Struggle to save the L.A. Eco-Village - Updated 6/20/08                                                              home

UPDATE JUNE 20, 2009
A L E R T:  Help Save the L.A. Eco-Village Corner
The Struggle to Save the LAEV Corner from the LAUSD Bulldozers continues. 
Click here to write a letter
Click here to sign an electronic petition.  

Your letters and signatures count!  You decide!  60 more parking spaces?  Or a horticultural program for thousands of inner city kids?

Please see updates, sign the electronic petition, and send a letter to our school board member, Monica Garcia, to explain why you think the LAUSD should redesign the parking lot to allow for a horticultural program which can serve the 5 schools within a 2 to 7 minute walk of the L.A. Eco-Village corner at Bimini and White House Place. 

Pass this along to all whom you think would be interested:  http://www.gopetition.com/online/28715.html

Please email copies of your letters to the following:

Aida Alvarado, Aida.Alvarado@lacity.org

Michelle Banks-Ordone, mbanks-ordone@cra.lacity.org

Susan Cline, susan.cline@lausd.net

Roy Cortines, superintendent@lausd.net

Eric Garcetti, garcetti@council.lacity.org

Yonah Hong, yhong@cra.lacity.org

Guy Mahula, guy.mehula@lausd.net

Heather Repenning, Heather.Repenning@lacity.org

The L.A. Eco-Village residents, neighbors, and friends had other recommendations for the grassy hill where the LAEV was founded in 1980:  It should be restored to a community garden for a horticultural program that could serve many thousands of kids from the five schools within a 2 to 5 minute walk of the site.  In five years, we reasoned, the 60 additional parking spaces for ES#20 (set to open in 2012) will not be needed.  We commissioned a parking study.  We consulted with LA City Planning and LA DOT.  We did our own parking study and discovered that there are more than 700 parking spaces surrounding Virgil Middle School and the future CRES#20.

So what do we need in the inner city L.A. Eco-Village neighborhood and its surrounds?  More parking?  Yuck!  More healthy, organic vegetables and fruits?   More congestion?  Traffic?  Hardscape?  Oil dependency?  C'mon, bring them into the 21st Century.  While cities throughout the world are "transitioning" to meet the twin challenges of peak oil and global climate change, and while LAUSD talks the talk, they are still operating in the 1950s on this issue, don't you think.

Please, write, if ever so briefly to our School Board President, Monica Garcia (and email your message to those noted above).  She really needs and wants to hear from you on this topic.  She is a progressive, innovative thinker on school issues, and is under enormous pressure right now.  Be brief, friendly and strong.

Thanks for your help.  We are re-inventing how we live in cities.  Join us.     -Lois Arkin

UPDATE from May 29, 2008
On May 29, 2008 at a community meeting sponsored by LAUSD, the District re-confirmed that it is planning to develop a parking lot for 137 cars on the current 1.75 acre site of White House Place Primary Center, a kindergarten school that will no longer be needed when the new Elementary School #20 is developed on the current Virgil Middle School playing field.  The schedule calls for the new school to be ready in 2012.  The initial plan also called for the relocation of the nearly100 year old sycamore tree on the vacant lot where the District removed the old four-plex last December.  The new elementary school is planned to be only two stories high, further adding to sprawl in the neighborhood.  Virgil principal, several teachers, parents and students expressed passionate opposition to the new school being built on their playing field as well as their concerns about the cleanup of the contaminated land north of the school which the District plans to remediate for the new playing field..  The young students and their parents had an excellent lesson in activism from their dedicated math teacher Maria Magana.  LAUSD presented their Initial Study and preliminary schematic design to community members.  About 100 people attended,

The Initial Study which is preliminary to an Environmental Impact Report can be viewed at:
http://www.laschools.org/project-status/one-project-images?project_id=3736089

A follow-up meeting will be held toward the end of June.  Stay tuned for details. 
More info, crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254.

Update from the April 22, 2008 LAUSD Board Meeting.
On April 22, 2008, the LAUSD Board voted to build a new elementary school for 800 kids on the east end of the Virgil middle School playing field, also known as Site #11.  It was a bitter victory for Eco-Villagers and our neighbors on So. Madison Ave.  Thanks to the 100s of you who turned up at community meetings, wrote letters to school board members, called, provided moral support and a sense of outrage at the thought of turning one-third of the LAEV neighborhood into yet another school, the need for which was and is questionable in a neighborhood with six schools within two blocks of each other and a declining demographic.  Nonetheless, if the District was going to build a school no matter what, better that it be on vacant land that does not take housing.  Better that it not crush the fabric of a very old and established neighborhood and a relatively new direction for that neighborhood, now called the Los Angeles Eco-Village.  Better that it not crush the hopes of thousands of people throughout the world who have gained inspiration to fix our cities from LAEV.  And better that a dead and insecure old industrial area adjacent to Virgil Middle School on the north be cleaned up and transformed into a safe and friendly, convivial playing field and recreational center.

