Comments on: Semi-live blogging: The Federal Stimulus — What It Means for L.A. and the Environment http://greenlagirl.com/semi-live-blogging-the-federal-stimulus-what-it-means-for-la-and-the-environment/ Urban environmental lifestyle blog in Los Angeles Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:11:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ramon http://greenlagirl.com/semi-live-blogging-the-federal-stimulus-what-it-means-for-la-and-the-environment/comment-page-1/#comment-427003 Ramon Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:35:38 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/?p=7834#comment-427003 And because this is about job creation and helping the environment, I'd like to share a green job posting just listed on Friday for the Los Angeles Enterprise office. Thanks. http://careers.enterprisecommunity.org/careers.aspx?adata=Wu35tX29JCrnsNQEuRq2tB3hMckpEqSSaSh5BVulbtzo01kBjXt3%2bULojzuZayjI7ijtxwuqcWWARbDEHFaFUlXtoFUYWluP And because this is about job creation and helping the environment, I’d like to share a green job posting just listed on Friday for the Los Angeles Enterprise office. Thanks.

http://careers.enterprisecommunity.org/careers.aspx?adata=Wu35tX29JCrnsNQEuRq2tB3hMckpEqSSaSh5BVulbtzo01kBjXt3%2bULojzuZayjI7ijtxwuqcWWARbDEHFaFUlXtoFUYWluP

]]> By: Robert Garcia http://greenlagirl.com/semi-live-blogging-the-federal-stimulus-what-it-means-for-la-and-the-environment/comment-page-1/#comment-426371 Robert Garcia Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:35:50 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/?p=7834#comment-426371 Hi, Thank you for attending the Green L.A. conference and posting your notes. I am sorry you could not hear my comments on economic stimulus, public works and equal justice. Here is a summary. Children of color living in poverty with no access to a car in L.A. have the worst access to parks and school fields of five acres or more, and have the highest levels of child obesity. Economic stimulus funds can help through the creation of parks; joint use of parks and schools; transit to trails to take children on mountain, beach and river trips; public art in parks; and including public health criteria in infrastructure projects to rebuild cities. Parks and schools can promote physical, psychic, and social health. Parks and schools can help alleviate the childhood obesity epidemic through places for physical activity and healthy eating. Physically fit students do better academically. After school programs including team sports are the best anti-gang strategy and provide positive alternatives to gangs, crime, violence, drugs, and teen pregnancies, according to the L.A. County D.A. Parks and schools bring people together. Youth conservation corps programs keep students in school and out of the regular job market. Public work projects like Judy Baca's Great Wall of Los Angeles in a park along the L.A. River can provide jobs for at risk youth. The City Project is working with Judy and SPARC to restore and extend the Great Wall, but the governor has frozen $2.1 million in state funds. Economic stimulus funds can help. There are important lessons from New Deal public works, which created 8,000 new parks, 40,000 new schools, public art programs including murals, and the Civilian Conservation Corps to get people back to work greening the nation. Negative lessons from the New Deal included the fact that many New Deal programs were off limits to people of color. Federal home subsidies were generally not available to black folks, for example. One continuing legacy is that the average black family has only 10% of the wealth of the white family. Happy days are here again, however. President Obama offers hope and change to strengthen civil rights protections. The first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which restored the right to sue for employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. We are also working with the administration to restore the right to sue recipients of federal funds including the City of Los Angeles for intentional discrimination and discriminatory impacts under Title VI. These laws apply to public works that receive economic stimulus funds. One major way the economic stimulus can promote equal access to public resources in L.A. is that the City can finally implement the blue print for change of the Recs and Parks Department that Controller Laura Chick published in 2005. The audit calls for a strategic plan to improve parks in every neighborhood, a fair system of finance and fees, standards to measure progress and equity and hold public officials accountable, improving park safety, and the shared use of parks and schools. Also Prop 84 and AB 31 provide $400 million for parks in communities that are park poor and income poor, including underserved communities in L.A. AB 31 defines park poor as less than three acres of parks per thousand residents, and income poor as less than $48,000 median household income. AB 31 offers standards to measure progress and equity and to hold officials accountable for park investments under economic stimulus funds and the civil rights laws. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised to plant 1,000,000 trees, but has only planted 200,000. The mayor is doing only 20% of his job for the environment. There are also close to 1,000,000 children in the city of Los Angeles. Each child deserves a tree, a place to play in parks and school fields. The mayor is doing only 20% of his job for the children of Los Angeles. Economic stimulus funds are not limited to the ARRA but include Prop 84, the 160 consolidated bills Congress passed March 24, 2009, that includes 700,000 acres of green space in California, and the Obama budget. I also distributed The City Project's letter to President Obama on economic stimulus, public works, and equal justice; and our Policy Brief on investing park funds in park poor and income poor communities. I am sorry if you did not get a copy of each. They are available on the web at www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/1219 and www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/1332. I hope this helps. Robert Garcia Executive Director and Counsel The City Project Hi,
Thank you for attending the Green L.A. conference and posting your notes. I am sorry you could not hear my comments on economic stimulus, public works and equal justice. Here is a summary.

