L.A. MAYORAL AND CITY COUNCIL ENDORSEMENTS

Mayor Villaraigosa speaks at the 15th Annual Southern California Environmental Leadership Awards, a gala event in December hosted by the California League of Conservation Voters. PHOTO: California League of Conservation Voters.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took office calling for Los Angeles to be "the greenest big city in the world." In his first term, the Mayor has established an ambitious environmental agenda. Sierra Club works closely with his office to pursue this agenda and believes he deserves to be re-elected.

Mayor Villaraigosa is pushing for environmental improvements on many fronts. He has established a Clean Air Action Plan for the Port of Los Angeles, which would cut emissions almost in half and which has led to a landmark program for cleaning up port trucks. He recently unveiled a 5-year plan to install an unprecedented amount of solar power in the City, more than in any other American city. Solar power is just one of the environmental improvements the Mayor is demanding at the city's Department of Water and Power, where renewable energy and energy conservation have been prioritized. His plans call for a 20 percent savings in per capita water consumption and for the recycling of 70 percent of the city's trash. Working with the City Council, he established a green building ordinance that encourages more sustainable construction in private development projects. These and other programs are expected to reduce the City of Los Angeles' greenhouse gas emissions by 35% below 1990 levels by 2030. The 35% reduction by 2030 goes beyond the targets set in the Kyoto Protocol and is the greatest reduction target of any large US city.

The Mayor has appointed long-time environmental advocates to key positions, including at the port, the DWP, the Board of Public Works, and Transportation Commission. The Mayor's deputy for energy and the environment has been tapped by President Obama to lead the White House Council on the Environment, which we hope will both influence change in Washington and support the implementation of environmental programs in LA.

Having established goals that we environmentalists are so eager to achieve, it can sometimes seem that progress is too slow or even faltering. And so much focus must now shift to the implementation of environmental policies at the city.

"Saving the planet is an urgent matter, but it is also a long-term project," says S. David Freeman, an environmental champion appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa as President of the city's Harbor Commission. "Long-term projects need long-term leadership."

It takes time and muscle to turn a ship as big as Los Angeles. With the Mayor at the helm, this ship has set a course toward a more sustainable future. The next four years are sure to be challenging and productive, and Sierra Club will be there every step of the way, fighting to realize a vision we share with Mayor Villaraigosa: a greener Los Angeles.

The communities that make up District 1 include: Glassell Park, Cypress Park, Highland Park, Mt. Washington, Solano Canyon, Elysian Park, Echo Park, Westlake, Angelino Heights, Temple Beaudry, Lafayette Park, Chinatown, Forgotten Edge, Lincoln Heights, Montecito Heights, Pico Union, Adams-Normandie, Mid Cities and Mac Arthur Park.

Ed P. Reyes has served on the Los Angeles City Council since April 2001. A native of Northeast Los Angeles, Reyes represents many of the neighborhoods he grew up in including Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park.

Reyes was recently re-elected to serve a second Council term, capturing 75 percent of the votes. He continues his commitment to bringing government closer to Council District One neighborhoods, which he affectionately refers to as the “Original Suburbs.” Within days of taking office, Councilmember Reyes organized town hall meetings district-wide for residents to voice concerns about safety, affordable housing, education and recreational opportunities. This effort has become a hallmark of his administration and has resulted in projects that have reduced crime, improved schools, created more jobs and expanded green space.

Reyes is the author of a motion to ban polystyrene food containers in all City facilities beginning July 1, 2009 which was unanimously approved by the City Council. The City Council, by a 13-0 vote, also approved an amendment introduced by Reyes that bans plastic bags by July 1, 2010, if the State has not imposed a fee of at least 25 cents by then.

Reyes is Chair of the Ad Hoc L.A. River Revitalization which integrates multiple objectives – including recreation, parks, storm water management, but also housing, transportation, economic development, and more.

Reyes initiated the ‘Clean Streets, Clean Neighborhoods’ campaign aimed at pro-actively removing debris and other unsightly garbage on sidewalks along major pedestrian and transportation corridors in the First Council District.

The Sierra Club is proud to endorse Paul Koretz in the race for the 5th District of the Los Angeles City Council.

Koretz has made championing the environment one of the cornerstones of his decades-long career as a public servant. His commitment to improving the environment springs not only from his 25-year membership with the Sierra Club or his active participation in the Angeles Chapter Political Committee, but even more profoundly from his identity as the child of Holocaust survivor. According to Koretz, this legacy imbued him “with a deep responsibility to help heal the world and to leave it better than I found it.”

He has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to protecting the environment through his many years as an elected official and has pledged to “work with environmental leaders to create a greenprint for Los Angeles—a plan to make L.A. one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the country, including more green space, drought resistant plants and other water conservation measures, solar energy for new developments and city buildings and more air and water pollution controls.”