But, sadly, it was a great disappointment to the Virgil Middle School principal, teachers and parents who fought valiantly to prevent the new school from being built on their playing field, feeling that it will be a great disruption to their programs.  Virgil has been a high priority school for some time, meaning that it is a low performing school.  Nonetheless, the school has made great strides in the past few years.  It has done that because of the clear dedication of the principal, teachers and parents who also  question whether the toxic vacant land north of their school, which will become their new playing field, can be safely cleaned up and maintained clean in the future. 

The other bitter end of the questionable victory is that the LAUSD Facilities Department intends to plunk down a parking lot for 137 cars in the heart of L.A. Eco-Village when the current White House Place Primary Center is no longer needed.  Quite ironic that such a decision should be made on Earth Day and the first Car Free Day in Los Angeles (in February, the City Council declared April 22 as Car Free Earth Day).  Although grateful to the LAUSD board for not building the school in LAEV, we find the parking lot totally unacceptable in our transit oriented neighborhood and may soon be launching a new campaign to persuade LAUSD to be more creative in solving its parking problems.  Our proposal to LAUSD is to work jointly with the City's Community Redevelopment Agency and the LAEV neighborhood groups to create a visionary car free mixed use green development that will provide workforce cohousing targeted to local school staff, recreational facilities in the form of a year round indoor swimming pool in the restored Bimini Baths, green jobs, edible landscape, green roof, geothermal heating, educational living machine and more.  We believe, in spite of an increasingly troubled economy, this is the kind of project that many would want to invest in.  See the concept proposal here  
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Outcome of April 15, 2008 LAUSD Board Facilities Committee Meeting.  LAUSD Board is expected to vote in favor of Site #11, the alternative to the LA Eco-Village neighborhood, at their April 22nd board meeting.  However, this direction is still not secure, and your presence at Tuesday's meeting would be helpful.  The big surprise at the April 15th meeting was that the Virgil Middle School principal, teachers and parents were passionately opposed to new elementary school #20 being proposed for their playing field.  The proposal is to relocate the Virgil Middle School playing field, currently east of the school buildings, to the north of the school buildings on property already owned by LAUSD plus a piece of property with an auto body shop currently on it.  No housing would be taken with this plan.  However, District officials would still plan to put a parking lot for 137 cars plop in the middle of LAEV where the White House Primary Center kindergarten school is currently located when that school is no longer needed. 

Virgil Teachers/Parents Opposed to Site #11.  Teachers and parents complained of potential disruption from construction, safety and security, the neighborhood being overbuilt with schools already, toxic clean up of the currently owned LAUSD vacant land and the auto body shop, elementary and middle school kids being adjacent to each other, pick-ups and drop-offs, traffic, parking, too many kids on the street at the same times, etc.  Although Virgil is a low performing school, it has made great improvements over the past few years and feels that construction on the campus could jeopardize their progress. 

Eco-Villagers could empathize with their issues and concerns, but we felt that the disruptions could be minimized and in the long run, the improvements to the campus could be substantial and much to the advantage of the school and the neighborhood.  With the Virgil Middle School people, we agreed that the area is over-saturated with schools, all of which may not be necessary, and we share many of their other concerns. With the opening of several more new schools in the neighborhood in the next few years, the student populations could be substantially reduced in the Virgil Middle School area. 

That said, and having been active in four public community meetings over the past five months, at which the opposition was not present, though well informed of the meetings, we have been told in no uncertain terms that the $85 million school, now planned for 800 seats, will proceed.  The Virgil Middle School voices are just as loud and passionate as ours have been over these past many months.  And many people will come to meetings in support of not having the school on their site 11.  If the LAUSD authorities have narrowed their two choices down to either the LA Eco-Village neighborhood (site 1) or the Virgil Middle School playing field and points north (site 11), we must support site 11, and try in every way to work with Virgil Middle School principal, staff and parents to alleviate any problems they perceive with moving forward.

The Virgil Middle School staff and parents are aligned with L.A. Eco-Village and our neighbors in not wanting the school here in LAEV as well.  And for that we are most grateful.  And we are also particularly grateful to Councilman Eric Garcetti who has come out strongly in favor of site #11.  He feels very strongly about not taking additional housing, especially affordable housing.

