The condition of the environment around us (the natural environment and built-out environment) affects our daily quality of life. Quality of life is defined by many determinants. We live in a large city that contains flood control channels, major storm and sewer drains, utility transit corridors, interstate freeways, etc. and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. LAX and Santa Monica Airport are both in the near vicinity. There are regulatory rules and committees that address the impacts of all of these elements of our urban environment. We will track meetings and reports related to air and water quality, pollution, etc. on this page. If you have an interest in helping to track any of these important issues for WSSM, please contact us.
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Sustainable Works 2012 Los Angeles Green Living Workshops
Get solutions to some of today's greatest environmental challenges and SAVE MONEY in the process.
Funding provided by LADWP through a grant from the US Dept. of Energy
This season there are 3 evening 5-week workshops from 7:00 to 8:30 pm scheduled on the Westside:
Wednesdays, Starting January 25th at G2 Gallery, Venice
Mondays, Starting February 6th at Temple Isaiah,
West Pico Blvd.,
Rancho Park. This class will continue through March 19th (no class meeting on Feb. 20th). You may join the class at any time during the series. Check it out!
Thursdays, starting Feb. 16th, 7-8:30 pm at Loyola Marymount University, Room MAL 460C (The Hill), 1 LMU Drive, LA 90045 (Westchester)
The Action Oriented 1½ hour 6 week Workshop series covers:
Water · Energy · Waste · Chemicals · Transportation · Shopping/Food · Reduce Energy & Water usage · Save $ on Utilities · Cut landfill Waste · Understand latest Eco-info
The Green Living Workshop will broaden participant's scope of environmental problems by showing them the global, national and local impacts of their daily choices. Participants will also be given ten impactful solutions that they can take action on as well as a Sustainable WorksBook, which is a great resource for their continued journey towards sustainability.
Workshop Participants can: Receive Resource Saving Tools, Win Raffle Prizes
Questions? Email Residential Greening Program Director Gina Garcia via email at: gina.garcia@sustainableworks.org
To register visit
www.SustainableWorks.eventbrite.com
Sustainable Works is a project of Community Partners. Visit them at:
PLANT AN OCEAN FRIENDLY GARDEN...
... with help from the Surfrider Foundation
What does a garden have to do with the ocean?
Urban runoff is often the primary source of ocean pollution. But where do the pollutants come from? Gardens and adjacent hardscape like roofs and driveways can be a major source:
- pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers and sediment (soil)
- oil, engine exhaust and brake pad dust
- dog poo...etc.
It can run off the property during rain storms and during dry periods, with sprinklers overwatering and overshooting the landscape. The use of gas-powered equipment to mow lawns, prune and haul away over-planted and improperly spaced vegetation generates air pollutants, eventually settling onto roofs and streets and gets washed into waterways. Every 8 months, 10.9 million gallons of oil runs off streets and driveways and into our nation's waters - equivalent to the amount lost in the Exxon Valdez spill.
But gardens can be beautiful, resourceful, wildlife-friendly and prevent runoff. Vegetable and fruit gardens can do this, too. Here's how: The Ocean Friendly Gardens TM (OFG) Program educates and assists people in "applying CPR - Conservation, Permeability and Retention - to their gardens to revive their watersheds and oceans:"
Conservation of water, energy and habitat through a native plants (add allow some climate adapted plants 
, spaced for mature growth.
Permeability through healthy, biologically active soil, and utilizing materials for - or making a cut in - driveways, walkways and patios that allow water to percolate into the soil.
Retention devices like rain chains, rain barrels and rain gardens retain water in the soil for the dry seasons or save it to water veggies, preventing it from running off the property.
http://www.surfrider.org/programs/entry/ocean-friendly-gardens
WSSM Appeal of Lodge Cellular Telephone Installation Granted!
WSSM’s appeal of the approval of a cellular antennae
installation on the roof of the Westwood Blvd. Masonic Lodge was heard on May 4th
before the WLA Area Planning Commission. Over many months, we have worked with
the residents of Glendon Avenue
and nearby businesses to challenge T-Mobile’s proposal to locate a facility
there. We questioned whether the
installation in that location is needed and/or whether it could be co-located
elsewhere. Some of the data we reviewed
was conflicting. In addition, because
the Lodge has continued to be a nuisance to its neighbors by virtue of the
unsupervised party rentals allowed, we voiced our opposition to the lease
agreement between the Lodge and T-Mobile.
