Taylor Yard, including NRDC, and many new supporters wrote a joint letter to Trammell Crow urging it to drop its purchase option. Unfortunately, Trammell Crow has not responded to our letter or to our numerous attempts to follow up.

As we state in the letter, our Coalition defeated a previous development proposal that did not square with the community’s vision. The community has grown significantly stronger since then. If Trammell Crow moves forward with its purchase and acts on its stated intention to build industrial warehouses at Taylor Yard, it will have a mighty battle on its hands.

We have urged Trammell Crow repeatedly not to exercise its option, and are doing so again here. If you would like to help, please sign this petition sponsored by The River Project and urge your friends and family to do the same. Do it quickly, as time is running out – we only have until December 31st to influence this decision. The right choice could head off a costly battle and help these communities attain their vision of creating a riverfront state park for all to enjoy.

Photo credit: The City Project

Is Your City Safe From Road Fatalities?

2011-12-02T01:04:29Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Did you know that 369,629 people died on America’s roads between 2001 and 2009? Transport data mapping experts ITO World used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to map road fatalities in the United States over that eight-year period.

In the Los Angeles area, as you can see in the map below, pedestrian (blue dots) and vehicle occupant (purple dots) fatalities are most prevalent. Each dot on the map represents a life taken too soon. In the few minutes I spent scanning the area where I live and work, I found victims ranging from ages zero to 92.

The number of fatalities is staggering, and seeing them on the map in my own neighborhood was a sobering reminder of how far we still have to go in terms of providing safe streets for all modes of transportation. At a bare minimum, each of us should be reminding ourselves constantly to use caution when we’re driving, walking, or biking, and abide by all traffic laws and signs. Everyone has an equal right to use the road, no matter what the mobility choice.

Beyond that, there are many common-sense measures that could help reduce accidents, such as providing better lighting on busy, heavily trafficked roads. Drivers need to be able to see when cyclists and pedestrians are nearby or using crosswalks. There are also ways to draw drivers' attention to others on the road by designating a specific color for bike lanes, creating cut out boxes for bikes at busy intersections, or installing embedded flashing lights in crosswalks for pedestrians to use when crossing a street at night. The bottom line is that we can save lives by increasing visibility on our roads -- especially roads heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists.

To find out about your area, type your city into the search box located on the upper right of the map. You can zoom in and out of locations using the zoom bar on the left side and share the link with others. I hope this eye-opening tool helps spread awareness of this important issue, and that in the next decade our nation makes great strides towards safer streets for everyone.

Securing Parks and Open Space For All in Los Angeles

2011-11-17T23:46:14Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

L.A.’s most park-poor neighborhoods got a double dose of good news yesterday.

In the morning, the City Council voted unanimously to sell five acres of the Elephant Hill property in El Sereno for the purpose of permanently protecting the land as open space for the community. I blogged about this critically important vote earlier this week.

Thanks to the City Council’s actions, residents in the congested northeast area of L.A. will now have better access to nearby open space for exercise, recreation, and peaceful reflection. This is a huge step forward for the community, and it would not have happened without the hard work and dedication of Councilmember Jose Huizar and his staff, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and key El Sereno residents who have been fighting to protect this community jewel from day one.

View from Elephant Hill, El Sereno, CA. (Photo credit: NRDC)

But that was just the beginning. Not wanting to be outdone by the City Council, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced yesterday that he wants Los Angeles to build 50 new pocket parks in the next two years. According to the L.A. Times, the mayor said that “city workers have been scouring Los Angeles to find locations to create small parks, especially in some of the most densely populated neighborhoods.”

This is terrific news for Los Angeles, and long overdue. Only about one out of every seven Angelenos (14%) live within a half-mile of open space, leaving about 8.6 million people in virtual “park deserts.” And as anyone who has lived in or visited L.A. knows, many parts of the city are crowded and bustling, with seemingly endless stretches of pavement and asphalt.

Urban parks and natural open space areas are islands of serenity in the concrete jungle. I’m glad our leaders in L.A. understand this and are committed to increasing open space and parkland, especially in those neighborhoods that need it the most.