Nonetheless, in the event site #11 is voted on as "preferred" in the April 22nd LAUSD board meeting, part of that plan will be to make a parking lot in LAEV for 137 cars, this on Earth Day and Los Angeles first ever Car Free Day, recently declared by the Los Angeles City Council (please try to minimize your driving that day, and come on out to the Car Free Earth Day celebration on Wilshire Blvd between Western and Harvard).  How ironic, right?  Several folks have been thinking about new eco development in LAEV for many years.  Now, we have taken advantage of this parking lot threat to put several of our visions together in a concept plan that can be much to the advantage of LAUSD in serving the local school communities.  See the concept proposal here  
end 4/19/08 update
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Outcome on March 19, 2008  LAUSD Community Meeting. Facilities staff indicated they would be recommending Site #11 as "preferred" for Central Region Elementary School #20 to the LAUSD Board for a vote on April 22, 2008.  Site #11 takes no housing and more fully utilizes land already owned by LAUSD on the Virgil Middle School playing field and points north.  We at LAEV and our neighbors on South Madison Ave. are grateful to so many of you who wrote and called and showed up at four LAUSD community meetings.  You were all a force to be reckoned with, and collectively made the difference.  Thank you one and all. 

This school building project will still need to go for approval first to the LAUSD Facilities Board Committee which meets on April 12th, and then the LAUSD full Board which will vote on April 22.  Check this website to confirm meeting date, time, location and agenda:  http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/board/secretary/

To catch Steven Box's blog on this topic, go to http://laist.com/2008/03/20/lausd_bulldozer.php

We stand firm in our position that neighborhoods should not have to decide between schools and housing.  If you would like to work with us in helping other neighborhoods in their struggles with LAUSD around this issue, please contact Lois at 213/738-1254.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON THIS ISSUE
Once LAUSD Facilities staff determines their "preferred" site, the recommendation will go to the LAUSD Board shortly thereafter for a vote.  It is important that we show up en masse one more time.  We will either be thanking LAUSD Facilities for their excellent judgment in choosing not to destroy affordable housing in the LA Eco-Village neighborhood or we will be letting them know that we are prepared to continue the struggle to save housing and the integrity of the LAEV neighborhood and its neighbors on So. Madison Ave.  The presence of so many supporters has been pivotal so far, so if you are able, please join us one more time!

See the on-line story in LA CityBeat:  http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/bulldozers_vs_community/6811/.  The story quotes former LAUSD Board member Jackie Goldberg who promised the So. Madison Ave. neighbors that LAUSD would never come after their property again after an exhaustive struggle between LAUSD and the So. Madison Ave. neighbors more than 20 years ago.

Over 800 people from throughout the world have signed the electronic petition to save the LAEV neighborhood.  You can too, and read   comments from all over the world here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/la-eco-village

Info on Where and What to Write to help save the LAEV Neigbhorhood here

Addresses to fax letters to

Here's what happened at the February 28th meeting:  More than 150 people showed up at this meeting to express  support for the L.A. Eco-Village in our struggle to save the White House Place portion of the neighborhood and the adjacent So. Madison Ave. block.  Several participants questioned whether the new school, planned for up to 950 kids was necessary, since there are six public elementary schools, and a few more on the drawing boards, each for a similar number of kids, within approximately one mile of LA Eco-Village.  In addition, there are several more public primary centers, plus more than a dozen other charter and private schools within the mile walkshed of LAEV. 

Other meeting participants referenced the declining demographics and the projected continuing decline for kids in the central area as a reason to question the need for another large school, while still others made reference to the valuable teaching resource that LAEV itself is as a reason to spare it.  Several made impassioned statements questioning why LAUSD Facilities staff were still considering White House Place and So. Madison Ave. as options, since there has been overwhelming support for alternatives that do not take housing, stable neighborhoods and the internationally renowned Los Angeles Eco-Village.  And most importantly, City Council President Eric Garcetti's field staff, Alejandra Marroquin, announced that the Councilman was formally supporting the Virgil alternative site.  Congressman Becerra's field staff, Nick Rodriquez, was also at the meeting.

