Sustainability Committee meeting Tuesday, April 6 at the Central Public Library

Join us for our next regular meeting of the Sustainability Committee on Tuesday, April 6 at the Central Public Library (Meeting Room A) from 6:30PM-7:45PM.

Meeting Agenda:

1. Welcome and Introductions.
2. Review and approval of meeting minutes from February and March 2010 meetings.
3. Announcements:
4. Neighborhood Council elections registration for candidates has started! You are encouraged to sign-up as a candidate and run for a seat on the Board of Directors.
5. 2009-2010 Budget: all expenditures must be submitted by April 15, 2010 to the City of Los Angeles. To discuss and review budget allocations.
6. Green Space: Harlem Place Project will be presented in May 2010 – probably around the time of ArtWalk. Volunteers needed.
7. Green Space: Urban Garden Guide. Review cost proposals for printing and make a decision about next steps.
8. Green Space: Tree Planting Guide. Gunnar to present guide to tree planting.
9. Green Space: Green Pockets is underway and we need your help organizing Big Sunday (May 1-2). Motion to request support of DLANC Board of Directors.
10. Mobility: Car-Free Fridays. Propose that the Fourth Friday of every month is designated Car-Free Fridays. For more information, check out www.la-bike.org and http://la-bike.org/events/cff_supporting_orgs.html for more information about this initiative.
11. Mobility: Pedestrian Cross-Walks presentation of research into Downtown Urban Design Guidelines and proposal to request changing the timing of pedestrian crosswalks along corridors in the neighborhood.
12. Energy & Water: DWP and the proposed rate increase. The Sustainability Committee discussed this issue last Fall 2009 – do we want to take this on again? Next steps to be determined.
13. Resource Toolkit & the DLANC Website: could this become our “online resource toolkit” and should the Sustainability Committee take a more active role in helping with the online content?
14. Sustainability Committee Chair office hours are designated opportunities to work on projects for the community. Come visit!
15. Adjournment.

Rotary Club of Los Angeles provides $1,000 in support of a Community Greening Strategy for Downtown

A very special thank you to the Rotary Club of Los Angeles

On Friday, March 19, 2010, the Rotary Club of Los Angeles - the fifth oldest Rotary Club - presented the DLANC Sustainability Committee Chair Ashley Zarella Hand, LEED AP BD+C, Assoc. AIA with a $1,000 check towards the community match required for the SDAT (Sustainable Design Assessment Team) Grant. This money will go the national American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design to help cover the costs of the SDAT visit hosted by DLANC last December 2009 as part of the process to develop a community greening strategy. In addition to financial support, the Rotary Club participated throughout the team visit, sharing its perspective on the changes seen Downtown Los Angeles and its vision for the future.

DLANC has committeed $1,500 towards the $5,000 match required for this $15,000 grant and we continue to invite community partners to help support this grassroots initiative to create a comprehensive sustainability plan for Downtown Los Angeles. For more information on the SDAT process and our preliminary report from the team of professionals on the SDAT, please click here.

Green Pockets - Survey Day #1 Saturday, March 20

Join us as we kick-off our first survey of the neighborhood for the Green Pockets Project. Our goal is to map all of the leftover spots around Downtown Los Angeles that could potentially be transformed in small gardens with native (and maybe even edible) plants.

Meet us at the DLANC Office (453 S. Spring Street, Suite 1020) on Saturday, March 20 at 10AM where we will divide into survey teams and begin this exciting new project! Please let us know if you can make it - RSVP here or go to our website www.downtownsustainability.com

Here's our schedule for the day:

• 10:00AM: Meet and sign-in
• 10:15AM: Brief introduction to program and survey (with donuts)
• 10:30AM: Teams depart to survey a few areas of the neighborhood
• 11:30AM (or whenever you are finished): Return to the DLANC Office with your survey data

If it's rainy, we'll try and meet on Sunday at the same time - check out our website for updates!

DLANC Board and Sustainability Committee endorse the Cyclists' Bill of Rights

At the March 2010 Board of Directors meeting, DLANC voted to support the Cyclists' Bill of Rights which outline key principles that we feel are important to ensuring cyclist safety for a more bike-friendly Los Angeles. Read more on the Cyclists' Bill of Rights, including other organizations who have supported these 12 values at the Bike Writers Collective website.

