WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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A lot of people have the feeling that you can change
Los Angeles that Los Angeles is uh… always gonna be…

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a… city where people passing through on
the way to their imaginary golden dream

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and… but uh… to me I see it as home.

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Los Angeles is a great meritocracy, you could come
here from another city without the right religion,

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without the right family background,

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and if you’ve got what it takes, you’re accepted
here and then it’s not true in a lot of other places

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in America or elsewhere in the world. But this city is
probably one of the more altered ecosystems on earth,

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it’s been managed for over a 100 years
as if it was a slab of concrete

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and as a result of that because of
the size of population we have and

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the amount of resources we have to bring here, Los Angeles
is probably one of the largest contributors to pollution

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and planetary destruction on the planet.

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It’s a Faustian uh… choice to say that, you know, the economy
or the environment they’re linked uh… in the 21st century.

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I’m a Los Angelino, we’re
optimistic, the (inaudible)

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came here in the 1700’s, 14
families I believe from Mexico,

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after three days there was an earthquake,
they didn’t move and I’m not moving either.

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Los Angeles, dream a different city.
Like many Angelinos, I wasn’t born here.

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I chose Los Angeles. My heart may be in
Brooklyn, but my dreams they live here.

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Sure I can recite the litany of reasons
why L.A. is a tough place to live,

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earthquakes, smog, droughts,
floods, fires, and the gridlock

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that links hundreds of miles of urban sprawl.
Yet laughing in the face of these adversities

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or perhaps surfing over them. Los Angeles
rains, draws the imagination of the world,

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as not so much a place, but a culture,

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a laid back casual lifestyle where anyone
can succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

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It is this illusion of Eden that
drew 15 million of us in search of

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our own individual piece of paradise. And in
the wake of this continuous rapid expansion

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is a myriad of serious environmental

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and social problems that make living here
anything, but perfect. But, you all know that

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what you may not be aware of are the growing
efforts to reverse these negative forces.

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All around Southern California,

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remarkable men and women are
dreaming a different city.

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Like Lewis and Clark or peanut butter and
jelly you can’t picture L.A. without smog.

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In the 1970s, stage one smog alerts in
which residents were warned to avoid

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the outdoors averaged over a 100 days a year mostly
in the summer when children were out of school.

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Thinking to preserve their
son’s health every year,

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Lee and Joyce Lipkis, sent young Andy to a summer
camp in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains

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and he loved the forest
and was quick to notice

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many pine trees were dead or
dying, Andy was told that

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the smog creeping up from the Los
Angeles basin was weakening the trees.

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The entire forest would be dead in
30 years. When Andy asked, what he

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and his campers could do to save these majestic pines?
He was told. There’s nothing that you do is gonna count.

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Wait till you grow up and
go to college, get a job

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and then maybe it’ll make a difference in the
world and it’s pretty frustrating to look at

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what was obviously hurt or hurting
the plant and to hear those messages

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and you don’t count, there’s nothing
for you to do. Just have fun.

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Never tell a child he can’t do something.
Because he might just prove you wrong.

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When I started, I was 15 and all
I knew was that I wanted to

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uh… get more kids to the
mountains planting trees,

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there was something so powerful
in that my first summer planting.

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Andy and the campers ignored the adult cynics,
they planted smog resistant species of cedar

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and pine in the dead part of the forest.
Life returned and flourished.

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So to transform that piece
of land like we did in…

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in a few weeks gave me
such strength, I want,

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you know, I gotta get more kids to taste
that. So began Andy’s lifelong crusade

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to not only save the local forest,

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but to use urban forestry to save the city of
Los Angeles as well. Today over 35 years later,

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no one wears the badge of tree hugger
more proudly than Andy Lipkis.

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Trees are amazing sustainability machines.

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They capture water right in their branches
and then slowly put it down in to the ground

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and restore it into the water table. They
prevent floods, they treat pollution

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and filter it out of the water. They
save the energy, they produce oxygen.

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Trees do all this incredible work that we need. They’re
like our partners for life and for sustainability.

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By 1973, 18 year old Andy founded
the nonprofit organization

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he called, Tree People. I was
a kid then and kids respond.

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They gave 50 cents or 35 cents from their milk,
instead of drinking milk at school that day,

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they sent it to thee people
and that got us launched.

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Andy learned at an early age to use the
media to promote environmental causes.

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Is that called redwood seedling? The largest and oldest
tree in the world. Yeah, and this is gonna be a Redwood?

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It’s already a Redwood. Oh, excuse me.

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[sil.]

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I can’t drive my car through it Andy. I mean…
Well, wait… wait… wait, the hole is down.

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The little hole, you can drive. Little tiny car can go
through. What began as a handful of teenage campers

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now encompasses millions of young people
and adults who volunteer their time

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and raise money to restore Los Angeles
through urban and community forestry.

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The atmosphere at three people’s 45 acre
complex, resembles that of a campground,

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a retreat in the middle of urban sprawl.

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It’s really amazing to want to wake up in the morning and look forward to going to
work and being proud of what you do, when you go out and people ask you, what you do?

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I’m changing the world of Andy.

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That’s something that I’m really… really excited about.
The staff works in yurts, round tent like cabins based on

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the 2500 year old Mongolian design. Their
nursery helps supply trees for their planting,

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their new multi-use center is a gathering
place where environmental experts

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from around the world can
meet and exchange views.

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It’s a place to bring kids and families and agencies
and communities to learn and to work together

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to take the information back into their own
neighborhoods and begin to do the healing work,

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getting everyone to work together needs special facilities.
We’re here with volunteers with training with trucks,

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with tools with insurance, because
to make this happen takes action.