The alternative option:  Site #11.  With the two options that Facilities staff presented for the new Elementary School #20 (ES#20), community input was 100% for the Virgil Middle School playing field (and LAUSD-owned land north of it) alternative <Site 11 -  A  suggest plan from architect Ian McIlvain>.  This was the third LAUSD sponsored community meeting, and the third time that more than 100 people showed up to indicate their support for alternatives to the Eco-Village neighborhood.  Nonetheless, LAUSD has planned yet a fourth community meeting next month at which they will announce their final selection.   Recall that CRSP Board member and attorney, Jesse Moorman, made the suggestion for the Virgil alternative site at the first LAUSD community meeting held on January 9th.  CRSP Board President and architect Ian McIlvaine and LAEV LEED Neighborhood Development Project Team member and architect Suzy Sherod subsequently provided visual support for the alternative.  See Suzy's and Eco-Villager Michelle Wong's slideshows on this topic at:  http://www.inspirationteas.com/Viable_Alternatives.php

"Preferred" Site to be announced Wednesday, March 19th at final LAUSD Community meeting.  At the March 19th meeting, LAUSD Facilities staff will identify its "preferred" site. Shortly after that, the recommendation will go to the LAUSD elected board for a vote.   The board action is likely to take place sometime between March 20th and April 4th.  As optimistic as we would like to be that the Facilities staff will do the right thing by recommending the Virgil alternative to the LAUSD Board, several of us here in L.A. Eco-Village feel that we must continue the struggle on all fronts to ensure that this alternative selection is made.  We also must be prepared to pack the LAUSD board meeting when the ES#20 site will be voted on.

What You Can Do to Help Ensure the Right Option is Selected.  This is a time to accelerate our efforts to let the Board know what the community wants.  Your letters have made a difference already. Please write one more time to our school board member,  Monica Garcia, and all school board members to let them know that:

1.  You are appreciative that the Facilities staff has begun focusing on the Virgil Middle School and points north, known as Site #11, as an alternative to the White House Place and So. Madison Ave. option for Central Region Elementary School #20.

2.  You respectfully request the board to select the alternative as the "preferred" site if the new school (CRES#20) is to proceed

3.  You request that if the new school is to proceed that it be designed and built to the highest of the California High Performing Schools Standards (CHPS), and that you advise the LAUSD design team to work with the Los Angeles Eco-Village LEED-Neighborhood Development project team to achieve these high design standards.

You can put these points into your own words and share any other thoughts or advice you have about ES#20.  See addresses and fax numbers below or here.  Please do not email the school board, as they are less likely to read the emails than faxes or hard copy letters.  Please do email us a copy of your letter at <crsp@igc.org> and others indicated below.

Update from our Eminent Domain attorney, Robert Silverstein.  Robert has sent two letters to LAUSD requesting all documents that have anything to do with the potential project site on White House Place and So. Madison Ave.  Further, he has requested a copy of the power point presentation made by LAUSD officials at the January 30th meeting.  LAUSD has not yet responded to these requests, which they are required to do under the California Public Records Act.  We will have more information to report on this issue after meeting with property owners on White House Place and So. Madison Ave.

More Background on Why So Many New Schools are Being Built and some alternatives.  The direction for building additional schools in the Central Region is based on the Williams mandate of 2004 which requires school districts throughout the state to be on a traditional school year by 2012.  See http://justschools.gseis.ucla.edu/news/williams/index.html.  Although it is likely that most people concerned with the quality of education in Los Angeles would agree with the spirit of the Williams decision, many of us believe there are a number of creative ways to deal with the quality of education by using the facilities we already have and that are already on the drawing boards.  Others of us question the wisdom of moving to a traditional school year since that would mean that 700,000+ students will all be out of school at the same time in an era when budgets are so limited for children and youth programs.  With the $20 billion school building program half complete, the largest construction program in the nation, we feel that a better use of those funds might include building neighborhood cultures of healthy sustainability (socially, economically and ecologically).  This means putting money primarily into people in relation to each other and the neighborhoods where they are. in relation to their life support systems of air, soil and water and in relation to their political issues.  Ultimately, a culture of healthy sustainability at the neighborhood level will result in the kind of leadership that will ensure that children, youth and adults are learning what is necessary for the times that are ahead of us. 

More creative use of the remaining approximately $10 billion for LAUSD school construction.  ,In addition to the corrections called for in the Williams Court decision and instead of building an additional 60 plus schools, here are a few recommendations from CRSP.  Feel free to use them in your letters in addition to the three points made above, and add your own ideas too.  Remember, several of the school board members are persons hand picked by Mayor Villaraigosa who wants LA to be the greenest city in the country.  "Green" does not mean destroying affordable housing and stable neighborhoods for new schools.  So you might copy the Mayor on your letters as well <mayor@lacity.org>. 