Protecting Open Space in Northeast Los Angeles

2011-11-14T22:08:25Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Over the weekend, I enjoyed a spectacular hike in an area of Los Angeles where you’d least expect to find a nature trail. The predominantly Latino neighborhood of El Sereno in northeast Los Angeles is one of the most park-poor areas in the region, with less than two acres of parkland per 1,000 people.

Here, an everyday activity that most folks take for granted in wealthier parts of the City—walking or biking to a neighborhood park—is a dangerous and risky undertaking, complicated by the area’s severe congestion and ubiquitous freeways. Because of this chronic scarcity of parkland, undeveloped hillsides have long served as critical open spaces for the local community.

One of El Sereno’s most important open space areas is Elephant Hill, which I hiked on what turned out to be a pleasantly overcast morning. What struck me first as I started up one of the hill’s many criss-crossing trails was that I couldn’t hear anything but the morning chirping of songbirds. Two ridges on either side of my trail formed a small valley, which blocked out the sounds of the cars and buses rumbling down the streets below.

People who live in the city need access to nearby open space and parkland. It’s a chance to connect with nature, and to take a break from the stresses of life in the city. In Los Angeles, however, the City’s few remaining open spaces are under constant threat from development.

A few years ago, NRDC, as part of a broad-based coalition of community groups, environmental organizations, and elected officials, took action to stop a residential development project from destroying Elephant Hill.

Now, the City has a golden opportunity to provide permanent protection for Elephant Hill, while at the same time expanding public access and securing much-needed environmental improvements to the property.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council will vote on Councilmember Jose Huizar’s motion to sell the five-acre Elephant Hill property for the purpose of permanently protecting the parcel as open space for the community. The sale would allow the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to apply for state funds to make improvements such as building a new system of walking trails that would be accessible by public transportation, restoring local native habitat, and addressing persistent drainage problems associated with an underground water system.

These improvements would bring immediate benefits to the community in terms of increased opportunities for recreation and exercise, and a restored urban ecosystem for local native flora and fauna like the alligator lizard and black-bellied slender salamander. Most importantly, the permanent protection of Elephant Hill would guarantee the people of El Sereno the ability to connect with nature and enjoy a peaceful place of respite.

I hope the City Council decides to pass Councilmember Huizar’s motion on Wednesday. If any Councilmembers are undecided, I’d urge them to hike to the top of Elephant Hill to take in the unbelievable 360-degree view of Los Angeles. This is a special place that deserves our protection and support.

Photo credit: NRDC (Damon Nagami)

The Zombie Road Must Be Stopped

2011-10-28T22:07:30Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Halloween is here! While the holiday means costume parties and trick-or-treating to many of us, it also is often linked with supernatural phenomena and the occult.

Maybe this explains why the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) are trying to bring their illegal toll road back from the dead.

A couple of weeks ago, the TCA voted, as expected, to move forward with its plan to revive the Foothill-South Toll Road, which the California Coastal Commission and Bush Administration rejected in 2008. NRDC and the rest of the Save San Onofre Coalition opposed the scheme, which would bring back the road in segments. As my colleague Joel Reynolds has pointed out, this approach is illegal because building the first piece necessarily would prejudice any later consideration of additional segments.

After the vote, one observer referred to the Foothill-South as a “zombie road.” Whether or not this can be scientifically verified, it is undeniable that the TCA board has yet to recognize the demise of its illegal and uniquely destructive proposed alignment through one of California's most popular state parks. In fact, when reminded during public testimony at TCA's recent board meeting of the project's repeated rejection, Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante responded with evident frustration, saying this: "Get a grip! We need the road. It’s going to be completed to the 5. Maybe not in my lifetime, but it’s coming.”

South County motorists aren’t likely to want to wait that long for real traffic relief. For that reason, we and others have repeatedly urged the TCA to consider effective alternatives like widening of the I-5 – a proposal for which a broad consensus and clear need exist. Proposing, as the TCA has most recently done, to divide permitting and construction of the same old illegal alignment into segments is not a viable solution. Even if it were successful in implementing its first stage – building four miles of the alignment into the heart of San Juan Capistrano – the result may only be to flood that South County city with traffic congestion it is unprepared and unwilling to accommodate.