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To get the concrete and the asphalt out
of the ground to get trees back in,

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to get those trees cared for require support and
that’s really right at the core of tree people

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to help back up communities in seeing their dream
come true. Here neighbors seek Andy’s advice

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on how to protect undeveloped land
from real estate speculations.

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We really felt that if we didn’t do something
now, we never be able to lift with ourselves.

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If we did at least try to do everything
we could do to save this land,

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I think that’s what finally got us off of our couches. First of all, I
think you’ve got a great dream and I think it’s one that’s achievable,

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probably pretty easily is to
define every one of the services

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that this wild open space is providing for
the city. Although urban forestry continues

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to be an important focus at tree people,
the organization has expanded its horizon.

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Andy uses demonstration
projects to prove the viability

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and multi-purpose benefits of capturing and storing
storm water to increase the county’s water supply

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while decreasing urban flooding and the
amount of pollution channeled into the sea.

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Northeast Los Angeles uh… city and
county that is been plagued by floods,

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intersections flood uh… cars get into
accident, kids can’t go to school

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because they can’t cross the streets,
it’s a vortex taking the community down,

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so of course they been clamoring in the
(inaudible) valley for a storm uh…

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storm water control for decades. This entire
area floods because there’s no storm drains.

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There were creeks here, when the roads
were put in, the roads become creeks

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and rivers when it rains, water from
the whole surrounding neighborhood

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flows right here into the park. Through
heavy rains it becomes like a river

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and then a huge flooded lake.
What we’re gonna be doing here

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is picking up the water, contaminated water
from the surrounding streets and neighborhoods

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and right here under the ground filtering it,
cleaning it, so it’s as clean as rainfall

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that water will then be sent downstream,

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follow me here into a whole special area
underground where we’ll be taking the water,

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putting it back to recharge the aquifer.
We’re transforming this park from

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a net water user to a water supply. We’re also making
this part of the city’s flood control facility

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and storm water cleaning facilities integrating
all these different streams right here

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and putting beautiful recreation on top.

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If it works uh… it will revolutionize the way we do flood control uh…
not only in Los Angeles, but I think any place in the, in the world.

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There’s a special magic that happens
when people see change happen

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as a result of their dream. They see
that there’s a place in this city

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for their dream to begin to reshape this
city. I could never stop doing this work.

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Andy Lipkis is a living example that
one person can make a difference

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especially if he ignites the enthusiasm
and passion of those around him.

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So that’s why we are focusing on doing it right.
Thanks to California’s tough emissions standards,

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since the 1970’s, air pollution
has been cut in half

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even though there are currently
four times as many cars.

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This brings us to another serious problem,
transportation. Shortly after World War two II,

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Los Angeles abandoned by then archaic rail
and trolley system called the red cars

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in favor of the automobile. 60 years later,

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that love affair is souring as clogged freeways and
spiraling gas prices make it increasingly difficult

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to get from one place to another.
Transportation expert Darell Clark

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is currently leading a campaign to rethink
Southern California’s public real transportation.

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Smooth, comfortable, fast, or not fighting
traffic, it’s all about quality of life.

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So much about driving in Los Angeles, well,
how bad is the traffic gonna be? There,

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it’s got to be there so many
places you just don’t go there

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because you know the traffic is gonna be that terrible. Because all
the freeways are very crowded and it’s a lot, I find it a lot easier,

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more comfortable to get around other
trains. I like that train, I really do,

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I enjoy and my grand… my great grand
daughter is going to enjoy it too you know,

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because now what you enjoy is… Mr.
Righteous train, right?

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This is the Holly Street Arch lands, which was
actually built before the light rail line was built.

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The whole idea is you can live here,
you can ride the train to downtown,

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Los Angeles, you’re within a couple of blocks,
you can walk to Old Town Pasadena for dinner,

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you’re a couple blocks from where
they rebuilt the old indoor mall

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into a nice outdoor New Urbanist thing,

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umm… it’s just all about that kind of
quality of life in downtown Pasadena

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where you don’t need a car to do everything. In Santa
Monica, a group lobbies for a new light rail line.

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Well, Friends for Expos and
all volunteer organization

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umm… that is charged with
building light rail on

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the exposition right of way between downtown
Los Angeles and the beach of Santa Monica.

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We’re here on the exposition right
of way owned by the MTA since 1990,

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goes from downtown Los
Angeles out to Santa Monica.

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It’s originally built for a railroad to Santa Monica
in 1875 and now it gives us this great opportunity.

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Despite already owning the right of way,
this much needed transit line continues

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to be bogged down in 21 years
of red tape and struggle.

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Best case according to the MTA would
be to have the first half running

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as of 2010, worst case 2015 which is

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a considering 1989 even to 2010. Well,

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it’s of a 21 years is a long time to wait for
half a light rail lined. A lot of times,

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I have the feeling of getting knocked down,
picking myself up, dusting myself off.

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I’ve put too much into this to stop now. I
just have to keep going and keep trying.

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We’re all voluntary
organization, we have no money

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as you may have uh… seen uh… we pass the
hat for donations. But you keep trying

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because it matters too much not to, and
we need exposition to Santa Monica.

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That’s just one step. We really need to come up
with a network that works so more and more people

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can have an alternative to being stuck
on that freeway. One could uh… be born,

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one could go to the hospital, one to go to the
elementary school, one could get a bachelor’s degree

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in the finest institutions uh… in
America umm… all along this line.