Recommendations:

-  A small Bresee type youth center (www.bresee.org) in every mile of the central city staffed by neighbors for neighborhood children, youth and adults.  Provide incentives for qualified people who want to work in such centers to move into the neighborhoods where they will be working to eliminate the need for driving.

-  Community gardens and orchards within every inner and central city neighborhood.  Consider that most residential streets are much wider than they need to be.  One or two auto lanes of whole blocks can be transformed into edible and beautiful community gardens, helping all to get at least some of their food supply closer to home.  And when oil hits $20 or $30 per gallon (still less than the true price of oil), we'll be better prepared with a significant part of our food supply right in our own neighborhoods built on permaculture principles <http://www.permacultureactivist.net/intro/PcIntro.htm>

-  Close sufficient residential streets down to traffic in the central and inner cities during certain hours of the day for children and youth to have safe play areas.  Paint the streets and sidewalks for appropriate recreational activities.  Provide secure lockers in the parking lane for play equipment.  Provide adult staff from the neighborhoods who know the kids and their parents to provide oversight. 

-  Consider doing double school shifts in our existing school facilities as is common in some other countries.

-  "Kids to the Country" programs <http://www.plenty.org/KTC.htm>.  There are dozens of rural community programs within 100 miles of Los Angeles where children and youth are welcomed.  Every kid in the central and inner city needs on-going opportunities to connect with the healing qualities of nature away from the stress, noise and pollution of their central city neighborhoods.

-  Send more children and youth to inspiring gatherings such as Bioneers <www.bioneers.org>, or <http://www.ecocityworldsummit.org/index.htm>

-  Work with the teachers' and other LAUSD related unions to create and provide incentives for school staff to live near the neighborhoods where they work, so that they can walk, bike and use public transit primarily,  thereby eliminating the need for LAUSD providing so much staff parking which takes up 100s of acres of LAUSD owned land across the district, and many millions in construction costs.  This land can then be used for additional educational and recreational purposes, particularly in the central city areas where there is frequently excellent public transit.

Where to fax or send your letters.  Please send them as soon as possible and
before March 15, 2008 to:

Ms. Monica Garcia, District 2
LAUSD School Board Member and President
Los Angeles Unified School District
333 South Beaudry Avenue, 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone 213-241-6180
Fax: 213-241-8459               

All board members have the same street address as above.  Here are fax numbers for each of them:

Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, LAUSD District #1, Phone 213-241-6382, Fax:  213-241-6382

Tamar Galatzan, LAUSD District #3, Phone 213-241-6386, Fax: 213-241-8979

Marlene Canter, LAUSD District #4, Phone 213-241-6387, Fax: 213-241-8453

Yolie Flores Aguilar, LAUSD District #5,  Phone 213-241-6383, Fax: 213-241-8467

Julie Korenstein, LAUSD District #6, Phone 213-241-6388, Fax: 213-241-8451

Dr. Richard Vladovic, LAUSD District #7, Phone 213-241-6385, Fax: 213-241-8452

If you are unable to get through via fax on any of the above numbers, then fax to:
213-241-8953 or 213-481-9023

Also, please email copies of your letters to:
Alejandra Marroquin, CD13 Field Deputy, Alejandra.Marroquin@lacity.org

Caroline Sim, CRA Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Area, csim@cra.lacity.org

Lara Morrison, Los Angeles Eco-Village LEED-ND Project, laraeco@hotmail.com

Luis Sanchez, LAUSD, Board Member, Dist. 2, l.sanchez@lausd.net

Robyn Morningstar, rmorning@Sidley.com

Susan Cline, LAUSD, Central Region Development Team Manager, susan.cline@lausd.net

Guy Mehula, LAUSD, Chief Facilities Officer, guy.mehula@lausd.net

Lois Arkin, CRSP, crsp@igc.org

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END UPDATE ON FEBRUARY 28, 2008 MEETING

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NOTICE OF LAUSD Community Meeting:  Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 6:00 pm
at
Virgil Middle School Auditorium
152 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles 90004 (note: the auditorium is on Vermont Ave. at First St.)

The LAUSD will present two site possibilities for their Central Region Elementary School #20 for 950 children:

OPTION 1:
The L.A. Eco-Village neighborhood consisting of all of White House Place and the adjacent No.Madison Ave. neighborhood. This option would destroy approximately 40 units of affordable housing, a stable neighborhood, and about one-third of the L.A. Eco-Village neighborhood which is part of an internationally renowned demonstration of a sustainable community in process and part of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot program for establishing standards for sustainable community development.

and

OPTION 2:
The Virgil Middle School alternative consisting of building on the Virgil Middle School playing field, closing Council Street between Juanita and Madison, acquiring a Midway Ford auto repair shop and utilizing about an approximately 1.5 acre site between Juanita and Madison just north of the auto repair shop already owned by LAUSD. This option destroys zero housing!  Note that this option in no way threatens Virgil Middle School playing field space.  In fact, if designed well, it could increase playing space.