The truth is that the proposed toll road won't be built in anyone's lifetime. The Save San Onofre Coalition will continue to fight the Foothill-South, no matter how many times it tries to come back from the grave.

Would You Like Fries With That Toll Road?

2011-10-19T07:44:11Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Well, surprise, surprise! Once again, the Transportation Corridor Agencies (“TCA”) are trying to pull a fast (food) one on the residents of south Orange County.

When Orange County's John Wayne Airport debuts its gleaming multimillion dollar facelift next month, many restaurants in the new Terminal C wing won’t be ready because the TCA chose to slap them with “unexpectedly high” development fees. Carl’s Jr. alone had to hand over an extra $100,000 to the TCA before it could start renovating its space.

I’m no math wiz, but that’s a lot of $6 burgers.

We’ve known for years that the TCA is willing to pave over a beloved state park to build a toll road. We also know that this financially troubled agency will do everything in its power – including applying for billions of federal taxpayer dollars – to keep its financial house of cards intact. These reprehensible actions already have many Orange County residents broiling mad.

But this whopper of a fee is absolutely ridiculous.

These fees are hitting small businesses squarely in the pocketbook, and for what? To pay for a squadron of lobbyists and lawyers working on a billion-dollar road that has already been rejected by the Bush Administration.

This agency is so tone-deaf that it doesn’t hesitate to impose unjustifiable costs and inconveniences on the very communities it professes to serve. Orange County deserves better than this. Today’s revelation should be a wake-up call to the community that the TCA is completely out of touch and needs an overhaul.

Big Win For Drinking Water: California Legislators Pass Bill to Stop Riverfront Dump Near San Diego

2011-09-15T20:03:37Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

It turns out Democrats and Republicans can agree on something. California lawmakers from both parties voted overwhelmingly to pass Senate Bill 833, legislation that prevents a 300-acre garbage dump from being built next to a river and on top of drinking water aquifers, and adjacent to sacred Native American sites.

This is a huge victory for the residents of San Diego County, whose critical water resources have been threatened by the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill ever since developers first hatched this ill-conceived idea over two decades ago.

I’ve blogged many times about this destructive and unnecessary project, which would threaten the San Luis Rey River and connected drinking water aquifers that supply water to coastal cities like Oceanside. The dump also would desecrate Gregory Mountain and Medicine Rock, two of the most important sacred sites of the Luiseño people, jeopardize a vital imported water pipeline, and destroy habitat for several endangered species.

We’re not the only ones who think this is a bad spot for a garbage dump. The County of San Diego repeatedly rejected this site for a landfill back in the early 1990s. When the county wouldn’t approve the project, the developer went around the normal approval process by placing a misleading initiative on the ballot. The 1994 initiative, Proposition C, billed the project first as a “recycling center,” and failed to mention anything about the project’s impacts to sacred sites, the river, drinking water aquifers, an essential water pipeline, and wildlife habitat.

It’s no wonder voters passed the initiative, which re-zoned the land for a dump. As a result, all decision-making authority was taken away from the county’s Board of Supervisors. Let’s be clear on this: no local elected official has ever had the opportunity to vote on the project and determine whether this is an appropriate place for a landfill.

What makes this even more tragic is that the dump is not needed. Landfill space is no longer an issue in San Diego County. Waste disposal countywide has decreased by a quarter since 2005, as sky-high recycling rates and the expansion of existing facilities have increased landfill capacity to the point where the county doesn’t need a new dump anywhere. And it certainly doesn’t need a dump in the worst imaginable location.

This injustice at the local level is crying out for a legislative solution. Thankfully, our state lawmakers have listened and responded in a rare and refreshing display of bipartisan unity. The bill’s author, Senator Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), ably shepherded the measure through the Senate, where it passed by a resounding 32-3 vote. On the Assembly side, coauthor Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) helped propel the bill through that house by a stunning 70-1 margin.

Our broad and diverse coalition of tribes, environmentalists, farmers, local elected officials, and concerned residents is thrilled with this result and grateful for the Legislature’s measured and decisive action. The bill is now in the hands of Governor Jerry Brown, who will decide whether to sign or veto the measure. We hope the Governor signs Senate Bill 833 and protects San Diego’s drinking water and sacred sites once and for all.

