The Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance volunteers have been busy this summer! A key focus has been outreach: the NCSA is visiting other Neighborhood Council alliances to introduce themselves, share membership information, and invite input on how to best serve you and your Neighborhood Council.

The NCSA aims to help all Neighborhood Councils pursue issues that are important to them, and we believe that we can have a stronger voice when we support each other. Please review the bylaws and learn how your Neighborhood Council can join as a member.

In May, the NCSA facilitated an interactive workshop on the City’s “Save the Drop” drought action campaign, and related actions and resource needs of Neighborhood Councils. Sixty-five participants brainstormed and ranked more than 100 ideas, strategies, and resource needs. The top-ranked suggestions and needs touched on one or more of four themes: connecting residents to resources; sharing and modeling best practices; developing and expanding on partnerships; and updating communication tools and tactics.

To support Neighborhood Councils in these four areas, the NCSA applied for and has just been awarded a modest U.S. EPA grant to develop a pilot online hub for the collaborative sharing of community water conservation resources and best practices by Neighborhood Council stakeholders. The project will run from September to December 2015. We seek volunteers from 10 or more Neighborhood Councils to participate. If you’d like more information, please email NCSA@EmpowerLA.org before August 15.

Save the Dates!

We’d love to see you at the following events:

  • Sat, Aug 29 (10 am – 11:30 am): NCSA water committee meeting. Topic: revised parkway guidelines. Location and agenda forthcoming.
  • Sat, Sept 26 (7:45 am – 6:30 pm): 2015 Congress of Neighborhoods. Attend informative sessions on sustainability and other topics at City Hall, then join NCSA nearby for an informal networking mixer (immediately following the Congress).

For the fall, we’re also working on “Save the Drop” outreach activities, plus a program on climate change actions that Neighborhood Councils can take.

Sustainability Advocacy Opportunities

Below are several advocacy opportunities for Neighborhood Councils. (Please note, inclusion of this information does not imply an endorsement by the NCSA.) Also, be sure to check out our running list of council file motions that relate to sustainability!

Mobility Plan 2035

A coalition of transportation and community advocates is supporting Mobility Plan 2035, the City’s first comprehensive update to its transportation element since 1999. This plan provides a framework for how the needs of people walking, biking, driving and taking transit are addressed by a multimodal transportation network. You can read about the plan here. Neighborhood Councils are encouraged to follow the lead of Eagle Rock and Los Feliz by adopting Community Impact Statements and embracing complete streets in your communities. For more information, go to: http://la2b.org/ or http://la-bike.org/mobilityplan.

80 x 50 Motion

Paula Waxman, paulawaxman@soronc.org, encourages all Neighborhood Councils to write Community Impact Statements in support of Council File Motion #14-0907, also known as the “80 x 50 Motion.”  This is a resolution requesting that city departments / bureaus conduct feasibility studies on actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 and the DWP by 2030 in order to avoid increasingly dire consequences to the city due to climate change, as illustrated in UCLA’s report titled “Mid-and End-of-Century Snowfall in the Los Angeles Region.”

Antibiotics Use on Factory Farms

The Healthy Farms to Healthy Families Campaign is working to bring L.A. in coalition with over 50 other cities, demanding Congress act on an emerging global health crisis. Antibiotics abuse is rampant in the U.S. food system, and business and regulators are unaccountable to the severity of the crisis. The Campaign is working with community organizations, environmental groups and local businesses to pass a motion in City Hall calling on Congress to Act. Please contact Walker Foley at wfoley@fwwwatch.org if you might like your NC to endorse the Healthy Farms to Healthy Families Campaign or would like a representative to present at your next meeting.

To learn more about the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance (NCSA), visit us at NCSA.nationbuilder.com.