News from Los Angeles Eco-Village (updated 6/18/08)                            home

Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) is revived at LAEV.  Some of you may remember the LETSystem that was a project of CRSP  from about 1986 to 1994.  Wow!  It was a while ago.  Well, thanks to Alison Rosenblatt, who spent much of her five month assignment with CRSP  researching LETS, the local supplemental neighborhood currency has been revived. The current version of LAEV LETS is very user friendly and already has about 15 members.  The next 15 members will be admitted free to the system.  After that, we will charge a $10 annual membership fee.  However, we are keeping it quite local within the immediate LAEV neighborhood plus the following close-by zip codes:   90004, 90005, 90010, 90012, 90020, 90027,  90028, 90036, 90038, 90052, 90057.  If you're local to LAEV and would like to join, contact Ali at 213/738-1254 or alirosenblatt@gmail.com (but only till the end of June).  For a brief overview of what LETS is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Exchange_Trading_Systems.  We expect that most people who join outside of the immediate LAEV neighborhood will want to be members to learn enough to take the system or some other version of a local currency into their own neighborhoods.  Michael Linton, who founded LETS several decades ago, once said that pretty much everything that any of  us needs can be found within a few block area in most cities, but we don't have a way to connect with all of the people in our immediate neighborhoods.  LETS lets us do that!  So let's do it!  (6/4/08)

Diana Leafe Christian's Ecovillages Newsletter.  CRSP is a sponsor of this new and just released newsletter.  Read these fascinating articles, and with lots of photos too:
-  The Ecovillage Movement Today
-  L.A. Eco-Village Stops Bulldozers!
-  How Yarrow Ecovillage Got "Ecovillage Zoning"
-  Eco-Heroes in Japan
-  Finally, Ecovillage Activists Gather in the U.S.
-  Ecovilllages in the News: May 2008

Long Time Eco-Village Resident George Foster Passes.  George was 84.  Many of you who have visited here know him as the man who used to get up at 3 am each morning to clean our streets.  He will be missed.  On Saturday, May 31, 2008, about 40 friends and neighbors gathered on Bimini Place outside the Bimini Apartments where George had lived on and off for about 50 years to share a memorial service.  Several long term neighbors spoke movingly and with a good deal of humor about life with George here in the 'hood.  Many Eco-Villagers, too, shared music in the street there to celebrate his life.  You can read more about George and his life of service here (6/4/08)

Updates on LAEV and LAUSD here

L.A. Eco-Village in the News
-  The Philadelphia Inquirer picked up a story from the Columbia News Service by Cassandra Lizaire about eco-communities that included a few paragraphs on LAEV:  http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20080511_Communal_lifestyle_reborn.html
-  The Washington Post made mention of LAEV in their April 20, 2008 article entitled It Takes an Eco-Village to Make a Really Green Vacation
-  LA Eco-Village is a Leading story in World Watch's 2008 State of the World book by Erik Assadourian. LAEV is the opening story in Chapter 11, "Engaging Communities for a Sustainable World."  You can read it and other stories on ecovillages around the world at:  http://gen.ecovillage.org/
- LeMonde ran a feature story on L.A. Eco-Village on April 25, 2008.  For those of you who read French, google <"Le Monde" ecovillage bimini>
- The L.A. Weekly ran a very biased story about the LAUSD's Elementary School #20 on 4/20/08, but without checking the L.A. Eco-Village end of the story. (posted 5/15/08)
-  Both French and German national public television crews visited LAEV recently to film our story for their environmental programming.

Majora Carter, the charasmatic founder of Sustainable South Bronx <http://www.ssbx.org/> and a MacArthur "Genius" Grant awardee, recently paid a brief visit to L.A. Eco-Village during which she engaged with several residents about life and work in our different communities.  Born, raised, and continuing to live & work in the South Bronx, Majora Carter travels the world in pursuit of resources to improve the quality of life in her environmentally challenged community. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 after writing a $1.25M Federal Transportation grant to design the South Bronx Greenway with 11 miles of bike and pedestrian paths connecting neighborhoods to the rivers and to each other - securing over $20M to begin construction in 2008.  Eco-Villager Nikki Henderson arranged for the visit.  (posted 5/9/08)

Anders Nyquist, international known Swedish architect, and his wife Ingrid, along with Carolina Goodman of ZERI <http://zeri.org/> briefly toured L.A. Eco-Village recently.  Anders is deeply committed to zero emissions architecture and has designed numerous project in Sweden and throughout the world.  Composting toilets in apartment buildings in urban settings being among some of his most notable work along with utilizing plants as part of indoor ventilation systems.  He will be visiting Los Angeles again, so watch for a special event at LAEV with Anders in the future. (posted 5/9/08)