Photo credit: NRDC (Damon Nagami)

Safeguard, Baby, Safeguard: Settlement of SoCal Lawsuit Increases Protections Against the Dangers of Urban Oil Drilling

2011-07-07T15:21:36Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Oil drilling near homes in the Baldwin Hills. (Photo credit: NRDC)

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a far-reaching settlement that promises increased safeguards for thousands of people living near the active, two-square-mile oil field in the Baldwin Hills area of south Los Angeles.

As I’ve blogged about before, oil drilling operations – including those of Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP) in the Baldwin Hills – use and produce toxic chemicals that harm people's health and pollute the air. The community’s fears became a harsh reality in 2006, when uncontrolled emissions of noxious gas forced mass evacuations and prompted the County to propose, for the first time, a set of health and safety regulations known as a community standards district, or CSD, for the oil field.

In our view, however, this new CSD did not provide adequate protection to meet the community’s standards, nor did the environmental impact report that studied it pass muster under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). That’s why NRDC and four other litigants – Community Health Councils, the City of Culver City, Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles, and the Citizen’s Coalition for a Safe Community – sued the County in November 2008.

Bruising, protracted litigation ensued for the next two and a half years. Settlement discussions progressed slowly, in fits and starts. Because of the complex issues and multiple parties involved, the court took the unusual step of recruiting the state Attorney General’s office to mediate the settlement negotiations. After multiple day-long mediation sessions and an extraordinary amount of effort by all of the parties and lawyers involved, including key contributions and leadership from County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and his staff, the parties finally reached agreement last week.

This comprehensive settlement includes important mitigations and benefits to the community such as reduced drilling of new oil wells over the next twenty years, increased air quality monitoring, stricter noise limits, and mandatory and recurring health and environmental justice assessments as new drilling progresses. A chart explaining the additional protections afforded under the settlement and comparing them to the protections the community previously had (or lacked) can be found here.

As is usually the case with a compromise, no one got everything they were hoping for. However, all of the parties agree that this settlement guarantees the community significant new protections, and that resolving the litigation will allow the parties and other stakeholders to shift to a more collaborative and constructive dialogue moving forward.

This settlement is a hard-fought victory for the affected communities. But our work is far from done. We will continue to remain engaged in ensuring that the CSD’s provisions and the terms of this settlement are fully implemented and enforced. We will also monitor how these safeguards are working in the coming years to make sure the communities in the Baldwin Hills remain protected to the fullest extent possible.

Fight to Block San Diego Riverfront Landfill Continues Strong

2011-06-30T08:20:49Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

The fight to stop the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill in northern San Diego County continued Monday night with a raucous public meeting in Fallbrook held by California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The Local Enforcement Agency (“LEA”) recently approved the landfill’s operating permit, and CalRecycle, the state oversight agency, now must concur with or object to the LEA’s decision. NRDC and our coalition partners are fighting this permit tooth and nail, challenging the LEA’s decision in court and inundating CalRecycle with written comments and verbal testimony explaining why Gregory Canyon is the worst possible place the state could approve the siting of a landfill.

As has been the case at every public meeting concerning this project over the last several years (see, for example, here), the overwhelming majority of speakers at this meeting expressed their strong opposition to the landfill. Commenters blasted the project for its potential to contaminate local drinking water sources, the increased greenhouse gases the landfill will create, and the fact that this dump is no longer needed due to a decrease in county waste and increased recycling rates.

Photo credit: Molly Johnson (NRDC)

Chairman Smith of the Pala Band of Mission Indians spoke eloquently about sacred places like Gregory Mountain that would be desecrated by the landfill, the threat to his reservation’s drinking water sources, and the chance that CalRecycle now has before it to fix the mistake the LEA made when initially approving the permit. The room erupted in applause following his brief comments. County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price lambasted the project’s investors, who funneled money into ballot initiatives in order to sidestep the regulatory process. More enthusiastic applause broke out after her comments.

