To: The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering

Re: Community Garden Space in the 6th Street Viaduct Park

Date: March 12, 2018
______________________________________________________________________________

As advocates for urban gardens, urban agriculture and food justice, we would like to work
with the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (“BoE”) to advance a policy that will
support the reservation of any amount of land for urban agricultural use in the 6th Street
Viaduct Park (the “Park”). Currently, there is no plan to create any public urban garden space
as evidenced by latest iteration of park plans attached herein as EXHIBIT A.

INTRODUCTION
There is tremendous appetite and need for repurposing underutilized and unused land for
growing food and creating green spaces in Los Angeles. This is evident at both the public and
private level. For example, the Mayor’s Sustainable City pLAn (the “pLAn”) aims to increase
the number of urban agriculture sites by 25% by 2025 and by 50% by 2035. Most recently in
furtherance of the pLAn, the City of Los Angeles unanimously passed the adoption of local
legislation codifying AB551 – the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones that allow private property
owners to take a significant tax cut if they lease their land out to local growers. In addition, private
support is apparent from the enthusiasm behind the Spring Street Community Garden (“Spring
Street”), the only known community garden within the downtown parameter. In the short time
since its incubation, Spring Street has already developed a reputation as a vital switchboard
bringing together a rich and diverse group of growers and partners from the following
organizations:

1. Joe’s Parking
2. Councilmember Jose Huizar’s office
3. Los Angeles Community Action Network
4. Skid Row Housing Trust

BENEFITS AND BACKGROUND ON URBAN AGRICULTURE

The benefits of urban agriculture are widely understood as benefiting the ecosystem it feeds.
The following are some of the most commonly cited ways in which a community green
space could strengthen the arts district:

1. Reducing carbon emissions

2. Curating a space for innovative technologies to be implemented
3. Nurturing community involvement
1
 4. Creating skill-building educational opportunities
5. Supporting public health through increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables
6. Improving availability of organic produce and safe foods 1
7. Increasing property value2
8. Advancing socioeconomic diversity3
9. Expanding eligibility for federal funding4 and other grant opportunities
10. Advancing neighborhood safety5
11. Improving mental health of community residents6
12. Contributing to overall green space and health of ecosystem

In addition, urban agriculture comes in so many different forms. See EXHIBIT B. The
invariable flexibility that comes with urban growing gives the City and community
significant bandwidth in determining the best use for the land at the Park.

URBAN GROWING IN THE GROWING ARTS DISTRICT

There are currently more than 125 community gardens in the greater Los Angeles area. However,
only 51 of these gardens are open access, meaning community members can participate in the
maintenance and care of the green space. Furthermore, only five of these gardens exist in CD14 and
only one (Spring Street) exists for the downtown community. Despite the fact that Spring Street
exists for the downtowners, it is clear that creation of more community green space is necessary to
satiate the growing population of downtown Angelenos. Downtown Los Angeles is growing three
times faster than the rest of the nation.7 With such rapid growth in such a short time, we need to
ensure that space is being reserved for to cultivate community.

This desire for green space in the Arts District is further corroborated by the City of Los Angeles’
“Public Engagement Process: Recap of Public Input Survey Results” for the use of the Park (the
“Survey”). According to the Survey, gardening and enjoying the outdoor greenspace were in the
top three of activities and uses that Park-side Angelenos would like to see in the Park as it relates
to Nature and Beautification. See EXHIBIT C.

1
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs399/en/
2
http://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sarep/publications/food-and-society/ualitreview-2013.pdf
3
http://www.ruaf.org/sites/default/files/FAO%20Paper%20Profitability%20and%20sustainability%
20of%20urban%20and%20peri-
urban%20agriculture%20Veenhuizen%20and%20Danso%202007.pdf
4
https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/grants-and-loans-farmers
5
http://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sarep/publications/food-and-society/ualitreview-2013.pdf
6
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/urban-mindfulness/200903/plants-make-you-feel-better
7
Some figures suggest that the downtown population will rise to 9% in just the next five years.
https://therealdeal.com/la/2016/04/18/downtown-los-angeles-is-second-biggest-boomtown-in-the-
us-report/#sthash.JcwX4UGD.dpuf%20
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 INCREASED FUNDING TOWARDS PARKS
Through Measure A, Los Angeles County has taken a concerted effort towards conserving and
utilizing our under-utilized and mismanaged parks. An estimated 77.8% of the $94,000,000
Measure A budget is available to address new and innovative park project ideas with the remainder
of the budget going towards maintenance and upkeep.8 This demonstrates the renewed interest by
the County to infuse vitality into the parks system. For the reasons outlined above, a community
garden is a great way to ensure lasting community support and manifest the County’s intent behind
Measure A.

COALITION PARTNERS
The Los Angeles River Garden Council (“RGC”) is a coalition of Arts District stakeholders and
urban gardening enthusiasts. As of the drafting of this letter, RGC has support from the following
stakeholder organizations:

1. Spring Street Community Garden

2. Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council
3. Los Angeles River Artists and Business Association
4. Los Angeles Community Garden Council
5. Arts District Community Council LA
6. Industrial District Green
7. Los Angeles Food Policy Council

CONCLUSION
In light of the foregoing, we submit that in the nascent stages of developing the Park plans, the BoE
should designate an appropriate piece of the parcel to communal agricultural use.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Reserve a Dedicated Piece of Land for Urban Agricultural Use

2. Work with Community Members to Develop the Best Plan for the Land’s Use and
the Community’s Needs

3. Develop a Plan for Land Management

8
http://rposd.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Park-Funding-Measure_Final-Prezi.pdf
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Undersigned

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EXHIBIT A

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 EXHIBIT B
1. Demonstration gardens located at working community gardens are often open to the
general public for display and classes. They may be managed and maintained by garden
members or a participating gardening group such as extension Master Gardeners,
community members who receive training in home horticulture and then serve as
volunteers to educate the public about gardening.
2. Communal gardens are typically organized and gardened by a group of people who share
in the work and rewards. Plots are not subdivided for individual or family use. Produce is
distributed among group members. Sometimes produce is donated to a local food pantry.
3. Youth/school gardens expose young people to gardening and nature, give them the
opportunity to do some of their own gardening and/or educate them in a variety of subject
areas. These gardens are typically associated with a formal or semiformal program that
incorporates classroom lessons with hands-on gardening activities. Gardens may be located
on school grounds, at a community center, in neighborhoods or on other parcels of land.
4. Entrepreneurial/job training market gardens are typically established by nonprofit
organizations or other agencies to teach business or job skills to youth or other groups.
They grow and sell the produce they raise. Proceeds from the sale of garden products are
used to pay the participants for their work. Programs typically rely on outside sources of
funding to offset costs.
5. Therapy gardens provide horticultural therapy to hospital patients and others. A trained
horticulture therapist often leads programs and classes.

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 EXHIBIT C

Source: 2017-03-28 _ Public Voting Results. City of Los Angeles.