[Editor’s Note: Mr. Ridley-Thomas, a Democrat in the state Assembly, represents Culver City and the Crenshaw District.]
If you live within five miles of Baldwin Hills, you reside in one of the most park-poor communities of California. Baldwin Hills and its surrounding Southwest L.A. neighborhoods have less than one-acre of parkland per 1,000 residents. The Los Angeles parkland average is close to nine-acres.
The Baldwin Hills Conservancy, a state agency charged with acquiring and managing public parklands in Baldwin Hills, is hard at work addressing this acute park and open space shortage.
For 15 years the Conservancy’s stellar work has paid off. You only need to pay a visit to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, Norman O. Houston Park, Ruben Ingold Park, Yvonne Burke Sports Complex and Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area to witness firsthand the transformative impact that open space has on a community and its residents
There’s only one big problem: The Baldwin Hills Conservancy is due to go out of business in less than three years. The Conservancy, which we rely on to help obtain and maintain parkland, will hit its statutory sunset date on Jan. 1, 2018.
But the Conservancy still has great work to complete. Allowing the Conservancy to be dissolved by law would be a travesty for the park-poorest community in Los Angeles.
That is why I need your help to save the Baldwin Hills Conservancy and to continue its laudable work well beyond 2018.
I introduced AB 446 to delete the sunset date for the Conservancy and enable its staff to continue their mission that we all hope will lead to the creation of the ultimate urban park space in Los Angeles. The parks the Baldwin Hills Conservancy has already created have become open-air community attractions for fitness buffs, families, youth, and senior residents.
Today on Earth Day we have a great opportunity for residents of the 54th Assembly District to make their voices heard. I urge you to use Earth Day as a call to action. Tell your neighbor to tell their neighbor to help in the effort to keep the Baldwin Hills Conservancy alive after Jan. 1, 2018. The Conservancy is our environmental equality priority in Southwest Los Angeles and Culver City. Earth Day is the perfect day to tell the rest of California how important it is to us.
Go to http://asmdc.org/members/a54/ and click “Contact Sebastian” at the right side of my website homepage. Send me your thoughts and comments of support for AB 446. I will compile the letters and comments to show my legislative colleagues and Gov. Brown why our community collectively feels AB 446 and the continuing work of the Baldwin Hills Conservancy is critical to the park and open space needs in Southwest Los Angeles and Culver City.
if you enjoy the panoramic views at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, engage in a morning walk through Ingold Park, or delight in watching your children compete at the Ladera Little League field, then now is your time to take action by sending me a letter of support for AB 446.
A California sunset overlooking the expanse of L.A. is beautiful. The same cannot be said for the 2018 statutory sunset provision that threatens our Baldwin Hills Conservancy. Make a difference for your community. Help save the Baldwin Hills Conservancy for Earth Day 2015 and we can celebrate its successes on Earth Day for years to come.
Follow me on Twitter at @sridleythomas or on Facebook at Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.