We need you to show up on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 6:00 pm to tell LAUSD that if a school is necessary, you respectfully request them to select the Virgil option (Option 2), and please give your reasons why you think the Eco-Village neighborhood should be spared.

The number of people that show up count!
The number of people who speak up for the Virgil Middle School (option 2) alternative site count!
The number of people who write to the school board members count (see addresses and fax numbers below).

And please keep your letters flowing to our school board member and councilperson, and others as you are able (see below).

Sign the electronic petition to save the LAEV neighborhood here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/la-eco-village
Many thanks to those who have signed the petition and for your great comments, and for coming out to the January 9th and 30th meetings.  Your support is very much appreciated, and continues to be needed.  Please spread the electronic petition as far and wide as you know there would be support.   And please come to the February 28, 2008 meeting at 6 pm at Virgil Middle School at First St. and Vermont Ave, Los Angeles 90004.

For visual presentations concerning the Virgil Middle School and points north Alternative (Option 2 above, also known as Site 11),  go to:  http://www.inspirationteas.com/Viable_Alternatives.php

Thanks to all of the signers and your wonderful comments.  They are making a difference.  To read the comments on the petition, click on to the <signatures> and hold your cursor over "view" in the Comments column.  Over 600 have signed.  Have you?

Thanks,
Lara Morrison, 213/383-8684, laraeco@hotmail.com
Michelle Wong, 310/801-1303, mellowmouse@ca.rr.com
Lois Arkin, 213/738-1254, crsp@igc.org

2/23/08 Update
Eminent domain attorney, Robert Silverman, has now sent two requests to LAUSD requesting background documents on our situation and a copy of their most recent power point presentation from the January 30th public meeting.  Read more about Robert and some of his successful eminent domain cases at http://www.robertsilversteinlaw.com/home.html

2/13/08 Update
On February 8th, CRSP Board President and architect Ian McIlvaine (Tierra Sol y Mar), Eco-Villagers Lara Morrison and Michelle Wong met with key LAUSD Facilities staff at the invitation of the LAUSD staff to share our recommendation for an alternative site.  Ian's power point, with input from architect Susan Sherod, was presented, showing use of a portion of the Virgil Middle School playing field, an adjacent auto repair shop and a substantial parking lot north of the school.  This land assemblage, mostly property owned by LAUSD was comparable in size to the land LAUSD has targeted in LAEV and its adjacent No. Madison Ave. block.  And no housing would be taken!  Although LAUSD seems to be open to this idea, and the State Department of Education has indicated that the site would be acceptable to them, there are no guarantees that LAUSD will select the "no housing" site over the LAEV targeted site.  Therefore, come February 28th at 6 pm at Virgil Middle School:

January 30, 2008 Update on LAUSD Community Meeting .  No Decision Yet.
1/31/08.  At a community meeting sponsored by LAUSD at Frank del Olmo Elementary School on 1/30/08, LAUSD officials presented several alternative sites to the 100 plus attendees.  Indicating that they have just started exploring these alternative sites and are not prepared to make a decision at this point, officials announced that there would be several more community meetings over the next few months.

Nonetheless, the nature of their presentation seemed to indicate that they did not consider any of the other sites as viable as the White House Place and So. Madison blocks they were initially targeting in the Eco-Village neighborhood.  Although we were relieved to learn that no decision was being made in this meeting, we were very disappointed that we were not told ahead of time what was going to happen at the meeting, in spite of our outreach to officials to please let us know what to expect.  So please continue to spread the word about signing our electronic petition (http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/la-eco-village), and please write to our school board member (see details below).

On another note, three Eco-Villagers met with the Frank del Olmo principal on January 29th to get his take on the situation.  In addition, he said he would have his staff provide us with a table outside the auditorium entrance to have our own sign-in sheet and literature, since the District had refused to share their sign-in sheet with us.  While the Principal made good on his word, other LAUSD officials physically removed the table just as people were coming into the meeting, forcing Eco-Villagers to remove all of our hand-out materials and sign-in sheets.

