Advocacy items that are no longer on the committee's current agenda are archived here.

Below are a few sustainability-related advocacy opportunities for consideration by Neighborhood Councils.  The NCSA has not taken a position on these. 

Cutting of Climate Emergency Efforts

Cutting of climate emergency efforts—The proposed City budget for fiscal year 2020 to 2021 failed to acknowledge that the climate crisis is a public health crisis that will not go away in the face of the pandemic. But early in 2021, the first director of the brand-new Climate Emergency Mobilization Office was appointed, so we are finally on our way!

SB 380 (approved May 10, 2016)

SB 380 is an urgency bill introduced by Senator Fran Pavley that will keep a moratorium on gas injections at the Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Facility until each well is inspected and deemed safe by state regulators at the Division of Oil Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). SB 380 also calls for a report by the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission on how to keep Aliso Canyon shut down permanently or have the use of the field minimized.

Food & Water Watch is working in conjunction with Senator Pavley's office and Save Porter Ranch to support this bill. If your neighborhood council is interested in learning more about signing on to support SB 380 or having a representative for Food & Water Watch come to your meetings and present, please contact Alexandra Nagy at [email protected].

Sign-on letter

SB 380

 

Solar by 2025 goal

Environment California is calling for Neighborhood Councils to pass a resolution urging Mayor Garcetti to achieve as a minimum his 1,500 megawatts of local solar by 2025 goal, and to make a strong effort to exceed that goal. The Mayor’s Office needs to know that the neighborhoods of Los Angeles support the mayor’s vision for LA’s local solar future. With the neighborhoods calling for strong action and ambitious targets, Mayor Garcetti will be empowered to renew his call for 25% or more local solar power by 2025.

Please connect with Garrick Monaghan, Environment California’s Solar Campaign Organizer, to learn more about this campaign and have him speak at your council or committee meetings. Email him at [email protected] or call him at 916-622-3621. More information about Environment California is available here.

 

Greenhouse gas emissions (passed May 17, 2016)

Paula Waxman of the South Robertson Neighborhood Council, [email protected], encourages all Neighborhood Councils to write Community Impact Statements in support of Council File Motion #14-0907, also known as the “80 x 50 Motion.”  This is a resolution requesting that city departments / bureaus conduct feasibility studies on actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 and the DWP by 2030.

  

Fossil fuel divestment

Fossil Free LA is calling on individuals and institutions to take advantage of current trends in the energy sector, protect their finances, and show true climate leadership by 1) freezing any new investment in the top 200 fossil fuel companies and 2) divesting within five years from direct ownership or any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities or corporate bonds.

Divestment and reinvestment are a crucial part of a holistic climate strategy aiming to accelerate the transition away from unhealthy, unsafe fossil fuel projects and to increase renewable energy infrastructure, community development, and a more independent energy system.

Specifically, Fossil Free LA is calling on the City of Los Angeles Municipal Fund Managers, Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, and the Department of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions to divest from oil and thermal coal company investments.

 

Mobility Plan 2035 

A broad coalition of transportation and community advocates is supporting Mobility Plan 2035, the City's first comprehensive update to its transportation element since 1999. This plan provides a balanced framework for how the needs of people walking, biking, driving and taking transit are addressed by a multimodal transportation network, with safety as the first goal. The plan has many benefits for health, sustainability and access that you can read about here. Mobility Plan supporters include: Los Angeles Walks, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, LA Area Chamber of Commerce, Valley Industry & Commerce Association, FAST (Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic), Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, Climate Resolve, Natural Resources Defense Council, AARP, Community Health Councils and others. Neighborhood Councils are encouraged to follow the lead of Eagle Rock and Los Feliz by adopting supportive Community Impact Statements and embracing complete streets in your communities. For more information, go to: http://la2b.org/ or http://la-bike.org/mobilityplan.

 

Antibiotics use on factory farms (adopted March 31, 2016)

The Healthy Farms to Healthy Families Campaign is working to bring Los Angeles in coalition with over 50 other cities — including San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and many others — demanding Congress act on an emerging global health crisis. Antibiotics abuse is rampant in the U.S. food system, and business and regulators are unaccountable to the severity of the crisis. The Campaign is working with community organizations, environmental groups and local businesses to pass a motion in City Hall calling on Congress to Act.

Please contact Walker Foley at [email protected] if you might like your NC to endorse the Healthy Farms to Healthy Families Campaign or would like a representative to present at your next meeting.

 

Cooling and urban heat impacts (passed May 4, 2016)

(Fuentes/Blumenfield)

https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=15-0198

 

Methane (stalled and expired in Energy and Environment Committee)

 (Koretz/Fuentes)

https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=14-0469

 

Organics composting (stalled in Energy and Environment Committee)

 (Bonin, Huizar, Koretz/O’Farrell)

https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=14-1432