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Uh… It is a ladder for upward mobility along this line.
It is just not transportation from east to west,

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it is a ladder for upward
mobility and that’s why I’m here

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to go build that ladder. It’s Mr.
Righteous train, woo… woo… right?

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Flowing unnoticed is the Los Angeles River

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and often forgotten remnant of the
city’s wild and sometimes violent past.

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Many Angelinos have no idea that
their city was built next to

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and took its name from what was
once a wild and patois river.

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A mere trickle in the summer during the winter
rainy season, the Los Angeles River was prone

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to unpredictable and catastrophic flooding.
These floods claimed hundreds of lives.

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In 1913, William Mulhollands, 250 mile
aqueduct opened the door to channelizing

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the river into the cement ditch it is
today that traverses 58 eight miles

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through the city to the sea.

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With the 100 million gallons of water a day run into
the ocean, it’s one of the West Coast largest rivers

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and yet uh… it’s invisible to people. Like
wild animals in the zoo, the river was caged

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to protect the lives of the people. It’s
actually an engineering marvel. However,

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there isn’t much wildlife here. It has
a single purpose with flood control,

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other elements like recreation,
habitat, wildlife aren’t here

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and they used to be here in the olden days. It took a
generation or two for a few citizens to realize that in winning

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this victory against nature,
something had been lost.

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Among them was environmentalist
Lewis MacAdams.

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Friends of the Los Angeles River began as a performance piece
at a theater in downtown called the wall and board theater

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and it consisted of uh… me
dressing up in a white suit all

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uh… William Mulholland did painting my
body green and telling the story of my

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as William Mulholland’s involvement with the river
and in the last part of it was building a totem

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to the Los Angeles River on stage
and everybody hated it and

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uh… The L.A. times said with friends like Lewis Macadam’s,
the Los Angeles River doesn’t need any more enemies.

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When friends of the L.A.
River got started in 1984,

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people mostly thought of the L.A.
River as a joke.

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I even had colleagues tell me in Congress they would
laugh at me saying, \"Why are you introducing legislation

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to restore some, a river that’s cemented?
\"And I said,\" No,

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that’s the whole point because you don’t know what I know,
that there’s still a whole other life of natural habitat

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and environment that is still beautiful.\"
Here, members of the local Korean community

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unite with friends of the Los Angeles
River to help gather garbage

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that might otherwise be jettisoned into
the ocean during the winter rainy season.

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I come to, right or wrongs, so that

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umm… people’s wrongdoings uh… such as uh…

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littering will be forgiven. So that the…

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the river will be cherished again. I
mean, it’s a way not only of restoring

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a river for the two legged’s, the four legged’s,
the flying ones, the swimming ones et cetera,

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but it’s also a way of casting
uh… your vote for the future.

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We learned about the L.A. River in the school. You did? Yes.
What about it. Fourth grader Emily Hagen and her family

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are neighbors to the river. To Emilie
it is a source of inspiration.

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I think Mother Nature has
given all this to us

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and look how we’re treating it. We’re
treating it like it’s not even there.

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I’ll tell him about how people
who are mean to the river

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and now they’re trying to be nice to it. In the
Studio City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley,

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citizens gather with community leaders to
dedicate the Los Angeles River Greenway.

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We’re gonna have a place where most people can
congregate. Families can bring their children,

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ride their bikes without fear of getting run over
and already hear the water flow through the city.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
By the special leadership of the visionary
Ed Reyes, we’ll be claiming this river

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
and people like Melanie winter, give Melanie
another hand that we… we wrestle a lot, Melanie.

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
Another leader in the battle to restore and
appreciate the Los Angeles River is, Melanie Winter.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
I was born on the river, I mean
Burbank hospital right there.

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
Uh… so I’ve been aware of the
river my whole life recognizing

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
that the river is the reason Los Angeles is here, appreciating
our natural heritage in terms of our native plants,

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
our native landscape and I
got very excited about that.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever done in my life. It
just hit me and I’ve been possessed with it ever since.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
I can’t really explain
it any better than that

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
and I don’t know if that helps, it’s so
much about even for the next 10, 15 years.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
It’s so much about education and the learning
curve for everybody but what keeps me excited

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
is working with communities and
in particular working with

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
the young and I love fourth graders, they’re
just at that age where they, they get it

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
and they can give you incredible ideas.
Umm… it’s

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
uh… gosh, you guys are gonna be the ones that are
gonna make that happen. Most of your parents

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
and older people don’t know that. That is
why it’s important for the next generation

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
to share a commitment to what their elders
have started. This is what L.A. is,

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
this is why they touted it as wating.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
In a city of dreamers, the plans for the future
liberation of this concrete giant are also big.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
This might be a lake. We might put an
inflatable dam further downstream.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
We might put terraces along the side with

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
uh… water fountains, with water
going through uh… wet land planters

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
that help clean the water. There will be

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
uh… there will be bike paths, there’ll will be umm…
overlooks, they’ll be uh… wildlife areas where it’s unlined

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
and we have uh… bird
watchers seeing some of

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
the 400 species of birds that visit LA river. And
my real dream is it, I’ll get to commute to work

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
on the Los Angeles River, but not in a car.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
In a canoe or a kayak and swimming right beside me will
be the return of the steelhead who used to live here.