Kris Leefers, one of our terrific summer legal interns, attended the meeting and spoke passionately in opposition to the project. Below are her thoughtful, personal reflections on the experience:

“I was very proud and honored to speak on behalf of NRDC about the numerous problems with this proposed landfill’s location, specifically regarding water sources, pollution, endangered species, and sacred sites. I understand the health and environmental problems associated with landfills. Growing up, I happened to live in a house located next to a park that had once been a landfill. As a teenager, my family entered into litigation over the landfill because pollution from the landfill actually came up under our property, and under the family vegetable garden. Ten years later, my family had to move out of the place we had called our home for over twenty years.

"Giving testimony on behalf of NRDC and hearing all the other testimony was very moving. I want to do everything I can to defeat this landfill project. I wonder if things would have been different for my home if this many people cared about stopping that landfill fifty years ago. I feel connected to this issue and to the people in San Diego County fighting to keep the landfill out of Gregory Canyon. One commenter stated at the meeting that ‘only fools risk what they cannot afford to lose.’ The Pala Groundwater Basin, which lies beneath the proposed landfill site, is truly a resource that these communities cannot afford to lose, just like the flora and fauna, and cultural, spiritual and historical significance of the Gregory Canyon area. Spending three hours in a room with so many passionate, sincere and well-informed individuals was inspiring, and will help keep me working hard to stop the landfill.”

We are extremely proud of Kris and thankful for her efforts, as well as the efforts of dozens of other local residents and elected officials who dropped everything on a weeknight to speak out on this important issue. I hope CalRecycle was listening. The agency has to make its decision on the permit by July 15th. There's still time to join our fight by submitting written comments here.

More L.A. Officials Saying Yes to CEQA, No to Free Pass for NFL Stadium

2011-06-24T19:34:58Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Yesterday, the top policy advisor to the Los Angeles City Council, Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry F. Miller, recommended that the City Council oppose any attempts to relax state environmental rules for AEG’s proposed NFL stadium project in downtown Los Angeles. Miller endorsed a Council resolution, introduced by Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Bill Rosendahl in February, that would instruct the City’s lobbyists to fight any legislation that would thwart the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.

This adds yet another influential voice to the growing chorus of L.A. politicians and policymakers who recognize the importance of CEQA in protecting the environment and our neighborhoods. The list is long and growing everyday:

Chief Legislative Analyst Miller’s recommendation: “[I]t is appropriate to oppose any legislation that would subvert or accelerate the CEQA process for a proposed NFL stadium in Downtown Los Angeles.”
Councilmembers Krekorian and Rosendahl’s resolution: “[T]he CEQA process provides vital, holistic analysis of development proposals – analysis that the City Council requires to have a full and complete debate about those proposals.”
Councilmember Krekorian: “I just think before we go to extreme lengths to make this [stadium project] happen that we do our due diligence to understand the environmental impact, the traffic impact, the economic impact, the economic stimulus ... on something that’s going to impact Los Angeles for the next half-century.”
Councilmember Jan Perry: “There is no need to eliminate the CEQA process.”
Council President Eric Garcetti also believes the project should not be exempted from CEQA.

CEQA is the backbone of California environmental law, requiring developers to conduct a thorough review that examines a project’s impacts, considers reasonable alternatives, and mitigates for environmental harm. As my colleague David Pettit and I have said before, exemptions from CEQA are the wrong way to go. There’s no reason why a developer like AEG shouldn’t be held to the same standards as any other developer in the state. We are encouraged that a growing number of the City’s most prominent political leaders seem to agree.

Voting To Keep California's State Parks Open

2011-03-23T09:25:00Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Chino Hills State Park, Chino Hills, California. (Photo credit: NRDC)

On Tuesday, supporters of California’s state parks descended on Sacramento to lobby for increased park protections as part of Park Advocacy Day, an annual event organized by the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF). California’s state parks are world-renowned for their majestic landscapes and as economic engines for local communities (to the tune of $4.3 billion annually), and for the past nine years advocates have rallied on Park Advocacy Day to press legislators and policymakers on a variety of critical issues facing this exceptional park system.

