- Target:
- Los Angeles residents + Eco-Village supporters worldwide
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.laecovillage.org
Thank you! You have all helped convinced LAUSD to build at Site #11, saving housing at the LA Ecovillage neighborhood. We still need you support April 22 @ the Board meeting, 2pm 333 S. Beaudry, Downtown Los Angeles
On April 22nd - Earth Day & Car-free Day in our area of Los Angeles , we look forward to LAUSD sealing the deal on Site #11, that destroys no housing & redevelops previously blighted parking lots & former industrial land into the playing fields and a new elementary school - and encourage them to think about best land use practices in sustainable & community friendly ways...more details to come soon.
L.A. Unified Is at It Again
The Los Angeles Unified School District, which brought the $300 million Belmont Learning Center boondoggle to downtown and Site 9A to Echo Park, is at it again, this time in the Vermont/Beverly neighborhood, home to the Los Angeles Eco-Village.
Owners and residents of the apartment buildings on White House Place and several additional properties on South Madison Avenue, have been notified that their properties are being considered for eminent domain, which would mean their destruction so that the district can build a new school for up to 950 elementary students.
What is wrong with a new school? For starters, a new LAUSD elementary school opened in November 2006 one block away. Another two new elementary schools for approximately 700 students each, Kim Elementary and Harvard Elementary, recently opened about 15 blocks away. All of these new schools have empty seats, according to LAUSD website.
Neighborhoods should not have to choose between schools and housing—why condemn residences instead of parking lots? Once again, the Los Angeles Unified School District is bullying and bulldozing when it has other ways to address the need for schools.
We are in dialogue with their staff to help in their “Partnering to Create Centers for the Community” transition to more humane ways of siting and building a green school that does not threaten neighborhoods or take affordable housing. Site #11 would be an ideal solution to better utilize LAUSD parking lots and transform a blighted industrial area into new fields for Virgil Middle school & site the new elementary school. No housing taken!
As part of the only on-the-ground LEED Neighborhood Development project in L.A., some of the White House Place residents are working to preserve this historically significant housing, built in the 1920s to support the Bimini Baths. They also participate in many LA Eco-Village activities, such as a food co-op, organic gardens, and the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust. Many Eco-villagers are car-free or car-lite, prefering bikes or public transit. Most work close by or have home-based eco-friendly businesses. They are one of a few urban-based ecovillages, among an international network of ecovillages
demonstrating high quality community living that lessens negative environmental impact.
The L.A. Eco-Village community is committed to education and training designed to contribute to global transformation toward an ecologically, economically, and culturally sustainable future. See Global Ecovillage Network.
Please sign this petition, write the LAUSD school board, or join us for a community meeting with LAUSD on Wednesday March 19th at 6 p.m. at the Virgil Middle School auditorium, 152 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004 (on Vermont at First Street).
The metro Red Line station at Vermont and Beverly is within easy walking distance. Your voice is needed!
For additional info, visit LA Eco-Village, study the presentation We Live at White House Place or watch the YouTube clips of our first meeting with LAUSD.
Long Version of Jan 9th community meeting with LAUSD
Short Version of Jan 9th community meeting with LAUSD
See articles in CityBeat about our struggle in Bulldozers vs. community and the struggle of the Echo Park neighborhood whose homes are in devastation. Please do not let this happen again.
You may also contact Lara Morrison at (213) 383-8684 (laraeco@hotmail.com),
Robyn Morningstar at (213) 389-6420, Michelle Wong at (310) 801-1303,
(cafesoleil_la@yahoo.com), or Lois Arkin at (213) 738-1254 (crsp@igc.org).
Thank you for your support.
We, the undersigned supporters of White House Place and S. Madison Ave.
neighborhoods are opposed to the elimination of their housing for a new school.
As part of the Los Angeles Eco-Village, the residents have been good neighbors to
the current White House Place Primary Center. We believe that the larger
neighborhood is adequately served by already existing schools of Frank del Olmo
and Virgil Middle school located just one block away.
If an additional school is necessary in this district, we believe it should be built
on non-residential sites and be located closest to the children it is intended to
serve so that they can walk to school.
We believe in preserving the historically significant housing, built in the early
1900s in support of the Bimini Baths. Some of the residents are working closely
with other neighbors on the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Neighborhood
Development Pilot Project to document sustainable community development
practices in this existing neighborhood.
At a time when affordable housing is such a desperate need in our city, neither
LAUSD nor neighborhood residents should have to choose between housing and
schools. We stand united in this struggle with other groups in Los Angeles.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Save the LA Eco-Village Neighborhood from LAUSD bulldozers! petition to Los Angeles residents + Eco-Village supporters worldwide was written by Michelle and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.