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
I just think it’ll be beautiful,

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
more beautiful than it is now. You planted
trees and took off the river’s cement jacket.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
The love made it clean again.
River laugh, laugh was clean,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
while fish dance a tango
beneath the happy river,

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
the sun shine over the happiness and birds
came back and said to me, \"I love it here

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
because of the river… the
river… the river of clean.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
[music]

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
Not since perhaps ancient
Rome has one city had

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
so much influence on the culture and
collective consciousness of the world.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
As the largest manufacturer of Motion
Pictures in television, Los Angeles spreads

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
its trendsetting vision throughout the planet. The
familiar faces that appear in our living rooms

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and theaters are often better known
to us than the neighbors next door.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
For such is the power of Hollywood that we would prefer
the company of fictional characters than real people.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
Thus it is no surprise that
the personal, political

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
and ethical views of actors extend into important
issues outside their original field of expertise.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
Just to be clear about my
transportation hierarchy,

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
my number one favorite way to get around is the way my friend Melanie
Winter and I do in our neighborhood which is to walk. Perhaps,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
the best known prophet in Los Angeles of the
green environmentally sustainable lifestyle

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
is actor Ed Begley Jr. Yeah, I
moved back to try to fix LA

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
rather arrogant of me I thought you know, we got
involved, I sought out the notion of sustainability.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
Sometimes that word bothers me, I’m not
sure I want to have a sustainable marriage,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
I want something that’s more exciting than that…
Son of the Academy Award winning character actor,

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
Ed Begley, Ed inherited
more than acting skills.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
But, that’s something I got from my father. He was a
conservative Republican and though I am not, he was a great man,

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
he was a conservative who like to conserve. The
biggest gift he gave me in that general realm was

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
that he said, \"Eddy, don’t ever
tell people what you’re gonna do,

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
tell them what you’ve done.\" You want to get yourself an electric car,
we’ll go find one and get one. You want to put solar panels on your roof,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
go get some solar panel … don’t put them up,
don’t, \"oh, I’m gonna do that one day, go do it.\"

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
I brought my first electric car in
1970, I started recycling in 1970,

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
I started buying all biodegradable soaps and
detergents and uh… you know, I… I got involved.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
I sought out the notion of
sustainability back then

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
and it’s worked pretty good the past 35 years. In
the past, Ed’s views branded him as an eccentric

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
and he was sometimes ridiculed. I gave
people the creeps you know, because they…

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
they just weren’t sure about all this. They said
it’s costing you, people think you’re a wing nut,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
people think you’re a moonbeam and you know electric
cars, people don’t want to hear about that,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
that’s all stopped now. I going to set now
and people are better at recycling than

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
I am sometimes, they have all sorts of bins set up and
the way ahead of me they don’t need any help from me.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Ed practices what he preaches. Renewable
energy is powering these lights right here.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
It’s running this house and charging my electric car, I
know it’s possible, that’s a great thing about solar.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
You can’t make gasoline on the roof of
your house, but you can make electrons.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
Ed is proud to show off his modest home so
that others might learn from his example.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
My friends out there, it’s all recycled plastic, well I
never have to paint a fence again the rest of my life

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
and no termites will ever eat it. All this stuff was good for
the environment, but it was also good for my pocketbook,

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
it had either a six month payback or the
longest payback would be like eight years

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
for a lot of these things I’m talking about. So that’s
a pretty good deal when you’re in it for the long run

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
which I am, aren’t you? We
should have an artichoke dinner,

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
so let’s take an artichoke here. A
vegetarian, Ed has turned his backyard

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
into a water efficient source of food. What I
tried to do is to fill every square foot with

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
as much edible foliage as I could and then the
rest is all drought tolerant so it doesn’t really…

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
really need any maintenance
of water to speak out.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
Let’s put all this in the compost. Nothing goes to
waste in the Begley residence. All life is revered.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
This is when you know you’re doing
a good job. Hey, look at this.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
What do we got here? Wormies.
Little wormies.

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
Daddy could I? That dirt is… yeah, don’t
hurt them, they’re doing a good job for us,

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
all these things I did are very cost effective, taking
public transportation, riding my bike to and from work,

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
to and from errands, putting a backpack on and getting
that half dozen bananas or a loaf of bread you know,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
was good exercise I realized then. \"Hey, I had
enough to pay for a gym, the world was my gym,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
all this stuff that I did was so good for the
environment, but it was also so good for my pocketbook.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
It’s not like I have a vast amount of money now I’m
not a millionaire, I never have been a millionaire,

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
but I don’t need a lot of money. It’s an artichoke.
The choked arte but it ain’t gonna choke Eddie.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
That’s so funny. Ed is quick
to poke fun at himself

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
to promote the cause of sustainable living. And I
love it saying, \"yes, I did come on my bicycle.\"

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Thank you for mentioning that, that’s why I came
with my goofy shorts, my even goofier legs.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
Today, the voice crying in the
wilderness is no longer ridiculed,

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
but recognized as an important leader
in the environmental movement.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
The environment is not just in Yosemite or
Yellowstone. It’s up here, cold water, Mulholland,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
it’s at Compton Slauson park there, the beautiful Augustus
Hawkins park and all the cities that you come from,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
it’s in urban settings, that’s part of the
environment too. And if we can save Los Angeles,

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
Yosemite is going to be just fine. In his
simple quiet plan to live out his beliefs,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Ed Begley Jr. is more than a
successful character actor.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
He is also a man of character. I think
we really can make a difference,

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
we just have to set about this long journey and put one foot
in front of the other you know, you don’t do it overnight

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
you don’t run up Mount Everest. You put one foot
in front of the other and you make the climb.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
If we continue on that path, I think we’ll have a bright
future. That’s the… that’s the line to cut out on.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
When… when LA was started,

