Press Release

Open Space for all Los Angeles

Agoura Hills – As I was standing at the groundbreaking for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, the world's largest wildlife corridor here in our own backyard, at Liberty Canyon, I couldn’t help but feel sad that all Angelenos do not have the same access to the outdoors. To rectify this situation I and all Legislators in Los Angeles should commit to the following:

  • Every Californian has a right to nature, to wild places including our Parks, and our wildlife neighbors have the right to survive.
  • Every Angeleno needs to live within half mile of wild spaces ( this exceeds the county sustainability plan goal but puts on a path to better everyone’s lives)
  • Not 30 by 30 but 30x28: Los Angeles needs bold action!! We must exceed the Governor and President’s goal of conserving 30 percent of the nation's land and water by 2030.
    • Los Angeles needs to conserve ours by 2028, in time to show the world how beautiful Los Angeles is while hosting the Olympics.
  • With the infrastructure built for the upcoming Olympics we must not leave green infrastructure opportunities behind.
  • It’s not just about quantity, it's about quality, a biodiversity driven climate resilience strategy, that will make our neighborhoods cooler, our air cleaner, and our ever digital and anxious lives a little less anxious.
  • We can create thousands of good paying union jobs with these green plans for Los Angeles.
  • We must challenge the private sector to provide matching funds to ensure every state/local tax dollar spent to secure and conserve new Open Space is matched dollar for dollar…getting all Californians the most bang for their buck!

Now is the time to build on the great work that allowed this Wildlife Crossing to come together and make all of Los Angeles a better place. To make Los Angeles better we need to get the right policies on line in Sacramento!

Therefore we will be advocating for the following to make these plans a reality:

  • I will be requesting the budget include an additional $3 billion to secure Open Space, Rewilding and Conservation across California

    • $2 billion over two years ($1 billion annually) for biodiversity conservation
    • $1 billion for coastal protection and resilience.
    • This state funding can be used to leverage private funding and existing federal funding (e.g., the Land and Water Conservation Fund).
    • This funding should include at least $300 million for Los Angeles to implement Open Space Plans, Ring of the Valley, and Rewilding
  • The budget must include a serious investment in tribes and Native communities, community-based organizations, land trusts, and resource conservation districts so that these critical partners have the capacity to lead on these efforts for their communities.
  • I believe in a 50% investment set-aside for biodiversity conservation actions focused on climate vulnerable communities as one approach to ensure communities who historically have seen little or no conservation investment have access to funding for the acquisition and/or restoration of lands and waters for conservation purposes.
  • I will work to ensure the budget includes language requiring the state to align investments to maximize conservation benefits and maximize current funding sources to state agencies and conservancies by establishing policies that prioritize funding projects/programs that implement 30x30, Outdoors for All and Climate Smart Lands initiatives.

Action and action alone will allow us to move forward and ensure access to Open Space, Wildlife, and State Parks across the State and Los Angeles. The concrete steps we have laid out here will allow us to start to secure access to Open Space for all Angelenos.

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