Recently you joined the group Refill Silver Lake Now and we are so excited to have you. The fight is far from over and we need many more people to join our cause. You may have been at the meeting that took place on June 30th with the DWP, and our two Councilmen: Mitch O’Farrell and David Ryu. Some really positive ideas came out of the meeting, like using recycled/reclaimed water to refill the reservoir. But they are simply ideas at this point.  And there were some other truly frightening ideas, like Silver Lake Forward’s Craig Collins stating that he wants everyone to “think big” on par with the man “who designed the Lakefront of Chicago.”
 
Silver Lake is a far cry from Lake Michigan. And our neighborhood homes and small businesses are nothing like the skyscrapers lining the Chicago waterfront. We need to make our voices heard.

5 WAYS YOU CAN HELP
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Send this newsletter to five of your friends/neighbors. Tell them to join the cause by signing up on www.refillsilverlakenow.org.  If we don’t get people, we won’t win the fight.

We are asking all members to consider a $20 donation to the cause.  These funds will go towards website and email hosting, printing costs and renting a meeting site when needed.

Contact your City Council Representative and let them know you want the reservoir refilled as promised once the current pipeline project is complete.

Last week the Eastsider ran an article claiming the only real group at the June 30th meeting was Silver Lake Forward (SLF). That’s simply not true and we need YOU to call them out on this fact. There were hundreds of us there, wearing stickers with our group name. And yet, the media is overlooking us.

Rebuttal to LA Weekly...
 

Here are some highlights from our rebuttal to LA Weekly. Feel free to use them in your own comments and any of the above points as well:
 
**When Mr. Aron writes, “Silver Lake Forward (SLF) is pro-park; it has Moby on its side!” he doesn’t mention that it also has powerful lobbyists, consultants and park developers on its boards. Nor does he explain what type of “park” they are talking about. However, SLF has made it very clear that they want a “world-class destination”—like the Chicago Waterfront. That’s not a quaint park that could be realistically sustained based on our existing community and transportation infrastructure. In all the surveys and public meet and greets that SLF has had, they have presented ideas like amphitheater / swimming hole / beach. They have said repeatedly that with any major attraction / development / commerce, a parking lot would be needed inside the fence. We can’t think of one person (nor any wildlife) who wants this area turned into a parking lot—particularly one big and busy enough to support a “world-class destination.”
 
In addition, we feel Mr. Aron has offered an inaccurate and under-researched characterization of whom we are. He writes, "The people who were at that meeting were incredibly opinionated," Catherine Geanuracos, one of the founders of SLF says. "And they're entitled to their opinions. But that room wasn’t representative of the current population of Silver Lake, let alone the whole city."
 
It’s curious that Ms. Geanuracos thinks SLF is somehow more representative of the community. REFILL SILVER LAKE NOW is a determined, diverse and significant representation of the people who live here, despite Ms. Geanuracos’s condescending dismissal that Mr. Aron chose to quote.

In Closing...
 

We are a passionate group of community stakeholders who care deeply about the environmental preservation and sustainability of our neighborhood. We don’t have our heads in the sand about the relevance of water during a drought. We acknowledge that climate change will affect our cultural and civic resources. We just want a future that maintains this incredible asset in our midst. Change can and will happen. But let’s not give the upper hand (or the last word) to developers and the Craig Collins’ of the world whose concerns and egos favor the bottom line—not the neighborhood.
 
Please stand with us in this fight, comment on the articles above and get your friends and neighbors to join the cause. It’s easy to sign up on our website at www.refillsilverlakenow.org.

Thank you,

- The 'Refill Silver Lake Now' Team

Taking on the DWP in order to get Silver Lake refilled is expensive.

We are asking all members to consider a $20 donation to the cause.  These funds will go towards website and email hosting, printing costs and renting a meeting site when needed.

Please Donate
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