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L.A.'s elected officials, from the local level to the mayor, are taking action to create a sustainable life for their communities and the city at large.
At the local level, Assembly Member Cindy Montanez might be considered a leader of the pack. At 28, Montanez, a former mayor of the city of San Fernando, was the youngest woman ever to win an Assembly seat in the California Legislature. Among her many achievements, she's the youngest woman and only Latina ever appointed chairperson of the powerful California Legislative Rules Committee.
Cindy Montanez grew up in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, where she still lives today. "These are communities that have historically been disproportionately impacted by landfills and other polluting industries, a lack of open space and a lack of recreational space," says Cindy. And she views these communities as hotbeds for environmental activism. "We see communities of color, poor communities, prioritizing the environment as one of the main issues that they want to focus on," says Montanez. "They are tired of losing their kids to premature deaths, miscarriages, skin cancer, asthma, and it is those public health reasons that are motivating people."
Landmark legislation by Montanez includes the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004, a measure designed to mitigate the environmental, social and economic effects created by contaminated and abandoned industrial sites on often urban, low-income, neighborhoods.
Montanez is working to clean up communities like L.A.'s Sun Valley, known for its 14 operating landfills filled with dangerous contaminants (with schools literally across the street), and turning them into green, sustainable environments. She's also working with Senator Diane Feinstein and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to revitalize the polluted Hansom Dam.
Leading Los Angeles is the city's first Hispanic mayor since 1872, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Mayor's first official act in office was to join TreePeople's Andy Lipkis and plant a tree. Villaraigosa says he will plant one million new trees during his administration. TreePeople is working with the Mayor to realize this common dream.
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© 2007. All Rights Reserved. Published January 2, 2007
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