LA Sidewalks Reach The “Tripping Point”

Calling all urban forest advocates: Join the movement for safer, more accessible streets!

LA’s sidewalks are at a tripping point!

On June 10th, TreePeople, Investing in Place, Los Angeles Walks and AARP California are hosting “The Tripping Point,” a half-day advocacy summit for LA’s streets!

“The Tripping Point” is a forum for community members from across LA to come together and discuss strategies for safer, greener, and more accessible neighborhoods. Attendees will leave with the skills, tools, strategies, and insights to become better advocates for:

  • Healthy street trees
  • Accessible sidewalks
  • Safe crosswalks
  • More bus shelters

For years, Angelenos have asked for better paths of travel.… Read more >>

Concrete to Canopy: Green Dreams for Inglewood & Lennox

What comes to mind when you think of South LA? Endless stretches of treeless streets sealed in sizzling pavement?

Imagine if we could convert concrete to canopy one block, one person, one tree at a time.

Our climate reality has left frontline communities vulnerable to devastating impacts– like crippling heat and harmful floods. Inglewood and Lennox are prime examples, tucked away within the concrete-laden, tree-poor neighborhoods of South LA.

Left without adequate resources or enough life-saving tree canopy, these neighborhoods are at risk of damage from climate change’s extreme weather events and public health impacts, including pollution-triggered asthma and heat-related hospitalizations.… Read more >>

UPDATE: $1.2 Million to Retrofit Homes to Capture and Infiltrate Rain

Yesterday, the LA County Board of Supervisors awarded TreePeople $1.2 million to pilot an innovative approach to home rainwater capture projects in unincorporated areas of LA County, with a focus on underserved communities. The project will help protect vulnerable communities from flooding, contribute toward our region’s water supply, improve water quality and offer water storage for later use.

It is part of a larger $4 million settlement between LA County and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and LA Waterkeeper. The settlement funds support home retrofits and green streets projects to capture rainfall, recharge groundwater and reduce polluted runoff from being purged into our rivers and ocean in neighborhoods with high climate-risk.… Read more >>

Working Together for Safer LA Sidewalks

Over the next 30 years, the City of Los Angeles plans to spend $1.4 billion dollars to make our sidewalks more accessible in response to a lawsuit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Far too many Angelenos struggle just to move around our city. Our broken sidewalks present some of the biggest obstacles for pedestrians — especially for differently-abled Angelenos and older adults and moms. As climate change brings more extreme heat and severe storms, we will need to make sure that our streets are climate safe as well as accessible.… Read more >>

Standing Rock: The Spirit of Resilience

The Friday after Election Day, I traveled to Standing Rock with my mom and TreePeople Board Chair, Ira Ziering, to join our water protector brothers and sisters in North Dakota in defense of water, people and planet.

As soon as we arrived at the wintry camp, our spirits were lifted by the strength, peace and dedication of the people gathered there. Unity was all around us. A sense of community filled the air. People from all over the world were there to help each other with shelter, warmth, wisdom and food.… Read more >>

TreePeople In the Trump-Era

 

My mom and I at the Women’s March in LA.

Fired up? Ready to go!

Last weekend, I marched through the streets of Los Angeles with my mom, TreePeople Founder Andy Lipkis and 750,000 beautiful people ready to stand up for an inclusive society that cares for our communities and our planet as the precious resources that they are.

I’ve spent my whole life fighting for social justice and our environment. Like all of us, I needed the warmth, love and energy that flowed like a mighty river through the streets of LA.… Read more >>

Growing the Grassroots: Urban Forestry

Five years of drought has ravaged our urban forests and surrounding mountains. We’ve seen hundreds of millions of trees die in the Sierras and a massive hit delivered to our park and street trees– leaving our most vulnerable and differently-abled communities at the mercy of the sweltering heat.

This year, TreePeople will move forward on two major community greening initiatives – one in the Northeast San Fernando Valley and one in South LA.

With the Green Streets – Calles Verdes Project in the City of San Fernando, our goal is to create a “cool city” model to benefit one of LA’s most heat-impacted communities.… Read more >>