I just read something more depressing than James Inhofe on climate
change. The city of L.A.’s Chief Administrative Officer’s mid-year
budget update and recommendations is a real tearjerker. It offers a
$200M plus deficit and a plan to eliminate at least 1,000 general fund
employees. And there’s no serious economic help on the way. Not from the
state and not from the feds.
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Today’s guest blogger is Kirsten James, Water Quality Director at Heal the Bay.
Recently seven sperm whales breached off the coast of Italy and died soon thereafter. A report out of Tuscia University found that the guts
were filled with plastic debris and that this was the cause of death.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Our oceans are full of plastic
pollution.
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Apartments and homes in San Pedro flooded with two feet of water.
Cars on Long Beach streets nearly submerged as an urban kayaker paddles
by. Residents in La Crescenta living in perpetual fear of losing
everything due to debris flows as a consequence of the Station Fire. The
end result of this week’s L.A. storms will be millions of dollars in
property losses.
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Jan. 15, 2010 is the day that the Los Angeles Board of Public Works
enlisted the help of the development and business communities and
homeowners to green L.A. and clean local rivers and beaches.
The cost of clean water is high and we all need to do our part to
reduce runoff pollution. The newly adopted Low Impact Development
ordinance is an equitable approach to reducing runoff and will help the
city keep down the cost of compliance with water quality standards.
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The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission hosted a daylong
conference yesterday on the overall state of the bay. The well-attended
event at LMU blended science and policy, focusing on such topics
as marine debris, climate change, invasive species, contaminated fish
risk communication, beach water quality and marine protected areas.
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Gov. Schwarzenegger gave his State of the State speech yesterday. A
pretty depressing topic, to be sure. However, he did rightly focus on
the need to improve California’s education system. His most powerful
statement asked, “Why are we spending more on prisons than education?”
Why indeed.
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Yesterday, I outlined my top three green initiatives that
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa should tackle in the remainder
of his second term. Here’s a look at some other environmental issues
that he should make a priority:
Fast-track city approval of a Stream Protection Ordinance in 2010. The
Department of Public Works has spent three and a half years working on a
stream protection ordinance. Based on Watershed Protection Division
analysis, there are approximately 462 miles of riparian habitat that
would receive some level of protection under the draft ordinance.
Council districts 11 (Rosendahl), 2 (Krekorian), and 12 (Smith) all have
over 60 miles of habitat, while 11 out of 15 districts have at least 12
miles of habitat. The ordinance would protect the city’s remaining
stream habitat by requiring development buffer zones of 100 feet for
soft-bottomed habitat and 30 feet for concrete-lined channels. We need
to start treating streams like habitat rather than flood control
channels. Unfortunately, the ordinance has been frozen in the mayor’s
office for over two years. If the mayor says he wants to protect L.A.’s
streams, the ordinance would likely sail through City Council.
Unfortunately, the ordinance is not on the mayor’s radar.
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Last year marked a difficult time in Los Angeles and 2010 promises to
pose even greater challenges due to an unprecedented fiscal crisis.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s promise to make L.A. the cleanest, greenest
major city in America has a long way to go, but I really believe that
the Mayor’s powers of persuasion and expert use of the bully pulpit can
lead to tangible environmental improvements by the end of his second
term. Without the mayor’s leadership, major policies and projects often
fall into a state of suspended animation. The Los Angeles Times today
published a piece
about the mayor narrowing his focus at the beginning of his second term
to ensure greater follow through on promises. When Villaraigosa sets
his mind to a specific issue, it’s amazing how quickly things can move,
e.g. renewable portfolio standards, support for Measure R, the green
port program and the promise to get off coal by 2020. However, a great
deal more needs to be done to meet his lofty green city goals.
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