Hello Family,

I received this email from Mark Glassock from the CHC:

Joint Empowerment Congress West Area/Park Mesa Neighborhood Council Task Forcemore than 150 trees to be cut down on Crenshaw Blvd by mta Let’s build the crenshaw rail without blighting our community SPEAK UP FOR OUR COMMUNITYAttend the Board of Public Works Commission Hearing Monday– April 14, 2014 9:30am

Edward R. Roybal BPW Session RoomRoom 350 City Hall200 North Spring Street Los Angeles, California  90012

(If you want to car pool call (323) 295-9372) 

did you know:·        Crenshaw Blvd is considered a scenic highway from Coliseum to Slauson Avenue!·       

MTA is seeking a permit from the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works to cut down 98 trees on Crenshaw between Exposition and 48th Street in the upcoming week and an additional 56 trees on Crenshaw between 48th and 67th street later.   ·       

This represents a loss of more than 30% of the trees on Crenshaw Blvd between Exposition and 67th for the next 5 years·       

The Space Shuttle agreement replaced every tree removed with 4 new 36 inch box trees·       

MTA is only offering 2 trees 24 inch box trees for every tree lost·       

More than 3 miles of landscaped medians will be destroyed and not replaced·       

According to the US Department of Agriculture, South Los Angeles ranks the worst in the City of Los Angeles in terms of tree canopy cover. ·       

Council Districts 8 and 9 with 10.7% and 7.5% of tree canopy cover are far below the city’s Council District average of 20.8%. ·       

We can’t wait five years for replacement trees to address the environmental and economic impact of losing these trees!

IF YOU CAN’T ATTEND – CALL OR SEND AN EMAIL TO  THE BOARD

Commission President Kevin James: kevin.james@lacity.org (213) 978-0251
Commissioner Mike Davis: mike.davis@lacity.org (213) 978-0254

Commissioner Monica Rodriguez: monica.rodriguez@lacity.org (213) 978-0252
Commissioner Matt Szabo: matt.szabo@lacity.org (213) 978-0253
Commissioner Barbara Romero: barbara.romero@lacity.org (213) 978-0255

Joint Task Force:The Joint Empowerment Congress West Area and Park Mesa Heights Neighborhood Council Task Forces was formed to address the removal of trees to accommodate the transport of the space shuttle endeavor by the Calif Science Center in 2012.  The task force was successful in entering into an agreement with the California Science Center for the planting of 4 trees for every tree removed along with 1,000 linear feet of sidewalk repair among many other community benefits. The taskforce has been meeting with MTA and the City of Los Angeles in an effort to reach an agreement on possible mitigations.  No agreement has been reached at this time.  If you live in, work or take pride in Crenshaw Blvd – it’s time to speak up and protect our community!

Related News Articles: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-trees-crenshaw-metr...

From today’s LA Times … Tree removal along Crenshaw has residents stumped To clear the way for the Endeavour, 71 mature trees were chopped down.

Now more will be removed for the Crenshaw/LAX subway line. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-crenshaw-trees-20140331,0,253050... Trees to be removed for Crenshaw/LAX Line along Crenshaw Boulevard