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
nature was always at the end of the block and
you look at old aerial pictures of Los Angeles,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
there’s uh… there’s wild
open space just outside

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
of where you are and that’s all gone.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
It’s sort of like a horizontal New York. Sort
of everything going up, it all goes out.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
Los Angeles isn’t one place but many. Unlike traditional
cities that developed around a central manufacturing hub,

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
LA’s economy is linked to shrewdly
marketed real estate tracks.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
As these scattered communities
expanded, they eventually merged

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
into a giant sprawling megalopolis.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
It’s hard to change once everything’s
is built. The city is beset

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
by an incredible affordable housing crisis. You
don’t tear down houses to build a park here.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
Uh… Many of the open areas in town are
brown fields and require a lot of cleanup

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
uh… because that they’re contaminated and I
think one of the challenges that we face is,

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
how to restore greater ecosystem
value to uh… metropolitan regions?

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
[Californians ASE CHANGE MINUTE]in particular invent the
future and so we need our current crop of Californians

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
to do what perhaps our forefathers
in the 50’s and 60’s could not

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
and that is to see 20, 30, 40, 50
years into the future and invent

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
a better future. For 30 years, Stella Beltrand
has worked at shirpser elementary school

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
in the impoverished
industrial area of El Monte.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
When you don’t have a job, when you have a baby every year,
when your husband beats you and… and you don’t have any faith,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
the things are gonna to be
better… you’re… you’re broken.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
And if you can help broken pieces
that human beings become whole

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
and healthy, you did something, it’s good.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Known among the students as Abuelita or
grand mother, Stella has devoted her life

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
to saving children. I was given the
children that pose problems to some of the

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
teachers or to cafeteria and I take them
out, I always bring them walking out here,

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
they matter so much because
they’re human beings

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
because they are the tomorrow of this
nation. The battle has been a hard one

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
and the loss is high. In the 30 years, I
see, I have counted how many children

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
I saw being killed because of the drugs

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
because of the umm… fights with the gangs,
they were 17 boys that have been killed

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
in this school. I remember each one
of them when they first started,

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
one boy who was here from
kindergarten and he was killed

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
when he was 14 years old, right here in the
railroad tracks. Tiny Stella has a big plan.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
She hopes to rally forces to turn
an empty four acre industrial lot

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
into Gibson Neighborhood Park. And I said,
\"See, maybe someday we’ll have a Boys

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
and Girls Club here where
you can come and play

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
and learn something and
make teams and have fun.\"

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
\"Oh, Miss Beltran they say that nobody does
anything for us. We don’t mean anything,

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
why would this land be for us?\"
And I said, \"You dream big.\"

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
Everyone is quick to tell her, why it
can’t be done? They said, \"No, who?

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Who’s going to buy it? It’s expensive, you know,
or they’re going to put up apartments here,

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
you can’t crawl to school anymore.
The traffic,

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
where you gonna put the traffic.\" But,
Stella won’t give up. So why do I

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
care this much? Because, I…
identified that this is my one chance

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
to do what I’ve always wanted to do
something… something that was worthwhile.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
In March of 2005, the Trust for Public
Land together with the city of El Monte

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
bought the four acres for Gibson
Neighborhood Park, Stella is not interested

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
in hiring a big landscape architectural firm to
design this park farm. Now, she has a different group

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
of experts in mind. What? What are
we gonna have on this part of here?

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
A wrestling arena over there. A wrestling?
Oh, yeah wrestling…

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Swings are gonna be over there? Yeah. Oh,
where? And the rest rooms could be over there.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
A fountain with flowers. Yeah, water
fountains. Water fountain. Where’s that?

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
The baby little pool where we’re
going to… The waiting pool

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
The waiting pool. Where is that
waiting pool gonna be? Over there…

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Stella and her students are now working with the
city to raise the additional funds to transform

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
the lot into a park. Dreams are cheap,

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
but parks are not. An
additional $1million is needed

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
before groundbreaking. But tell me
what you want? Yeah, no hobos here.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
A pool? No hobos. No (inaudible).

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
And park rangers’. No gangsters, no…

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
no drugs, the park to be clean, who’s
gonna keep it clean? The park rangers.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
No, we… we’re gonna keep it clean.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
Today there’s a movement to keep LA sustainable
by revitalizing and promoting local pride

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
within our communities. For these
unique neighborhoods reflect

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
the true soul of our city.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
[music]

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
(inaudible). Avocados, breakfast
of Aztecs and Mayans alike.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
A growing phenomenon not only in Los
Angeles, but the entire country

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
is this sprouting of farmers’ markets.
Organic Avocados. Farmers markets

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
help keep dollars within the local
economy as well as stimulating

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
more healthy eating habits.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
All of the products that are… are sold at the farmers market have to be
grown by the folks that… that sell it here. We have the farm since 1988,

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
myself, my wife, Katrina and my two children, Ann
and George. Umm… I like it because we’re buying

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
uh… directly from the people
who… who grow the food which I…

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
I think is nice, doesn’t got free distributors. The… the
fruits are fresh. They can actually try it right there.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
They can ask how it’s grown. A lot of people are
concerned with organic fruit vegetables these days.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
We can tell them what exact fertilizers we use, what, if we use
pesticides or not. We have to put out the absolute best product we have,

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
we can because we have to see the
faces of those folks every week

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
and if it’s not perfect they’re certainly gonna to
let us know. Everything is good today. Believe me.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
When I come here, (inaudible) myself too,
this is why I made wonderful friendships,

