Clean air, clean water, and better land-use management

Two days. One topic: how to take a more comprehensive approach to addressing clean air, clean water, and land use issues in our city.

This week, the City Council's regular meetings had a special focus on environmental issues. We heard from key departments and environmental community leaders on what the city has done, is doing, and needs to be looking at to make Los Angeles a cleaner and greener city. From our leadership in waste diversion (Los Angeles leads the nation in recycling 62% of its waste materials) to the challenge of conserving water in drought conditions, we examined a variety of air, water, land, and environmental justice initiatives.

We came away with more than 80 recommendations for new policies and initiatives for the City Council to consider. In the next few weeks we will be analyzing these recommendations and working through Councilmember Perry’s Energy and the Environment committee to take action on them.

I want to thank the many people involved in the success of this first-ever Council meeting focused on a single topic. I especially want to acknowledge the environmental community organizations that participated in the meeting: Global Green, Heal the Bay, TreePeople, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Santa Monica Baykeeper, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Coalition for Clean Air, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology, Communities for a Better Environment, and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.