Copy
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Donate Here
THE GOOD: THE WILDLIFE PILOT STUDY IS FUNDED FOR ANOTHER YEAR, AND ONE STEP CLOSER TO BECOMING AN ORDINANCE!
Your voice, along with the voice of the many stakeholders of LA's Santa Monica Mountains, helped encourage Los Angeles City Council to reinstate funding to complete the Wildlife Pilot Study and expand it throughout the Rim of the Valley. Many councilmembers, such as Budget & Finance Chair Paul Krekorian, stated that this was a priority item. CLAW, Center for Biological Diversity, and a coalition of environmental advocates worked hard to influence the city council to support this priority and our gratitude is expressed in a letter you can read here

City Planning recently released the Draft Wildlife Ordinance for public comment along with additional project information on the new Wildlife Pilot Study webpage. The Department would now like to invite you to a live, online workshop to hear additional feedback and clarify questions about the ordinance.

Wildlife Ordinance Online Workshop Thursday, June 10, 2021 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

RSVP

THE BAD: PLANNING DIRECTOR'S MEMO WEAKENS THE MULHOLLAND DESIGN REVIEW BOARD
This map shows a portion of the Mulholland Scenic Corridor, which extends from the Hollywood Hills to Encino. Under LA City Planning Director Vince Bertoni's recent memo, the area in gray has lost a crucial public process for review and conservation. 
"The Mulholland Design Review Board and the Mulholland Ordinance have really been singularly responsible for the fact that we have preserved wildlife corridors. When the Mulholland Ordinance was first adopted, it was assumed that there wasn't any large megafauna, especially of the mountain lion variety…of course the mountain lions were there…so this Ordinance has in fact preserved wildlife corridors before there was even a wildlife corridor concept in the City Council. And it's really the only effective tool that we have. The wildlife corridor approach of the City Council is not sufficiently robust to give us the results that we need. The Mulholland Ordinance is pretty robust, but if we lose that capacity, I think we've also lost a fundamental approach to protecting the wildlife corridors as well."

 
-Joesph T. Edmiston, SMMC Executive Director
To the SMMC & Advisory Committee (April 19, 2021)
Take Action!
 
Please send an email to Mayor Garcetti and the City Councilmembers that represent the affected Santa Monica Mountains, and voice your opposition to the implementation of this memo. 
  and please CC:
info@clawonline.org
 
Subject:  March 30, 2021 Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan
Implementation Guidance Memorandum – OPPOSED!
 
Dear Mayor Garcetti and Councilmembers Krekorian, Blumenfield, Raman, Koretz, and Bonin:

I am a stakeholder of LA's Santa Monica Mountains, and I am vehemently opposed to Director of Planning Vincent Bertoni’s March 30, 2021 Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan Implementation Guidance Memorandum. The memorandum, issued unilaterally by Director Bertoni with no prior notice or opportunity for public comment, purports to limit the oversight of the Specific Plan’s Design Review Board (DRB) by declaring that projects not visible from the Mulholland Drive right of way are exempt from review by the DRB. The Director’s action is in direct conflict with the express language of the Specific Plan, exceeds his authority under the City Charter, and usurps the legislative function of the City Council which signed the Specific Plan into law in 1992.
The Director’s decision removes the code-mandated expert and professional advice of the Mulholland DRB from decision-making for most of the Specific Plan area. This decision also reduces public oversight of many projects with potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to parkland, scenic overlooks, scenic corridors, wildlife corridors, riparian areas, and the urban forest, dramatically altering a legislative action of the City Council.
As the elected officials who represent Mulholland Scenic Parkway constituents, and who are responsible for appointing the Mulholland Design Review Board members, we ask that you collectively urge Director Bertoni to immediately rescind and withdraw his illegal memorandum.


You can read more about Director Bertoni's memo in our previous alert.

Thank you for taking action for LA's wildlife!

 

We appreciate your continued support and action for our local wildlife.
CLAW is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that relies on your help and generosity to achieve our goals in conservation, advocacy, and education.
Donate Here
Follow us at:
Facebook Facebook
Instagram Instagram
Twitter Twitter
YouTube YouTube
Copyright © 2021 Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp