Sustainability and Beautification Committee

Meetings:
Sustainability committee meeting: Second Monday of the month at 6:15pm at Radford Studio Center

Mission Statement

To actively collaborate with residents, business owners, local environmental organizations, nonprofits, schools, government organizations, and developers to protest, restore, and enhance the natural beauty of Studio City.  

Through these partnerships, we strive to preserve and improve our community’s unique open space amenities, natural resources and biodiversity, and foster a cleaner, safer, and more vibrant and inclusive environment for everyone.

We will work to promote Studio City as a key regional amenity, serving the needs not just of Studio City but stakeholders from surrounding communities as well. 

GOALS:

Policy  The actions of the various governmental authorities that have jurisdiction over Studio City require careful monitoring by citizens to ensure our elected are moving in the right direction and their plans and actions are transparent, accountable, and moving forward with discipline and focus.  We are looking at a few issues immediately, including new fire-resistant planting restrictions and the city approved tree selection list, which needs to be updated to reflect the current urgent need for an improved urban canopy.

Beautification  The City and County do not have the resources to adequately maintain existing plantings and naturally occurring green spaces in Studio City.  Nor do they have the expertise in many cases to appropriately address the challenges of growing plants in an urban environment.  We will supplement the efforts of the various governmental entities on the maintenance front, and importantly, create a forward-looking plan to more extensively “green” Studio City.

Education  The more we know, the more we are encouraged to act.  To that end, we will create several educational opportunities for stakeholders of all ages and abilities. 

The first of these will be a lecture series that will take place at the Studio City Public Library.  Prominent local nonprofits and experts will have the opportunity to address groups of the public in the community room for entertaining and informative programs.  These will start right after the first of the New Year. 

Public Green Space  We have a wealth of open space in Studio City, from the promise of a through park that follows the LA River on both banks from one end of Studio City to the other, to the many hillside trails and parks, a substantial (though threatened) tree canopy, and the centralization of activity within the community to several walkable community hubs that give us the bones of a workable and walkable community for the future.  To deliver that promise we need to identify the natural amenities that exist, call them out for preservation and improvement, and protect those vital community assets from intrusion by development that without community feedback, will potentially destroy the very nature of the community that brought them to consider Studio City in the first place. This is a particularly urgent task, because once open space is diminished by encampments, tree removal by developers, or loss of healthy green space due lack of maintenance or bad practices, it will take decades to replace.

SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MEMBERS:  

Andrew Epstein co-chair 

Scott Mandell co-chair

Chip Meehan

Laurie Rittenberg

Resources

Related Links

Agenda Requests

The Sustainability and Beautification Committee conducts its business by reviewing and prioritizing agenda requests for Board action (generally either in the form of a motion or letter) or announcements submitted by stakeholders, governmental entities and other interested individuals and organizations. Sustainability and Beautification Committee Committee has the discretion to postpone a request, refer it to a specific committee for review and recommendation, treat it as an announcement or consider and resolve it as a non-Board administrative matter.

CLICK HERE to fill out an Agenda Request.

Meetings (Agendas, Minutes, Documents)

If you would like to be notified of our meetings and receive agendas via email,
click here and sign up by checking the NC box.