Southern Sierran
Fight sprawl by focusing on the city

By Gordon LaBedz
Chair, Conservation Management Committee

The Angeles Chapter leadership has been fighting valiant struggles on the suburban edges of our megalopolis. Our resources and our volunteers have been working to fight suburban encroachment on our local hills and deserts, but we have had very limited success. Over the past decade the Chapter has fought back developments in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach and in the Ballona Wetlands in West L.A. We have limited the size and scope of many sprawl developments, but the incessant drive of overpopulation and overconsumption has increased the demand for large suburban houses. The price of gas and the endless traffic haven’t seemed to put a dent in consumer demand for suburban sprawl housing. Many Sierra Club members live in these areas.

Is it time to question our approach? The city of Los Angeles has the most environmentally responsive mayor in decades. The City Council has some promising environmental leaders. Should the Chapter shift its focus towards making Los Angeles a more livable city so that people will not want to flee to the suburbs?

Our membership is concentrated in affluent areas, yet most of the urban environmental injustice is in lower income areas. The Sierra Club Harbor Vision Task Force is doing some excellent work in the San Pedro/Wilmington/Long Beach area, but the Club is largely absent in central city environmental issues.

Last summer, the Chapter Executive Committee added “livable communities” to our regional priorities. The Conservation Committee meeting is working on strategies to curb urban sprawl by making the central city a more pleasant place to live.

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