The issue dominating Sacramento at the moment, however, is California’s protracted budget crisis, and for state parks the massive deficit means the very real prospect of park closures on an unprecedented scale. Park advocates like CSPF and NRDC are trying to keep as many parks open as possible by backing bills like SB 580, which would create strong protections for state parks and advance a principle of “no net loss” of state park lands, and AB 42, which would allow nonprofit organizations to run state park units.

But these bills alone won’t solve the budget issues or prevent at least some park closures. The legislature’s passage of last week’s spending plan guarantees, unfortunately, that at least some parks will close. What’s more, the spending plan only resolved a little over half of California’s $26.6 billion deficit, so legislators still need to come up with $12 billion or risk having to make even more painful cuts.

Governor Brown has put forth a sensible plan to generate that $12 billion by extending a slate of existing taxes through 2015, but legislators have to vote to put the proposal on the June ballot. If they don’t, our state leaders may need to close all of the state parks, in addition to reducing public transit service and imposing devastating funding cuts on schools, universities and health care. For state parks, this would be an even worse outcome than former Governor Schwarzenegger’s failed nuclear option from two years ago.

We need our leaders in Sacramento to do the right thing for state parks and vote to put a sensible, balanced solution to our budget problems on the ballot immediately. If you live in California and care about keeping our state parks open, click here to urge your legislators to let the people decide.

Re-Imagining Empty Spaces in South Los Angeles

2011-03-18T08:57:18Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

A vacant lot at 103rd Street Station in Watts. (Photo credit: NRDC)

A former vacant lot: Richardson Family Park in the West Adams District. (Photo credit: NRDC)

When you see a vacant lot, how does it make you feel? Do you ignore it? Avoid it? Or think about how it might be turned to better use for the community?

In South Los Angeles, some folks are looking past what they see and imagining what their vacant lots might become.

Earlier this week, I attended “Re-Imagining Empty Space: Innovations for an Active South L.A.,” a two-day conference that explored ways South Los Angeles could reclaim its unused and underused spaces and turn them into urban parks and community gathering places. Convened by Community Health Councils (CHC), a local non-profit health advocacy group, the conference was made up of a day-long bus and bike tour through South L.A., followed by a half-day summit with distinguished panelists from L.A. and across the country.

South L.A. is one of the most park-poor areas in southern California, and also has some of the highest rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. For South L.A.’s children, having enough safe, accessible parkland and ample recreational opportunities to allow them to lead healthy and active lives is a matter of life and death.

On our tour, we saw that some of the community’s re-imagining efforts have already paid off. In Jefferson Park, a landscape designer pressured an oil company and the City of Los Angeles to transform a blighted former drilling site into a beautifully landscaped pocket park. And in West Adams, the community persuaded the owner of a trash-strewn lot next to an affordable housing complex to create what is now Richardson Family Park, a safe place where people in the neighborhood can come together and kids can play.

Other efforts show great promise for the future. One pilot project would create a five-block network of “green alleys” – with amenities like LED lighting, street trees, drought-tolerant plants, and artwork – to turn the community’s dangerous and forgotten alleyways into attractive, usable open space. And in Watts, a health-based initiative called Project RENEW plans to apply elements of transit-oriented design (TOD) to one of the community’s main light-rail stations to improve pedestrian and bike access.

This alley near Main St. and 54th St. could soon be a “green alley” under the Avalon Green Alley Pilot Project. (Photo credit: NRDC)

103rd Street Station in Watts, where Project RENEW will aim to create walkable connections to community destinations like the post office, supermarket, library, and health center. (Photo credit: NRDC)

The summit was inspiring and eye-opening, and there ought to be many more like it. This also was just the beginning of a conversation that I hope will lead to healthier, safer, and more sustainable communities throughout South L.A.

Feds Act to Protect Joshua Tree National Park From Massive Landfill Project

2011-03-04T19:53:57Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

Joshua Tree National Park. (Photo credit: Sherry Goldberg, NRDC)

Last week, after hearing from more than 100,000 people from all over the country, including thousands of NRDC members and activists, the Obama Administration took action to protect iconic Joshua Tree National Park in southeast California from the harmful effects of what would be the largest garbage dump in the country.

