A diverse and growing alliance of committed advocates for equal justice, public health, and green space support the County’s proposed Clean Water, Clean Beaches parcel fee to fund a new stormwater program only if it implements the recommendations below to ensure equity: 1. Ensure compliance with equal protection laws and principles that provide for equal access [...]

Click on the text or images for more information.  KCET Departures Launches Green Justice Column by Robert Garcia   Diversifying Access to and Support for Proposed San Gabriels National Recreation Area   Diverse Allies Support Equal Access to the L.A. River; SB 1201 Signed into Law   Providing Quality Physical Education in Los Angeles Unified [...]

The City Project’s article on Environmental Justice for All: Struggle in Baldwin Hills and South Central Los Angeles appears in the Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy (Nov/Dec 2012). The Baldwin Hills and South Central Los Angeles constitute the historic heart of African American Los Angeles. . . . These communities have long strived [...]

The National Park Service (NPS) draft study of the proposed national recreation area for the San Gabriel Mountains focuses on improving access to green space and easing park disparities in the Los Angeles region. Citing the work of The City Project and others, NPS highlights: Statewide, Los Angeles County is one of the most disadvantaged [...]

 KCET SoCal > Departures > Land of Sunshine > Green Justice > If You Want Jobs and Justice, Keep Our National Parks Open by Robert Garcia In the summer of 1963, when I was growing up in what is now Pico Union near downtown Los Angeles, my father decided we should go on our first camping trip [...]

With five square miles of chapparal and landscaped parkland and picnic areas, Griffith Park is the largest municipal park with urban wilderness area in the United States. Col. Griffith J. Griffith donated the land to the city in 1896 for a park. “It must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses, [...]

The South Los Angeles Wetlands Park transformed a 9-acre underutilized maintenance yard into a community park. The park provides much-needed green space in a park-poor community, while the functional wetlands treat and clean runoff from the surrounding community before it enters the Los Angeles River and eventually the ocean. This multibenefit park and clean water [...]

The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, which wraps 32 miles around the island, transforms what was a long-ignored and derelict waterfront into a green attraction for recreation, wellness and commuting, generates economic benefits and promotes conservation values in the dense urban setting of New York City. The Greenway is a best practice example of how to revitalize [...]

Click on the image to see the urban state parks video on YouTube. Los Angeles County has over 10 million people, a larger population than 42 states. Community advocates have fought to create great urban state parks in park poor communities disproportionately populated by people of color and low income people. Los Angeles State Historic [...]

President Barack Obama has designated the greening of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers as one of the top 101 priorities across the nation for his America’s Great Outdoors initiative, out of only two per state. The Department of Interior has also named the L.A. River one of seven urban waters priorities across the nation. The New York [...]