The fourth of five Expos was held in LA County’s 2nd Supervisorial District at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, California.
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) – a nonprofit organization uplifting South L.A. residents to play an active role in policymaking through community organizing, local leadership development, and strategic alliance building – acted as the Expo’s primary partner.
Throughout the course of the event, attendees circulated around 8 discussion tables. Each table focused on 6 Actions from the Discussion Draft, grouped around a central theme that reflected one or two goals.
Key Takeaways
All of the Actions presented received some votes from the participants, yet several proposed Actions received the strongest levels of support: 1) increasing and preserving affordable housing; 2) investing in green infrastructure for clean, local water supply; and 3) increasing density of affordable housing close to transit.
Other top vote-getting Actions were:
- Phase out oil drilling next to homes and schools
- Phase out all oil and gas operations, emphasizing EJ neighborhoods
- Create Green Zones with healthy land use standards
- Install Bus Rapid Transit and Bus Only Lanes
- Offer free transit for students, seniors, disabled & low-income people
- Increase parks, greenways, joint use schoolyards in high need areas
- Require manufacturers to reduce waste & ensure safety
Sample Comments/Feedback Received
- More comments focused on the intersection of land use and transportation / mobility than any other topic. Comments detailed the type of investment and improvement needed, such as:
- Sidewalk repair, better street lighting, pothole repair, speed bumps on streets, raised bus platforms, a larger network of bike lanes and bike share, and more long-distance transportation (like high speed rail)
- Several suggested the need to create public awareness campaigns for bike infrastructure improvements
- Participants offered many reactions regarding Vision Zero and the high injury/fatality network map, as their communities are disproportionately affected
- The County should engage the public on the factors it is analyzing, such as time of day, road conditions, type of mobility
- Permanent rent control and housing affordability are top priorities
- Encourage cooperative housing and co-op businesses
- Contract only with sustainable food vendors at County events
- Connect housing and schools to urban agriculture opportunities
- Regulate and develop stricter environmental standards in industrial communities and implement stronger Green Zone policies.
Attendee Demographics
65 individuals signed in at the registration table, and 47 of them shared information about themselves through entrance and exit surveying. According to those polled upon arrival, just under 20% of attendees were born outside the United States, while the rest were U.S.-born. Nearly half of attendees who completed exit surveys were between ages 18-35, while 38% were between ages 35-64. Less than 10% of attendees polled were 65 or older, and only 5% were under 18. Just over half of attendees identified as Latino/a, making up 53% of polled attendees. 21% identified as White, and 18% identified as Black. Only one person identified as Asian in entrance polling, and one person identified as Native in exit surveying.
Context
OurCounty, the Los Angeles Countywide Sustainability Plan, is an effort to outline a bold, inclusive and truly regional vision for the present and future generations of Los Angeles. To ensure that residents, local groups and youth from across the County had an opportunity to understand the Draft Plan and provide input to the final plan, Liberty Hill Foundation and the LA County Chief Sustainability Office organized five “Our Voice, Our County Expos” with support from community-based organization anchors.
Downloads and Contact Info
- Download the Exposition Park Summary Report
- Download the Discussion Draft
- Comments on the key recommendations can be directed to sustainability@lacounty.gov.
