Eric's Blog

With Congress back in session, and the President having articulated a sensible and responsible package of proposals, I’m hopeful we’ll see significant and rapid progress toward a bill that can be signed into law.  At the same time, I couldn’t help noticing an article this week in the New York Times by science writer Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” The article suggests that getting America to eat better, in ways that reduce obesity and such chronic, preventable and expensive illnesses as Type 2 diabetes, can have a radical impact on what we’re spending for health care.

President Obama’s health-care package could create a powerful new constituency, health insurance companies, for improvements in the way we eat, Pollan wrote. The companies would have financial incentives to reduce their costs in ways other than capping and cancelling coverage or refusing to cover pre-existing conditions. It’s an intriguing concept. Regardless, we can do more to support healthier local eating. I sponsored a motion, also in July, to explore changing a city law that prevents people in R-1 zoning from growing fruit, nuts, flowers or seedlings for off-site sale (home-grown vegetables have been legal for sale for decades).  Supporters have dubbed the bill the Food and Flowers Freedom Act. If approved, it could boost small business creation and reduce our dependence on food raised thousands of miles away.

Meanwhile, other people are working in innovative ways to make available the backyard fruit and other food that grows throughout the city.  A Los Angeles Times article last week (at http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-gleaners9-2009sep09,0,6033018,full.story) describes two different approaches.

Hynden Walch of Glassell Park Hills has created Hillside Produce Cooperative (hillsideproducecooperative.org), which organizes volunteers to jointly gather and share backyard fruit from their respective homes.

Valley Glen resident Rick Nahmias created Food Forward (foodforward.org), an ambitious and admirable volunteer cooperative that has donated nearly 30,000 lbs. of backyard citrus fruit to food pantries this year.

Nahmias calls the program not just a win-win but a “win to the fourth degree.” Homeowners get a tax deduction and care for their trees, food bank clients get fresh and healthy fruit, while the food banks can spend their limited resources on other things.

Not least, volunteers get the satisfaction of making our city a bit better, and yes, healthier too. That’s the kind of reform we can all embrace.

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People seeking a fun and worthwhile opportunity for community service this weekend may want to join in the Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 19. Heal the Bay is sponsoring the local portion of this international effort.  For more information and to sign up, go to http://healthebay.org/volunteer/ccd/2009/participate.asp

If some time this Friday, Sept. 18, you see a park bench and some grass where a parking space once was, don’t panic. There’s a reason for the transformation.

Such a pocket park means someone is taking part in PARK(ing) Day 2009, a suddenly international art happening originally started in San Francisco by a group called Rebar. PARK(ing) Day participants transform a metered parking spot into an unmetered park for a few hours, providing a brief excuse to get out of our cars and into, say, a street-side wading pool or park bench.

I’m all for it. I have long supported efforts to encourage more bicycle and public-transit use in Los Angeles, and regularly ride my own bike to City Hall or my district offices from my Echo Park home. And I’ve encouraged city planners and parks officials to look at ways we can create permanent mini parks and green spaces on small parcels of underused land around the city.

PARK(ing) Day is another important opportunity to think a bit about our relationship to our cars and to the city. Despite the presence of such treasures as Griffith Park and nearby national forests, wilderness and recreation areas, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has far less neighborhood park space per capita than most major U.S. cities.

For a few hours on Friday, we can slightly improve on those numbers. There are several PARKs planned in the Los Angeles area, in downtown and South Park, on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice as well as in Santa Monica and West Hollywood

There’s also one in the heart of my district, at 1525 W. Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park. Sponsors include the Echo Park Time Bank, Echo Curio and Nuvia’s, which are providing “plants, a mini pool and comfortable seating,” along with music and free horchata. Now that’s a park, even if only from 10 am to 2 pm for just one fun day.

For more information about PARK(ing) Day, PARK locations, or even to create your own, go to http://www.parkingday.org/