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
I… I spend time with people, they come to
the farmer’s market, outside the market,

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
I have dinner with them,
they come and visit my farm.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
Avocados baby? Oh, and she
likes Avocados. Most kids

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
in the cities think that food comes from the
grocery store, they have no concept of where…

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
where it was prior to that. In this almost
European atmosphere, fresh food is celebrated.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
I’m from France and I live
here since five years ago

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
and I’m very happy to come every Sunday in this market because umm…
we’ve got a lot of choice about organic food and organic vegetables

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
and fruits. The quality
is pretty much you know,

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
the best uh… strawberry, I think you can buy it. There’s
times, you know, I don’t want to do this any longer

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
and when… when a customer comes by or
person whose been eating my produce,

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
you know, compliments me, It just
keeps me going. If… if I lived in LA,

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
this is what I would. Avocados,
the alligator pears,

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
you name it we’ve got it.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
[music]

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
50 miles north, in the community of
Oxnard, an area already encroached

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
by the long fingers of urban sprawl,
stand the fields that produce

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
these luscious berries. I believe that
I … I live in an Eden like place.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
I believe that the farm is the most wonderful place
to be. It’s like being on vacation every day.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
You wake up in the morning you hear the birds,
you go to sleep at night, you hear the crickets.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
Started in the late
1960s, by Harry Iwamoto,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
this 35 acre family run farm annually
grows about 700 tons of strawberries.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
All of which were sold at farmer’s markets.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
He loves to do the things, I hate to do

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
and I do the things he hates to do. So it works out great. Yeah. I’m in the pay role, of payable department
and… he doesn’t like to, he doesn’t have a computer. Yeah, I don’t want to get involved in that stuff.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
Common, Lucy, common. I’m really fortunate,

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
I enjoy every day. Pete’s
doing what I used to do

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
is to work for a beer delivery
company years ago and (inaudible).

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
We also have umm… non family members
working for us, that are friends

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
uh… this guy Caesar here driving is uh… I went to high school
with him, I’ve known quite since I was in the sixth grade.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
I hate to be a pessimist, but
uh… it’s gonna be short future

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
as far as I’m concerned for farmers
like myself because it’s just,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
if you don’t love what you’re doing, there’s
really not as much money as you might think.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
But, I do it more because I really
enjoy my livelihood than anything,

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
but as far as my son taking it
over, you know, my daughters,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
they’re gonna have to really love
what they… they’re are doing,

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
in order to, you know, continue the business.
Even more difficult is the work of the field.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Paid by the crate, time is literally
money to the migrant farm worker.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:43.000
[music]

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
Almost half of the people in Southern
California are of Hispanic descent.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Their collective and individual contributions
to the vitality of the city’s past

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
and future are immeasurable.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Another neighborhood struggling to
establish its own unique identity is,

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Boyle Heights. It was the Ellis Island
of Los Angeles, it was the place where

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
the Jews and Latino’s nations
and African-Americans

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
all lived as side by side. Uh…
it was a… a place of… of hopes

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
and dreams by the late 50’s and 60’s when
I was growing up in Los Angeles. Uh…

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
it was, it lost some of its luster fevala,
a lot of the homeowners began to move out,

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
uh… but still an area of vibrancy in the
sense that there are a lot of new Americans

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
come in uh… with their hopes and
dreams wanting to make it what.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
[music]

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Keeping Latino youth in school remains a
critical problem. With around 40 different gangs

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
in Boyle Heights alone, these (inaudible)
exert heavy negative peer pressure towards

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
youth who aspire to get an education.
Consequently, 61 % of

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
the Latino children in the Los Angeles
Unified School District drop out.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
In Boyle Heights we have a lot of percentage of
dropout rates in high school, just in high school,

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
so not a lot of, you know, young
Latino women gets to even

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
uh… get a higher education. It’s harder for
us to choose have positive role models.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
[music]

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
And yet, like flowers crowding
through cracks and concrete,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
a group of young women are intent
on restoring and rekindling pride

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
in their Boyle Heights community. Just wanna
help people, I just have that in heart that

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
I just gotta help. I don’t want many, I don’t want
anything, I just want to be able to be happy,

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
surrounded by people that I know.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
15 year old Yobana Cordero credits her
parents as her source of inspiration.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
You have to have to have a
dream in order to have success

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
and that’s what my parents had taught
me that no matter if I live in

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
the community that doesn’t have lot of
resources, I could still accomplish what I want.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
Born and raised in south central,
coming from immigrant parents,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
we always had plants in the back yard. Whatever
bit of land we had, we always grew some thing.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Because we live in cities, they’ve been getting
smaller and smaller in people’s minds.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Uh… we wanna bring that back. My neighborhood
is really important because it keeps me humble.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Well, it just reminds me of
who I am and we’re there.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
In 1996, an informal group
of young Latino women

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
saw a need for positive female
role models in their community.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Among them was then teenager Michelle Dean.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
You know, honestly it was with a group of friends umm… we didn’t know what we’re
doing other than just hanging out with some of the girls here in the community,

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
doing exercises, you know, I would say,
\"Hey, let’s do some leadership exercises.\"

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
Flavorsome. This was peer
pressure of a positive sort

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
as girls nurtured each other to excel
and achieve. And I so fell in love.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
I mean, it started as a volunteering thing for like three
years and then like you know, this deal is for real,

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
you know, I was jus kind
of nervous like, yeah.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
What started as a simple exercise became a life
transforming experience. This Latina girl network began

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
to call upon outside resources to
better themselves and each other.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Those who achieve personal success returned to
help the younger girls and so movement was born

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
and continues to thrive
.Who are these young women?

