Several
years ago EarthWays produced an "eco-psychology"
conference. One of its activities was the convening of an
"activist circle" whose members emphasized the importance
of the Ballona Wetlands to our local ecosystem. This resulted
in a variety of new initiatives to preserve and restore Ballona.
We helped in the formation of new groups, organized and facilitated
meetings of independent activists concerned with this issue.
And challenged the development project as the lead plaintiff
of a California Environmental Quality Act" (CEQA) lawsuit,
Our efforts to facilitate local activists in addressing this
issue continue.
The Los Angeles coastal land known as the Ballona Wetlands
ecosystem is crucial to the health of the entire region. Its
loss would be catastrophic for southern California. It is
a vital part of the Pacific Flyway, and contains some of the
only wetlands remaining between Pt. Mugu and Tijuana, and
the last remaining coastal wetlands in the L.A. basin. The
purpose of this project is to encourage and catalyze Los Angeles’
urban population to preserve this natural gem to benefit the
8 million people of L.A. County. Wetlands are recognized for
their ecological importance. Wetlands absorb and filter pollutants
that would otherwise degrade lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and
aquifers. Coastal marshlands buffer the impact of storm tides
on populated uplands. Wetlands stabilize shorelines. California
has lost 95 percent of its once extensive wetlands, primarily
to residential and commercial development. Public acquisition
of Ballona would serve to preserve this coastal environment
and head off a massive environmentally unsound development,
which, if built, would cause an extreme and precipitous decline
in the available open space. The 8 billion-dollar project
would be almost twice the size of Century City and the largest
planned development of its kind in the county.
EarthWays is dedicated to the preservation and restoration
effort. In order to preserve this land from development and
arrange for its acquisition for the public trust, we will
help activists working on this project in order to expand
public awareness, meet with public officials, and coordinate
activities among many different groups. To gain the necessary
support of the people of Los Angeles to restore this ecosystem,
the activists will hold public meetings and news conferences,
maintain a telephone and mailing database: write, print, and
mail flyers; write, fax, and mail news releases and photos
to the media: help maintain and publicize a national awareness
of the involvement of development partners, Goldman-Sachs
Morgan Stanley, and Robert MaGuire: operate phone banks to
notify the public of upcoming demonstrations, events, meetings,
and public hearings: and supply material and volunteers for
events to raise visibility for the issue.
Investigations are underway concerning the feasibility of
a land swap(s) or land purchase(s) which would include but
would not be limited to government resource agencies, local
and/or state government entities, mitigation funding, tax
incentive, and bond measures. Various activists are also seeking
to commission a feasibility study which would include a ballot
referendum, outright purchase, down-zoning of the land, and
the use of mitigation funding from government agencies, which
could be used to restore the Ballona Salt marsh. Over the
past year, many activists have been responsible for raising
the visibility of local opposition to the Playa Vista development
on local public access television programming and have been
interviewed on local talk and news radio stations on the issue
of the preservation of Ballona.
Contact: Andrew Beath at: EarthWays, 20178 Rockport Way, Malibu,
CA 90265, tel: 310-456-8300
info@earthways.org |
|
|
|