During the appeals process we learned that TMobile and AT and T are
slated to merge. That raised additional
questions as to whether this installation might not be needed in the
future. (It is believed that AT & T
holds the leases on the antennas at Westwood and Olympic a very short distance
away.) Federal law prohibits health concerns as being
raised in any challenges to cell installations.
Our appeal received key support from CD 5 and the testimony presented by CD 5 Planning Deputy Chris Koontz.
Because of expected increases in cellular demands, phone
companies are increasing the number of antennae installations around the
city. Local community groups are urging
the LA City Council to adopt new measures that will help to rein in unsightly
and undesired antennae installations. A report on the topic as requested by the
Council is due from the City Attorney’s office shortly. Homeowners are going outside of their homes to
find new installations being placed in their front and side yards without any
prior notification. Installations in
some locations tower over homes and yards.
The City could do much more than it is currently being done. The time is now.
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CEQA PROTECTIONS MAY BE THREATENED
CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) was passed
in 1970 to institute a statewide policy of environmental protection. While CEQA
does not directly regulate land uses, it requires state and local agencies within
California to
follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of
proposed projects and promotes the adoption of all feasible measures to
mitigate those impacts.
CEQA instructs
all state and local agencies to give major consideration to environmental
protection in regulating public and private activities and further directs
those agencies to withhold approval of projects for which there exist feasible
and environmentally superior mitigation measures or alternatives.
During the economic downturn, there have been
efforts to remove CEQA protections so that construction projects can be
expedited. Most notably there was
legislation introduced in Sacramento that now
exempts the proposed Majestic football stadium project in the City of Industry from CEQA
compliance. Likewise, AEG is attempting
to seek a waiver from CEQA compliance stating that they should not have to
answer any challenges brought against their proposed downtown LA stadium
project. Lawmakers in Sacramento have introduced various measures
to exempt specific projects from CEQA requirements.
WSSM has joined with the California Planning
and Conservation League and many other groups around the state to defend CEQA
against efforts to circumvent it. It is
one of the few mechanisms available to local communities to challenge projects
that could have devastating impacts and it opens the door to negotiations with
developers to seek mitigations to offset some of the impacts of their
projects.
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Camden Avenue and Exposition Boulevard Sewer Rehabilitation Project
NEW CITY RULES FOR PARKWAY PLANTINGS ADOPTED
LA Times: Saturday, October 30, 2010 -- Home Section, page E8
NEXT TO THE BEATHEN PATH
The Los Angeles Board of Public Works approved new rules Monday for residential parkways, that strip of ground between the sidewalk and the street. The city’s revised Residential Parkway Landscape Guideline allows homeowners to plant certain drought-resistant groundcovers without a permit. Previously, the only permit-free plantings allowed were street trees and lawn. “A lot of people look at the parkways as an extension of their frontyard, and it really has a different purpose and therefore has to be held to a different standard,” said Lance Oishi, senior landscape architect for L.A.’s Bureau of Street Services.
Technically, parkways are part of the street, Oishi said. They are not private property, even though homeowners are required to maintain them. “People have to be able to get across the parkway, and sometimes they’re too shrubby or bushy, so those generate complaints for us,” Oishi said, noting that the last time the city issued parkway guidelines was in 1974. The new guidelines were developed to address the need for what the city calls “obstruction-free pedestrian passage” that is drought-resistant and free of exposed thorns or rigid spines. Homeowners can select from a list of 20 types of turf (including buffalo and Bermuda grasses) and turf alternatives, such as certain types of sedges, some yarrows (mowed occasionally to control height), chamomile, dymondia, creeping thyme, even some types of strawberries.
Permits, which start at $400, are required for all other plant materials or landscape improvements, including concrete, decomposed granite, bark chips and storm-water capture systems. For a PDF of the guidelines, go to http://bss.lacity.org, then click “Engineering,” then “Residential Parkway Landscaping Guideline.”
— Susan Carpenter
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LIFE EXPECTANCY STUDY FOR RESIDENTS OF LA COUNTY
In July, the LA County Health Services Dept. completed a study that looks at expected life expectancy in the county with data broken out for individual cities in the county and for individual LA City Council Districts based on 2006 data. For LA's CD 5, the expected life expectancy for someone born in 2006 is estimated to be 83.6 years, placing CD 5 as number 13 (12 listings are higher than CD 5 out of a total of 103 in the county). (The life expectancy of the 103rd listing is 72.4 years, a difference of 11.2 years from CD 5's rate.)
If you would like to view the full study's results, visit:
http://zev.lacounty.gov/pdfs/Life-Expectancy-Final_web.pdf
