Read the Los Angeles Times Article here Visions of a lush, green South L.A.

Hi there and welcome to my blog. The link I’ve posted is to an op-ed I wrote, published in the LA Times in May of 2009.

I live in South Los Angeles. Since becoming a homeowner in this community I’ve become more interested in the environment and especially in the benefit of trees. Together with my block club, I helped organize the planting of several trees on our street back in 2007. At the time, I worked with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps a nonprofit that works with the city of LA to make free trees available to residents through the Mayor’s Million Tree initiative.

When that project was completed, I looked around the neighborhood to identify areas that could benefit from trees. There is a Ralphs Grocery on Manchester Blvd that occupies a 50,000 square foot lot and there is no green space there at all. If you live in LA near a Ralphs, chances are there are trees in front of it, unless you live in South LA. I went all over the LA area, from the Valley to Venice and saw that all the Ralphs but ours had at least some green space. Ours has nary a blade of grass.

So, I contacted Ralphs and also the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and told them both that I’d like to organize a tree planting through the Mayor’s Million Tree Initiative. LACC said great, they’d help; They’d get us the trees, cut the concrete and plant them for free. Ralphs said no. They did not and still do not want to water the trees. And they guy I spoke with, Kenneth Boatner, was rude and dismissive. He told me there were no plans to green the location and probably never would be and that he really didn’t care how the community felt about that. He pretty much said, F*@k you and your community. I got the impression that he felt he could dismiss me, because I live in a so-called low-income area. What he didn’t know is that not only am I not low-income, I’m also pretty well educated, a professional writer, without a 9 to 5 job, so I can be an effective pest, which is what I plan to be.

To that end, I published the op-ed. It was mildly effective, but not effective enough. But I will keep at it.

My hope is that I can go from being a pest to being a blessing. I really don’t like or want to fight. I just feel that my community is being disrespected.

Affluent communities have a disproportionate amount of green space compared to low-income communities and in my estimation this does not need to be the case. Trees should not be solely for the wealthy any more than the sun or the moon should be.

My vision is that Ralphs will eventually plant the trees. They’ll look great and make the store more inviting, drawing in more business. The better looking environment may even attract more businesses. Maybe Magic Johnson will want to put a Starbucks nearby. The trees will provide shade, purify the air and create a more soothing environment. Everybody wins! Ralphs looks like a good neighbor, makes more money, and the residents have a nicer store to visit. All of this will enhance the neighborhood.

“The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause is stronger than all the hosts of error.”
William Jennings Byran