Whereas, cyclists have the right to ride the streets of our communities and this right is formally articulated in the California Vehicle Code; and

Whereas, cyclists are considered to be the "indicator species" of a healthy community; and

Whereas, cyclists are, first and foremost, people - with all of the rights and privileges that come from being members of this great society; and

Now, therefore, we the cycling community do hereby claim the following rights:

1. Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear.
2. Cyclists have the right to equal access to our public streets and to sufficient and significant road space.
3. Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement.
4. Cyclists have the right to the full support of our judicial system and the right to expect that those who endanger, injure or kill cyclists be dealt with to the full extent of the law.
5. Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.
6. Cyclists have the right to urban and roadway planning, development and design that enable and support safe cycling.
7. Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling.
8. Cyclists have the right to be actively engaged as a constituent group in the organization and administration of our communities.
9. Cyclists have the right to full access for themselves and their bicycles on all mass transit with no limitations.
10. Cyclists have the right to end-of-trip amenities that include safe and secure opportunities to park their bicycles.
11. Cyclists have the right to be secure in their persons and property, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment.
12. Cyclists have the right to peacably assemble in the public space, as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

And further, we claim and assert these rights by taking to the streets and riding our bicycles, all in an expression of our inalienable right to ride!

The Sustainability Committee is looking to identify where there should be more bicycle racks for safe bike storage around Downtown. Please help us with our effort - attend a meeting or email us at sustainability@dlanc.com to get involved!

03/02/09 - March Regular Monthly Sustainability Meeting

MEETING MINUTES SC-21-030210

1. Welcome and Introductions: Lauren Takeda, Sandy Meola, Shira Blatt, Michael Ferguson, Stan Michaels, Gunnar Hand, Natalia Aguilar, Alex Brideau III, Scott Bytof, Dawna Nolan, Ashley Hand.
2. Defer approval of February meeting minutes until April meeting.
3. Announcements:
4. Neighborhood Council elections registration for candidates begins later this month. You are encouraged to sign-up as a candidate and run for a seat on the Board of Directors.
5. Brandi announced the upcoming opening of a new produce store at 210 W. 5th Street (in the Alexandria Hotel) in the Historic Core that will sell locally-grown, organic and other fresh foods.
6. Mobility and the Cyclists' Bill of Rights (see www.bikewriterscollective.com). Motion: The Sustainability Committee moves to support the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights and will encourage the ongoing consideration of mobility in future plans for Downtown.
7. Other endorsements to date: East Hollywood NC; Silver Lake NC; Atwater Village NC; Palms NC; Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee; Mar Vista NC; Northridge East NC; Coastal San Pedro NC; MacArthur Park NC; Caltrans District 7; Caltrans Local Assistance Coordinator; LA City Controller; CD 11; CD 3; Paul Krekorian – CA State Assembly.
8. We postponed the conversation on the Electric Community Car Share Program but will investigate the Pasadena collective and the program started by Amir Sadati.
9. Mobility: Wireless Internet Accessibility project to help create free wireless hotspots throughout Downtown. Sites that the Sustainability Committee had brainstormed have been submitted to contact at Aerioconnect – awaiting feedback. Will look at similar programs by the City of Long Beach, the AT&T Foundation, and Google as possible models for Downtwon.
10. Green Space: Green Pockets Project to build small urban pocket gardens throughout the neighborhood has launched with two community information meetings and we are moving forward with planning for Big Sunday (May 1-2). First survey day scheduled for March 20, 2010 at 10:00am starting at the DLANC Office (453 S. Spring Street). The pilot area defined is between Olive/Maple/1st/8th Streets. Stanley and Michael volunteered to help identify property owners for permission to plant.
11. Green Space: Lauren Takeda presented the Urban Garden Guide - a pamphlet with information about building your own urban garden guide. Looking to translate this document into Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Will request proposals for printing by next meeting and develop format for online distribution. Sandy to help collect bids for this project.
12. Green Space: Tree Planting Project is ongoing with the Wells Fargo Foundation application submitted for maintenance funding for the Skid Row Pilot. Awaiting feedback.
13. Green Living Education opportunity has been presented by Green Beacon, to potentially create a partnership with the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council. The goal is to develop green living education programming for Downtown Los Angeles. Will need volunteers to help coordinate.
14. Sustainability Committee Chair office hours are designated opportunities to work on projects for the community. Come visit!
15. Adjournment.