His long and illustrious career includes service as a State Assemblyman from 2000-2006, as a City Councilmember in West Hollywood from 1988-2000, as a Council Aide for West Hollywood Councilmember Alan Viterbi, and as Chief of Staff for Board of Equalization Member Brad Sherman. Prior to that, Koretz served as a member of the L.A. Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, as the Southern California Director for the League of Conservation Votes and as the Administrative Director of the Ecology Center of Southern California.

In each of these posts, time after time Koretz demonstrated a passion for improving the environment. His legislative record exemplifies this passion. Laws authored by Paul include the following:

• Reduced Global Warming in California with landmark greenhouse gas legislation (co-authored).
• Reduced carbon monoxide poisonings.
• Required pet shops to provide information on spaying and neutering; banned declawing of exotic cats.
• Created the Public Safety Commission in West Hollywood.
• Established West Hollywood Animal Welfare Task Force and declared the city an “Animal Cruelty-Free Zone.”
• Protected the environment in West Hollywood by conserving water, banning gasoline-powered leafblowers and providing free electric-vehicle charging stations.

We are confident that Paul will continue to build on his impressive record as a leader on environmental matters in the L.A. City Council, and we endorse him with the utmost strength and enthusiasm.

Bill Rosendahl has been the leader on the Los Angeles City Council for strong environmental consciousness and Sierra Club priorities. The 11th district, which includes the treasures of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Ballona Wetlands, various lagoons and beaches, is also home to several endangered and rare species. Sierra Club is especially fortunate to have someone with such a good ecological sensibility as Bill Rosendahl.

His first term on the Council includes the following achievements, which are only a part of his ongoing stewardship of the coastal environment:

• strong support for extending the Green Line transit solution to Los Angeles International Airport
• standing up for the activist and slow-growth community related to proposed developments in the Ballona Valley, including
• unequivocal support for saving tidally-influenced Egret Park at the north end of Del Rey Lagoon in Playa del Rey,
• protection of Toes Beach Dunes (the last remaining coastal foredune ecosystem in the City of Los Angeles) and
• insuring the Appeals Court ruling for Phase 2 is followed according to the letter of the law
• convening and monitoring an advisory board to begin the planning for ecologically-based restoration of Grand Canal Lagoon, including support of an initial planning process
• transfer of what the city deemed “surplus land” along Grand Canal Lagoon to the Department of Recreation & Parks for a new gateway park to the Grand Canal Lagoon and Venice Beach area
• support for community and coastal habitats by submitting comments and testimony at the California Coastal Commission related to the Local Coastal Program review of Marina del Rey
• strong support of the community for modernization, as opposed to unsustainable expansion of Los Angeles International Airport
• taking a leadership role in forging a solution to a heated trail controversy in the Santa Monica Mountains, resulting in the Nancy & Dick Riordan Trail, restoring the historical link between Mount St, Mary’s College and Canyonback Trail and creating a trail route that far surpasses the old trail in unspoiled, natural beauty
• supporting a wildlife crossing at the Sepulveda Pass, linking two important habitats of the Santa Monica Mountains across a busy 405 freeway
• starting a Parks Advisory Board for the previously forgotten parks of Del Rey Lagoon, Titmouse Park and Vista del Mar Park
• participating in and supporting Sierra Steward clean-ups at the Ballona Wetlands
• supporting and sponsoring a strong stream protection ordinance and an ordinance that would remove styrofoam and other harmful plastics from the city’s contribution to the watersheds
• strong insistence in getting burials (uncovered by Playa Vista developers) of more than 1,000 Native American ancestors re-interred in the Ballona Valley, with the proper honor afforded to the First Nation Gabrielino Tongva people.

The Thirteenth District is the most densely populated council district in the City of Los Angeles. It includes part or all of the neighborhoods of Hollywood, East Hollywood, Thai Town, Little Armenia, Los Feliz, Virgil Village, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Temple-Beverly, Koreatown, Historic Filipinotown, Westlake, Wilshire Center, Melrose Hill, Echo Park, Elysian Valley, Atwater Village, and Glassell Park.

Eric Garcetti won a hotly-contested election to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001, becoming one of the youngest city councilmembers in the city’s history. Unanimously elected as Council President in December 2005 and unanimously re-elected in July 2007, Garcetti promotes the work of each of his fourteen colleagues on the City Council.

Eri Garcetti is a strong ally and friend of the Sierra Club. His voting record consistently demonstrated his pro-environmental positions on key issues:

• Led the successful call of the adoption of Green Building Standards for city buildings. These standards require that all new city construction use practices and materials that conserve energy and reduce waste. These standards will also reduce expenses generated from wasteful energy use in city buildings, and will help to build these skills among private designers who can then promote their benefits to their private clients.
• Chaired the task force that led to the development of the Neighborhood Land Trust. The newly created nonprofit will use private foundation funds to secure land for community gardens and parks.
• Working to double the amount of green space in the district: from 15 parks to 30. Since taking office, CD13 has opened seven new parks and two new community gardens in the district.

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