Children of color living in poverty with no access to a car in L.A. have the worst access to parks and school fields of five acres or more, and have the highest levels of child obesity.

Economic stimulus funds can help through the creation of parks; joint use of parks and schools; transit to trails to take children on mountain, beach and river trips; public art in parks; and including public health criteria in infrastructure projects to rebuild cities.

Parks and schools can promote physical, psychic, and social health. Parks and schools can help alleviate the childhood obesity epidemic through places for physical activity and healthy eating. Physically fit students do better academically. After school programs including team sports are the best anti-gang strategy and provide positive alternatives to gangs, crime, violence, drugs, and teen pregnancies, according to the L.A. County D.A. Parks and schools bring people together. Youth conservation corps programs keep students in school and out of the regular job market.

Public work projects like Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles in a park along the L.A. River can provide jobs for at risk youth. The City Project is working with Judy and SPARC to restore and extend the Great Wall, but the governor has frozen $2.1 million in state funds. Economic stimulus funds can help.

There are important lessons from New Deal public works, which created 8,000 new parks, 40,000 new schools, public art programs including murals, and the Civilian Conservation Corps to get people back to work greening the nation.

Negative lessons from the New Deal included the fact that many New Deal programs were off limits to people of color. Federal home subsidies were generally not available to black folks, for example. One continuing legacy is that the average black family has only 10% of the wealth of the white family.

Happy days are here again, however. President Obama offers hope and change to strengthen civil rights protections. The first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which restored the right to sue for employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. We are also working with the administration to restore the right to sue recipients of federal funds including the City of Los Angeles for intentional discrimination and discriminatory impacts under Title VI. These laws apply to public works that receive economic stimulus funds.

One major way the economic stimulus can promote equal access to public resources in L.A. is that the City can finally implement the blue print for change of the Recs and Parks Department that Controller Laura Chick published in 2005. The audit calls for a strategic plan to improve parks in every neighborhood, a fair system of finance and fees, standards to measure progress and equity and hold public officials accountable, improving park safety, and the shared use of parks and schools.

Also Prop 84 and AB 31 provide $400 million for parks in communities that are park poor and income poor, including underserved communities in L.A. AB 31 defines park poor as less than three acres of parks per thousand residents, and income poor as less than $48,000 median household income. AB 31 offers standards to measure progress and equity and to hold officials accountable for park investments under economic stimulus funds and the civil rights laws.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised to plant 1,000,000 trees, but has only planted 200,000. The mayor is doing only 20% of his job for the environment. There are also close to 1,000,000 children in the city of Los Angeles. Each child deserves a tree, a place to play in parks and school fields. The mayor is doing only 20% of his job for the children of Los Angeles.

Economic stimulus funds are not limited to the ARRA but include Prop 84, the 160 consolidated bills Congress passed March 24, 2009, that includes 700,000 acres of green space in California, and the Obama budget.

I also distributed The City Project’s letter to President Obama on economic stimulus, public works, and equal justice; and our Policy Brief on investing park funds in park poor and income poor communities. I am sorry if you did not get a copy of each. They are available on the web at http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/1219 and http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/1332.

I hope this helps.

Robert Garcia
Executive Director and Counsel
The City Project

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