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# Our Biggest Threat to the Environment is NOT Donald J. Trump ... It's Donald J. Garcetti!
December 06 2018
Written by Kenneth S. Alpern.
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ALPERN AT LARGE--It's NOT a secret that Donald J. Trump does not see eye to eye with many environmentalists, including the Sierra Club.
It almost certainly IS a secret about the proposed **Policies and Procedures Ordinance**, which is 900 pages long, read by only a few brave individuals, which will pretty much end all procedural standards for development and zoning.
Maybe it's not so much President Donald J. Trump who's the greatest threat to our environment, but President-Wannabe Donald J. Garcetti who is.
Unless, of course, you think that creating a second Downtown in the Westside (seriously--no conspiracy theory) and the surrounding areas is environmentally smart.
Unless, of course, you think that doubling or tripling the density overall the entirety of LA City and adjacent regions is environmentally smart.
Unless, of course, you think that a few teeny-tiny water reclamation programs are enough to environmentally make up for doubling or tripling our water needs.
Unless, of course, you think that ending all neighborhood council and environmental legal standards is good for the environment.
Unless, of course, you think that putting an unelected bureaucrat at Planning in charge and able to overrule all neighborhood council/grassroots inputs/challenges to zoning and development makes environmental sense.
Yes, L.A. City Planning and the City Council will say there's no "there" there with respect to the proposed Policies and Procedures Ordinance that has no legal or charter support to its implementation...but will be snuck through by Donald J. Garcetti, anyway.
Yes, WE got it wrong when a few good grassroots lawyers and other professionals (interestingly enough, virtually all ladies--and good for them...seriously!) read through and got horrified by the amount of details and specificity placed to destroy all environmental safeguards, and is now spreading the alarm about this P & P Ordinance...
...being snuck through the City Council, who are either aware or unaware of the implications of all this, during the holiday season and after the bruising political cycle we just went through.
But go ahead ... lookee there! Look at that Orange Man smashing coal and other environmental regulations.
Because Donald J. Garcetti is much, much, MUCH better for our environment than Donald J. Trump!
Right???
Oh ... but you didn't know about the Policies and Procedures Ordinance...did you?
*(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D. is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He is also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of both its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure and Planning Committees. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at . He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at [www.fogl.us](http://www.fogl.us/). The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)*
-cw
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