LA City Council seeks funds to revitalize brownfields in Council District 7

The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Friday to apply for a federal grant that will redevelop brownfields in Council District 7 for the purpose of creating community gardens and programming to teach youth about urban gardening and agriculture.

According to the motion, presented by council member Monica Rodriguez, it would instruct the city’s Bureau of Sanitation to apply for the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Government-to-Government Environmental Justice Grant. Upon being awarded funds, the Bureau of Sanitation will accept the award and divulge any administrative and legislative requirements to accomplish the city’s project for Council District 7.

“Through work with the Bureau of Sanitation, one burgeoning opportunity is the development of community gardens that provide year-round urban greening and agriculture education and the promotion of environmental stewardship at the local grassroots levels for our youth,” according to the motion.

The motion defined brownfields as “toxic land sites” that factories left long ago. The EPA’s grant program seeks to create model government programs that address public health risks. The grant program aims to leverage existing resources from state or local agencies that develop tools and processes that integrate environmental justice into government programs.

City staff identified three underutilized and undeveloped city-owned sites in Mission Hills, North Hills and Pacoima, and one brownfield in Council District 7, which would benefit from the federal grant program.

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