L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl Outlines Plans for Environmental Conservation

, Marcia Hansom, and Susana Reyes

Last spring, Bill Rosendahl, with huge Sierra Club grassroots support, was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. He now represents more than 250,000 residents in the 11th district, the city's largest coastal area including the communities of Brentwood, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, West L.A., and Westchester.

In January, Sierra Club leaders Mary Ann Webster, Marcia Hanscom, and Susana Reyes visited his office to ask him a few questions and provide Southern Sierran readers with some insight on the thoughts of a newly elected official who is aligned with our values.

Mary Ann Webster: What are your environmental priorities?

Photo courtesy Susana Reyes From left: Mary Ann Webster, chair of the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force, Susana Reyes, chair of the Angeles Chapter Political Committee, and Marcia Hanscom, vice-chair of the Conservation Committee and chair of the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Committee, pose for a photograph with Rosendahl.

Bill Rosendahl: My priorities are on two levels-in the district and in the overall city. In the district we have the ocean, the mountains, and the wetlands. My priority is to preserve it. Period. I was fortunate to get a spot on the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, and I hope to help release funds for needed restoration projects in my district. I work closely with Marcia [Hanscom] on the lagoon issues, and I work closely with others about Playa Vista and Toes Beach Dunes. Wherever I can find an opportunity to preserve the environment, I'm there.

Citywide, I've been on the [Department of Water and Power] oversite committee. There's the Renew L.A. project and determining what percentage of our energy is going to be renewable. The goal is 20 percent by 2010. Whatever we can do to get into the renewable world, be it solar, be it wind, anything we can do on that makes sense.

When it comes to garbage, I asked at one of my very first meetings about a timetable of recycling. The first thing I found out was that citywide we were only dealing with single family units. We did not have a strategy in place for the multi- family units, be they condos or apartments. We really didn't have clarity to the commercial waste and how that's being dealt with. We must get recycling for everyone in the city.

Marcia Hanscom: You mentioned Playa Vista, and obviously that was one of the issues in your hard-fought campaign. What is your vision for a solution to the issues that the community cares about, including traffic, Native American burials, restoring more of the area, more active park space, and the health and safety hazards. How do you get your arms around that?

BR: It's a huge challenge because it's been going on for 17 years. It was a huge challenge for me to actually disagree with the city attorney's office. Based on my own independent analysis on the de-watering issue and the safety issues regarding methane, I argued for and was able to get the city to do more than just be an advocate for the development in the appeals court. We will now have a peer review process that will not coincide with the city getting some kind of supportive statement into Playa Vista with the courts. We will have two town hall meetings. The town halls can be an opportunity to ask a lot of questions and submit a lot more information. This is where you-the Sierra Club and other wetland advocates-can all go on record in a public meeting. If during that process we uncover more information about methane and de-watering, then maybe we will have the data and the background to demand a supplemental hearing.

When it comes to the Indians I just thinks it's blasphemy, it's sacrilegious, it's absolutely against any respect for culture and community. I am appalled that they've been able to get away with what they're doing.

MH: Preserving the Toes Beach Dunes-the last remaining natural foredune in Los Angeles-was a big issue in the campaign too. What will your office be doing to ensure that this area is protected?

BR: When I was a candidate I said two things: 1, there needs to be an Environmental Impact Report and 2, if I get elected I will do everything in my power to see that there's no development. That is my position today.

Interestingly enough, I bumped into a lobbyist for the developer who said, 'so are you still pushing all your pledges?' I said, 'on everything.'

He said, 'So Toes Beach?'

I said, 'that's right.'

He said, 'Well I can tell you the Planning Department has no intention of doing an EIR.'

Now, what I'm going to tell you is that I'm the elected official, and for a lobbyist to tell me that our Planning Department has decided not to do an EIR even though the mayor who got elected and the councilman who got elected are asking for it tells me the disconnect between the Planning Department, and I might say a lot of other departments, and the community. And in that particular case, I took a deep breath, and I said, 'Well, there'll be a new planning director.'

We now have a new planning director. Whatever I can to explain why it's important to do an EIR, I will do. I'm staying strong on that.

We have to be creative and innovative. I said to David Freeman who thought maybe he could get me some wetland credit moneys, 'is it possible that we could buy that land?'

I don't know where this issue will end up but the councilman now is wanting an EIR and wants to see it in the public hands, and if we can find a way to do that through Sacramento, through the port, through any other way, that's what we'll do with Toes Beach.

MAW: We're also interested in light rail. You probably know in Culver City they're going to build above grade station rather than at level because of some complaints. How is that going to be paid for and what specific steps could you take to get funding for this and funding for the rail to continue to Santa Monica?

BR: I'm sixty and I want to get on that stuff and move around. We've got to get things going in the next 10 years. If we have to have a sales tax, if we have to have a gasoline tax, if we have to go back and bang on the doors with the administration in Washington or Sacramento, we have to do whatever it takes.

The realistic timetable is we can complete the entire expo line within this 10-year time frame. The whole thing. Not just to Culver City, but to the last spot, which Santa Monica has provided leadership for many years to bring it to the Sears Center.

One of the reasons the airport settlement makes me happy is now we can work on the people mover. The people mover will tie the Green Line into LAX. At the same time I want to see the plan for putting the Green Line from LAX, up Lincoln Blvd. to connect with the Expo Line at Santa Monica and the other side going into the South Bay.

MAW: what can the Sierra Club do to help these good ideas go forward?

BR: You can help us come up with strategies. I am not the keeper of wisdom or knowledge or plans. I'm just a facilitator of what I hope is an honest approach of dealing with problems and bringing everybody to me as best I can. I'll listen to all points of views and try to do the best I can. I look forward to suggestions, ideas, plans from the Sierra Club.

Second, when you see me championing the cause on environmental issues, it would be great if you would assist me in the effort. Next time there's an issue that I think is a significant environmental issue where I need support with the council, I'd love for you and your organization to help out.

Susana Reyes: Our last question is about transparency of government, how will you address that?

BR: I'm not too thrilled about all these closed-door meetings we have. The city attorneys always tell us there is potential litigation. I'm not happy with my Playa Vista discussion that took place to have done it behind closed doors.

The public not only should come and testify in the public comment but they should be in the loop on the documents. Information should be available to everybody.

We can hold some meetings in the district. I've held a lot of town halls already on a lot of different subjects. I held a public meeting in Mar Vista over the Santa Monica Airport pollution and noise. This was the first time in the history of that airport that any public official even addressed the pollution.