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
Well, they are proud to tell you.
Girls today, women tomorrow.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Were leadership mentoring program were
called Girls today women tomorrow,

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
were based out of Boyle Heights, we work
with young girls from the ages of 12 to 22.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
An important project nurtured
by these young women

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
is that of developing a community garden
in Boyle Heights called, Projecto Hardeen.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
They use their work in this garden
to foster healthier eating habits

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
and to embrace their Hispanic traditions. You ask a youth
how do carrots grow and they think it’s from a tree

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
and having them plant here and
have time just for themselves

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
away from school, away from their parents,
it’s been really refreshing for them.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I feel what’s so unique about this garden is that it’s
really about the community and really about getting people

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
out here to know that this is their space to
use. I mean, you could see the corn over there.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
We’re gonna be having umm… a wide variety of heirloom
tomato varieties, all different kinds of chili peppers,

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
we have some seeds coming from Mexico and

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
umm… where we’re gonna be having all spectrums of finer nutrients and
things like that… that are good for our bodies and good for the planet.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
It’s more about rekindling
what we already have within us

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
and really is part of who we are and what our
grandmothers and great grandmothers knew so it’s kind

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
of rekindling that within all of us.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
[music]

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Each fall, the women gather together
to reap the benefits of their labors

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
in the annual harvest celebration.
We eat the harvest.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
Mexican chilly is hot.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
I guess the part

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
that’s the greatest is
that we have brought,

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
we got some more six to nine product.
Among the organizations, many activities

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
are video production, Web site development,

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
kickboxing classes, team building camping
retreats, an annual fashion show in which

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
the women design and make their own fashions
and a very important college scholarship fund.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
The girls (inaudible) our program
actually had a lot to do with

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
uh… me going to the college, I’m going to, I’m going on out
of state college to University of Wisconsin in Madison.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
And uh… they nominated
me for a scholarship and

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
which I uh… received four
year tuition scholarship.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
I only live with my mom, there wasn’t enough money
so I always thought that I wouldn’t have a future,

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
so now that I have a
positive role models now

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
umm… I’m going to college and I’m being positive
by thinking that I’m gonna be someone in life.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
We found that once they felt like
somebody was investing in them,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
they in turn started doing it for their
friends, the younger kids growing up,

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
something in my consciousness started
shifting and it was just amazing.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
I started when I was in high school and I’m in a, finishing my second year in
(inaudible) college and I’m also mentor here in process. I’ve been also mentored.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
Despite these achievements, drive by
shootings and the frustration of living

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
in fear remain part of the
Boyle Heights landscape.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
Because I want other children to be happy

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
and I don’t want them
to be sad and I don’t…

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
Those are the people that really
make a difference in the world.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
I mean, a global community that works,
specially, when this kids get older,

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
I get to see where they are at out and what they’re doing.
There’s so many things that I wanna do when I grow up but

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
like my main… main goals are to hold public
office, hopefully to be the next president.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Well, we’ll see, but I would like to
first hold public office in a community,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
in my community congresswoman or
whatever it to make government

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
not too distant, but to be
closer to the community

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
and so people won’t be afraid to go out and speak
out and I think I’ll be a good representative.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
It’s a great country for me so, I think I’ll make a
great leader. It’s a long road from Boyle Heights

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
to the White House, but youvanna doesn’t have
to look far for inspiration on her journey.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
In the northeast area of Los
Angele’s San Fernando Valley,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
another young woman strives to lead her
community towards a better quality of life.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
At 28, former mayor of the city
of San Fernando, Cindy Montañez

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
was the youngest woman ever to win an
assembly seat in the California legislature.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Among her many achievements
Assembly Member, Montañez is

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
the youngest woman and only Latina
ever appointed chairperson of

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
the powerful California legislative rules
committee. I love Mexican sweet bread

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
and so one thing I love about
(inaudible), you can get it

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
every day at any time of the day, so we’d always
come here after church and my mom would get like 20

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
different (inaudible). Like
Yuvana(ph), Cindy Montañez

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
finds strength from her community and immigrant
parents. Cindy’s father Manuel Montañez

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
held three jobs at once while
going to school at night

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
eventually starting his own electrical business.
Cindy remembers when her family earned

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
extra dollars selling produce on the street. Well, we were selling
our tomatoes and oranges and watermelons on the street corners

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
and you know, we saw it as fun. We would meet
a lot of people… people got at a church,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
you see, you run into them and friends
of the family would come by and buy

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
the box of tomatoes from us. Through
her family’s heroic efforts,

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Cindy and her four brothers and
sisters, all went to college.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
I’ve lived in my whole life, umm… in the northeast part of the
San Fernando Valley and communities like Sun Valley and Pacoima

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
and San Fernando, communities that umm… were…
have historically been disproportionately

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
impacted by landfills and

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
umm… other polluting industries, a lack of
open space, a lack of recreational space,

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
uh… but also been filled with the
greatest people and people determined

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
to make life better for themselves and their neighbors.
Today, Cindy remains dedicated to improving life

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
for her constituents by
eradicating urban blight

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
and creating or improving open spaces. Sun Valley,
umm… it’s ironic that it’s called Sun Valley.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
You would think you would imagine a beautiful
place with a lot of sun’s and hills and trees.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
It’s an area that historically at one
time had 14 operating landfills,

