Posted: July 2nd, 2007

Free the Pool!

Warren Olney’s Which Way L.A.? podcast covers opening the Olympic pool at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex so children and the community can swim and play at the public school downtown during the long hot summer, with guests City Controller Laura Chick, LAUSD Facilities Chief Guy Mehula, and The City Project’s Robert García (July 2, 2007). Listen online. Keeping the public pool off limits to the public is part of a bigger problem: the City of L.A. and LAUSD can’t agree on sharing schools and parks to give children a place to play and engage in physical activity in park-starved communities.

Evan George writes about the Summer Bummer that is keeping the pool closed in the Downtown News. The Downtown News Editorial exhorts the City and LAUSD to “Find the funds. Open the pool. Stop the excuses. Give the community what it deserves this summer.”

Why don’t the City and LAUSD borrow lifeguards from several other pools and assign them to Miguel Contreras to open the pool before the children loose another summer with no place to swim or play.?

Photo by Magnus Stark LAUSD.

Baldwin Hills Environmental and Health Summit July 21, 2007

Join the movement to improve the quality of life in the Baldwin Hills community! Attend the Baldwin Hills Environmental Health and Planning Summit on Saturday July 21, 2007, from 8:30 to noon at West L.A. College, 9000 Overland Ave., Culver City, CA 90230. Join the Empowerment Congress, Environmental Council, Baldwin Hills Conservancy, Community Health Councils, Friends of the Baldwin Hills, The City Project, and many others. The key topics include the Baldwin Hills area environmental impact report, the community standards district, the West Adams-Baldwin Hills-Leimert Community Plan, the Baldwin Hills Park Master Plan, the impact of oil drilling on health, recreation, and quality of life, and more. Free registration!

L.A. River Community Meeting Dates

Share urban design ideas for the Los Angeles River at 8 Saturday workshops on July 14, July 21, August 4, and August 11.

LAUSD Adopts Provisional Budget with Pay to Play Compromise

According to Joel Rabin in the Los Angeles Times, “Faced with growing public criticism, [LAUSD Superintendent David] Brewer relented somewhat on a proposal to recoup nearly $5 million by charging after-school youth groups to use district athletic fields and facilities. He agreed to lower the fees that will be imposed and to use a sliding scale so groups that serve low-income children pay less.” The City Project is eager to work with the community and LAUSD to ensure that if LAUSD does go forward with a Pay to Play proposal under the provisional or final budget, then fair standards must be included so that the children who can least afford to pay to play are not shut out of public school fields and facilities. The fee structure is important. It is also important that LAUSD does not favor paying over non-paying groups. Please check our blog and website for regular updates.