It turns out people didn’t think it was a good idea to trash one of our nation's premier nature destinations. Millions of people come to Joshua Tree every year to experience world-class rock climbing, gaze at the spectacular desert sky, and gape at the otherworldly landscape. For more than twenty years, though, folks who love this desert jewel have been fending off an enormous garbage dump that would devastate the park's fragile desert ecosystem. The mammoth Eagle Mountain landfill, to be built on almost 3,500 acres of federal land surrounded on three sides by the park, would turn Joshua Tree into nothing more than a receptacle for millions of tons of waste, mostly from Los Angeles County.

Enter desert protection superheroes Donna and Larry Charpied, the jojoba farming husband-and-wife team that fought this project tooth and nail from the start. And won. In true David vs. Goliath style, the Charpieds beat the landfill developer in federal court at both the district court and appellate levels.

Donna and Larry Charpied. (Photo source: LaRonna Jojoba Company)

Unable to take no for an answer, the developer has appealed yet again to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the lower court levels, the federal government had supported the developer’s appeals. This time, though, the Charpieds spearheaded a fast and furious outreach campaign involving NRDC and CREDO Action, the activism arm of CREDO Mobile, that generated messages from more than 100,000 people imploring Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to stand up for Joshua Tree National Park and put this litigation to rest once and for all. Last Friday, our efforts paid off when the Interior Department reversed its longstanding position and filed a brief opposing the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari.

Maybe Secretary Salazar would have done the right thing anyway, but we couldn’t leave it to chance. When that many people make their voices heard about a special place like Joshua Tree that means so much to them, it’s hard to deny that those voices made a real difference.

We hope the Supreme Court will agree with the Interior Department and refuse to hear the case, which would put an end to resource-sapping litigation that has gone on way too long. That still won’t end this fight, but the overwhelming outpouring of support for Joshua Tree in the last couple of weeks has reassured me that we can and will defeat this project in the end.

San Diego Waste Officials To Make Key Permit Decision On Proposed Riverfront Garbage Dump

2011-02-17T23:49:16Z

Damon Nagami, Staff Attorney, Santa Monica

The San Luis Rey River. (Photo credit: Pala Band of Mission Indians)

The County of San Diego is weighing whether to grant a key permit for a 300-acre garbage dump that would be built on the banks of the San Luis Rey River in north San Diego County. I’ve blogged often about this project, which would threaten drinking water supplies for tens of thousands of people and desecrate lands held sacred by the Luiseño Indians.

The landfill’s severe environmental impacts have prompted EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the regional water board to scrutinize the project carefully and demand additional information about how the developer would mitigate these impacts. Those permitting processes are continuing, but the County now believes it has enough information to decide whether to grant the permit that will allow the facility to operate.

It would be a huge mistake for the County to grant this permit. The County’s own consultants rejected this exact location back in the 1990s because the site is on top of a drinking water aquifer, next to historic archaeological sites, near an active earthquake fault, within the river’s floodplain, and in the middle of endangered species habitat. You couldn’t pick a more inappropriate spot for a garbage dump if you tried.

What’s more, the County doesn’t even need this dump. County residents and businesses are diverting their waste and recycling at historic rates, and the downturn in the economy has meant less consumption and less waste overall.

Next week, the County is holding a public informational meeting where citizens can air their concerns about this permit. Ironically, this meeting about a dump that would threaten to leak toxic chemicals into drinking water supplies is being held at the Fallbrook Public Library, which was recently renovated with the latest water-saving and sustainability techniques and is now LEED-Silver certified. I’m especially impressed with the library’s “green roof,” which is similar to the one pictured below. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the roof consists of 3,500 square feet of plants that help insulate the building and absorb rainwater.

Green roof in Vista Hermosa Park, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Los Angeles. (Photo Credit: Ken Weston and Reza Iranpour/City of Los Angeles)

Southern California needs more water-saving projects like the renovated Fallbrook library, and fewer water-polluting projects like the Gregory Canyon landfill. A broad coalition of environmentalists, Native Americans, community groups and elected officials are united in our opposition to the dump. If you live in north San Diego County, join us at the Fallbrook Public Library (directions here) on Wednesday, February 23rd at 6:30 p.m. and stand up for clean water by urging the County to reject this permit.