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
animal cremators, incinerators,
umm… you have rock quarries,

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
you have auto dismantlers, chrome platters.
We are right across

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
the street from one of the biggest landfills
in my district going down what is a

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
lot of just umm… out of
dismantlers, out of wrecking places

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
and literally sandwiched in between, you’ll
have the mobile parts of people living

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
umm… right next to these umm… places. A lot of them are
you know, they’re not legal, they’re taking apart cars,

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
a lot of oil’s been put into the ground.
You have just innocent people

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
being exposed to… to these
toxics and chemicals.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
Landmark legislation by Cindy Montañez
includes the California land reuse

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
and Revitalization Act of 2004,
a measure designed to mitigate

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
the environmental social and economic effects,
on often urban low income neighborhoods

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
created by contaminated and
abandoned industrial sites.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Future of environmentalism in the United
States, I think the core of that future

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
is in communities that have suffered
a lot of environmental injustice,

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
because we see communities of color, poor
communities prioritizing the environment

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
as one of the main issues that
they want to focus on because

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
they are tired of losing their
kids to premature deaths,

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
miscarriages, skin cancer, asthma and it is

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
those public health reasons that are motivating people and
driving people to make sure that it is the public health

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
that is at the center of the environmental
movement. The Hansen dam created

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
as a means of flood control for the San Fernando
Valley is another focal point of Cindy’s campaign

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
to improve life for her constituents.
The Army Corp of Engineer, I mean,

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
our own federal government was
throwing umm… concrete in

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
the lake and burying umm… different

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
uh… materials in there which now got to the point where
the water got contaminated, but there are efforts,

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
there are now efforts that umm… you know
with US Senator Dianne Feinstein with

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
uh… accommodate beautiful, the Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy to go in there and actually

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
umm… clean up the site, create it like a
campsite where kids could actually come

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
here in Pacoima like in their own neighborhood
and be able to experience the outdoors.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
I remember growing up in that area and
we didn’t have the beautiful parks

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
and we didn’t have the beautiful trees and
we didn’t have the beautiful coastline, but

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
we did have beautiful people and now it’s time that we’re gonna
create those parks, we’re going to create this recreational fields,

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
we’re gonna to be able to ride our horses or walk
with our family and umm… ultimately make home

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
a better place and a place where we
want to stay. That’s what’s gonna turn

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
the environmental movement throughout the
United States again into an energizing,

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
rejuvenating effort that will continue to create bridges
and bring people from the wealthy beautiful coastline

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
that we have here in the state of
California to those four communities like,

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
Sun Valley for something that impacts everybody and that’s the…
the environment in particular will be an urban environment.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
And I think with this new generation of leadership
that we’re foreseeing in this city particularly

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
uh… Mexican American leadership there’s
gonna be a stronger focus on those ideas

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
and… and implementation measures
that bring people back together,

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
instead of encouraging them to go apart.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
I was born and raised here in Los Angeles, my grandpa got here a 100
years ago. I grew up in a home of domestic violence and alcoholism, uh…

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
my mother was a single mom raised four kids
on her own, put them all through college.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
Uh… we were poor but really didn’t
realize it completely. I mean,

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
we had such a rich family life,
never in my wildest imagination did

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
I believe that one day become mayor of the city
that’s given me so much uh… just a dream come true.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
The city’s first Hispanic mayor since 1872,

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas first official
act was to join Andy Lipkis to plant a tree.

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
Talk and then dig, I think
it’s dig and then talk.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
We said we’re gonna plant a million new trees uh… in
my administration. When you plant trees in that way

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
uh… you create more opportunities for
shade, uh… lower the cost of electricity

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
uh… and air conditioning, you create more
opportunities for storm water runoff.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
That’s cost effective uh… so this
isn’t just pie in the sky stuff,

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
the stuff works. Today we name this tree,

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
Swenial(ph), dream. Reach for the stars and
follow your dreams because with out hope,

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
uh… without dreams, what are we,
that’s what creates positive

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
change for the future. That’s what
gives us the sense of the possible,

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
but it’s so important uh…
to make a better world,

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
but I’m particularly proud
of this great experiment

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
that we describe as the uh…
changing face of Los Angeles

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
uh… this is a city of the possible,
a city where it’s working, it’s…

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
it’s the most diverse city anywhere

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
and it doesn’t always work exactly like
we’d like it, but more often than not,

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
it’s working on a way uh… that
I think others can learn from.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
Can the hope and future of a city
begin with such a simple act

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
as the planting of a tree? I
believe it not only can, but is.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
Hey, I live in Los Angeles the home
of the happy ending. You know,

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
this city grew enormous fuel by the energy of
the millions who came and continue to arrive

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
seeking to remake themselves
by living their dreams,

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
yes we have made some huge mistakes that are very hard
to repair, but if anyone can accomplish the impossible,

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
it’s us. So stay tuned,
anything can happen.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:28.000
[music]

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
Organic Avocados. Major
funding for Eden’s lost

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
and found most made possible by CDM,

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
seeking to create lasting environmental
and infrastructure solutions

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
that strengthen the community’s future. The
Boeing Company committed to ongoing innovation

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
in environmental conservation.
Boeing, forever new frontiers.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
The John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
Additional funding was provided by
Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
The Illinois sustainable
education project, Ashoka,

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
The Scotts Miracle Gro company, APTA,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development,

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
the Philadelphia Water Department,
LA County Public Works,

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
LA City Department of Sanitation
Watershed Management, F J C,

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:20.000
and Newman’s Own organics.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:33.000
[sil.]