In addition, two architects, our CRSP Board President Ian McIlvaine, and LEED-ND Project Team member Suzy Sherod, had prepared three minute power point talks to present at the meeting during the public comment period.  We brought our own digital projector and laptop, and the architects were ready to go with an elegant solution to the District's site search.  The power points showed how the District could use most of its own existing property on the Virgil Middle School playing field by building a lid on top of the field, utilizing LAUSD property owned north of the school, and acquiring one smaller additional site.  No housing would be taken!  Just a parking lot that the District already owns and an auto repair shop.  Meeting officials refused to allow the power points to be shown, claiming that audience members might confuse such presentations with the District's own.  We were rather astounded at their refusal! 

Nonetheless, the District can be credited with allowing dozens of public speakers as much time as they needed to have their say, even allowing several to go to the back of the line to speak a second time.  The comments were impassioned and unanimous on requesting the District to find an alternative site that does not take housing in and around L.A. Eco-Village and does not take housing anywhere else either! 

During the public comment period, some questioned the need for the school at all in view of the rapidly declining demographics <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ocenroll23jan23,1,4370304.story>.  Others suggested that school days should go to two shifts as is common in several other countries, making better use of the existing space; then, putting the Facilities money into better supplies and books, better repair of existing schools, better teacher training and salaries.  Still others suggested that multi-track schooling was preferred over the traditional school year because of the lack of funding for summer programs for the 700,000 kids during summer vacations.  Some suggested that kids and their parents from inner city schools such as our neighborhood preferred being bussed to outlying schools because they were getting a better education at those schools in spite of the long bus rides.  One well known activist in Los Angeles announced that LAUSD was closing some relatively close-by schools down for lack of students while building new schools just a few miles away. 

At any rate, snippets of these comments will soon be available on YouTube, and the whole three hour meeting may be available on the City's Channel 35.  We will let you know.  Watch for the next meeting date, and please come out if you are able.  Your presence represents our collective power.

For additional info, call Lara Morrison (213) 383-8684 <laraeco@hotmail.com> or Michelle Wong (310)801-1303 <mellowmouse@ca.rr.com>, or Lois Arkin (213) 738-1254 <crsp@igc.org>

Sign the electronic petition to save the LAEV neighborhood here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/la-eco-village

See neighbors speak up to save the neighborhood at LAUSD's early January community meeting at:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihiwtsVKum8

 L.A. Eco-Village neighborhood in danger from Los Angeles Unified School District bulldozers! Over 200 people showed up at LAUSD's early January meeting to support the Eco-Village neighborhood and its adjacent No. Madison Ave. neighborhood in their struggle to save their communities and to advise the Los Angeles Unified School District to look elsewhere for a school site.  Several Eco-Villagers met that morning with staff to our school board member, Monica Garcia, to assist them in identifying alternative sites in the area.  We continue to need your support to oppose the taking of our neighborhood housing for a school.  Please join us for a second community meeting with LAUSD on Wed., Jan 30th at 6pm at Frank del Olmo School 100 S. New Hampshire (one block west of Vermont at First St.) .  Please plan to speak up about why the Eco-Village neighborhood should be spared!  Also, you can write a letter, send a fax, make a phone call or set up a meeting with our school board member to alert her to the important educational value of the LAEV neighborhood (see contact info below).

Current Situation:  Owners and residents of the six four-plex apartment buildings on White House Place and several additional properties on So. Madison Ave., the block immediately adjacent on the east, have been notified that their properties are being considered for eminent domain which would mean ultimate destruction to build a new K-8 school for up to 950 elementary school children.  As many of you know, a new LAUSD elementary school recently opened one block away from LAEV, on First and Vermont, for nearly 1,000 kids. The building of that school required the demolition of approximately 120 units of affordable historically significant transit oriented housing for primarily a low income immigrant community with as many as 200 children being displaced.  Another new elementary school for 700 kids, Kim Elementary, about one mile from LAEV, opened recently as well.  Currently, LAEV is within walking distance of about 10,000 public school children in schools already built, in construction or on the drawing boards. 

While affordable housing continues to be destroyed, and school demographics continue a downward trend, the $20 billion school building program goes on with little or no significant let-up.  Even new schools are manifesting the worst of urban sprawl in spite of environmental building mandates.  Some new schools even have empty classrooms.  Neither the LAUSD nor neighborhoods should have to choose between schools and housing, especially affordable housing.  What is going on?

What Can Be Done? 
    1.  Question if the school is really necessary.  If necessary, elementary schools should be smaller and very close to their target population, so that the elementary school children can walk or bike to school.
    2.  Question why LAUSD is pitting affordable housing against schools when everywhere there are acres and acres of parking lots, and other auto related businesses that will become increasingly obsolete in our central city transit oriented districts.  
    3.  Question why neighborhoods themselves are not the basis for elementary school education.  http://www.anei.org/pages/89_cpbe.cfm
    4.  Come to the community meeting Wed., Jan 30th and speak up about your experience with LAEV and why you think saving the neighborhood is important, wear a sticker supporting the Eco-Village neighborhood (we'll have them at our sign in table).
    5.  Get more background information at this website:  http://inspirationteas.com/uploads/Why_we_live_at_White_House_Place3.pdf
    6.  The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) elected school board members make the final decision on site selection; therefore,
    6.  Write a letter to our School Board Member, Monica Garcia, AND FAX COPIES TO ALL THE OTHER BOARD MEMBERS.  Here is contact info.  Please be sure to let us know or send copies of any correspondence to us at crsp@igc.org.  See writing points below or simply use your own.

Write, fax or phone our school board member: 
Ms. Monica Garcia, District 2
LAUSD School Board Member and President
Los Angeles Unified School District
333 South Beaudry Avenue, 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone 213-241-6180
Fax: 213-241-8459               

All board members have the same street address as above.  Here are fax numbers:
Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, LAUSD District #1, Phone 213-241-6382, Fax:  213-241-6382

Tamar Galatzan, LAUSD District #3, Phone 213-241-6386, Fax: 213-241-8979

Marlene Canter, LAUSD District #4, Phone 213-241-6387, Fax: 213-241-8453

Yolie Flores Aguilar, LAUSD District #5,  Phone 213-241-6383, Fax: 213-241-8467

Julie Korenstein, LAUSD District #6, Phone 213-241-6388, Fax: 213-241-8451

Dr. Richard Vladovic, LAUSD District #7, Phone 213-241-6385, Fax: 213-241-8452

If you are unable to get through via fax on any of the above numbers, then fax to:
213-241-8953 or 213-481-9023

Also, please email copies of your letters to:
Alejandra Marroquin, CD13 Field Deputy, Alejandra.Marroquin@lacity.org

Caroline Sim, CRA Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Area, csim@cra.lacity.org

*Councilman Eric Garcetti, CD13, councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org

Heather Repenning, CD13 Community Development, Heather.Repenning@lacity.org

Jenny Aquas, LAUSD, Board Member, Dist. 2, jenny.aguas@lausd.net

Kelli Bernard, CD13 Planning Director, Kelli.Bernard@lacity.org

Lara Morrison, Los Angeles Eco-Village LEED-ND Project, laraeco@hotmail.com

Luis Sanchez, LAUSD, Board Member, Dist. 2, l.sanchez@lausd.net

Michelle Banks-Ordone, Project Manager, CRA, mbanks-ordone@cra.lacity.org

Robyn Morningstar, rmorning@Sidley.com

Susan Cline, LAUSD, Central Region Development Team Manager, susan.cline@lausd.net

Guy Mehula, LAUSD, Chief Facilities Officer, guy.mehula@lausd.net

* Very important to send a copy to our councilman!

Writing Points for Letters to LAUSD Board Members:
Here are important points to make.  Select a few of them that resonate best with you personally, or simply write about your experience with the LAEV neighborhood and why you think it important to save.

- There are more appropriate close-by sites, especially parking lots and auto related businesses.
- The LAEV neighborhood is already dense with schools: two large schools just a block away.
-  LAEV  is within walking distance of 10,000 school children
- Research on WHP/Madison properties suggest that they are not appropriate environmentally,.
- School demographics are declining.  There is no indication that they will go back up.
- Some of the schools ES#20 is supposed to relieve currently have empty classrooms.
- There are sufficient empty seats within the Central Region.  Kids could be locally bussed.
- Elementary schools should be smaller, not larger
- Neighborhoods should not have to choose between schools and housing
- Old people often die when they have to move after spending half their lives in one place.
- LAEV is a learning neighborhood. 
- LAEV is the only on-the-ground LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot project in LA http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=148
- The Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust in the LAEV is committed to permanently affordable housing in balance with nature in our neighborhoods..
                http://urbansoil.net/wiki.cgi/The_Beverly_Vermont_Community_Land_Trust
- LAEV is part of a global movement for more sustainable and healthy neighborhoods.  See  www.ecovillage.org
- We stand opposed to the taking of any housing, especially affordable housing

View sample letters that have already been sent  click here

View a slide show about LAEV and LAUSD statistics relevant to our situation: 
http://inspirationteas.com/uploads/Why_we_live_at_White_House_Place3.pdf