Car Free Earth Day on Wilshire Boulevard.  CRSP teamed up with the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, L.A. Eco-Village, and Michelle Wong's Cafe *Sol*R in an exhibit booth on the Boulevard on Earth Day, April 22.  Eco-Villager Lois Arkin gave a public talk in the Eco-Tent on LAEV. (posted 5/9/08)

Council President Eric Garcetti dedicates new Shared Street on Bimini Place in L.A. Eco-Village.  Councilman Garcetti, along with several other city dignitaries, joined Eco-Villagers, neighbors and friends at the intersection of Bimini and White House Place on March 20th to dedicate the completed shared street.  Among the improved features of the street are permeable sidewalks and several bulb-outs or places where the street is narrowed.  And nine macadamia nut trees in the public median, a first for L.A., that is, planting food producing trees in the medians.  A second shared street in the East Hollywood SNAP (the specific plan for the area; see http://cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/specplan/sparea/vermonttodpage.htm) will soon start construction on Heliotrope just north of Beverly.  Many thanks to Metro and James Rojas, the major funder for this project, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, Councilman Garcetti and his staff, especially Alejandra Marroquin, Bureau of Street Services, Audry Netawang, and to Eco-Villager Joe Linton who got the whole thing started many years ago. (posted 5/9/08)

Eco-Villager Lois Arkin was a speaker at the 7th International Eco Cities Conference and World Summit in San Francisco on a panel entitled "Starting Small, Planning Large." Other panelists included Joan Boaker, co-founder of EcoVillage at Ithaca, Biosphere 2 designer Phil Hawes, and EcoTecture publisher Skip Wenz.  More than 150 eco city leaders from throughout the world gathered for this event with hundreds of others sharing their cutting edge work in making cities healthier and more sustainable.  Arcosanti founder Paolo Solari was honored while eco city maker Jaime Lerner <http://www.brazilmax.com/news.cfm/tborigem/pl_south/id/10>, former mayor of Curitiba Brazil shared history and views on urban transformation.  Jaime believed in implementing plans swiftly -- in just 72 hours, he converted several blocks of the downtown into Brazil's first pedestrian mall. Lerner's track record in Curitiba helped him gain the trust and confidence he needed to attain the governorship of his State of Parana from 1994 to 2002. Today, Lerner consults with cities on their plans for addressing long-term growth and sustainability.  He described his new ideas for strategic intervention and course-correction in city development as “urban acupuncture.”  Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian shared his views on "EcoDensity,” the citywide initiative currently being discussed with the Vancouver community. EcoDensity is based on the premise that strategically located, sustainably designed density can reduce the City's ecological footprint while making Vancouver more sustainable, livable and affordable.  These and dozens of others will soon be featured on a DVD that will become available from Ecocity Builders <www.ecocitybuilders.org>  (posted 5/9/08).  Many of the conference presentations can be viewed at http://ecocity.wordpress.com/  (posted 5/21/08)

Jeff Kenworthy, internationally renowned transportation researcher and professor at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute in Perth Australia, in California for the Eco Cities Conference, visited LAEV after the San Francisco event.  CRSP, along with the Sierra Club, Southern California Transit Advocates, Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, Next 10 <http://www.next10.org/> and Metro sponsored his talk at the Metro Board room.  He has been researching urban transport systems since the 1970s.  His comparative work on rail and the quality of life in cities is eye-opening.  His presentation pointed out that urban rail systems are a critical element in building effective multi-modal public transport systems that create a 'virtuous circle' in public transport and compete more successfully with the car.  His research will soon be available via an on-line power point.  (posted 5/9/08)

For updates on the LAEV struggle to save its neighborhood from the LAUSD bulldozers, click here

LAEV in the News:  click on these blogs for latest updates:
Blog by Damien Newton  http://la.streetsblog.org/2008/04/15/538/

Blog by Neal Broverman   http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/04/ecovillage_want.php

Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Board of Directors met in retreat at L.A. Eco-Village in early February.  Facilitated by internationally renowned consensus facilitator Bea Briggs, the lineup of board members included heavyweights in the world wide movement:   (2/13/08)

Jonathan Dawson, President of GEN, authored the book Ecovillages,  journalist, gardener, story teller, and sustainability educator based at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland www.findhorn.org.   

Ismael Diallo, president of GEN Senegal, is a Belgian-trained hydrologist who heads TROPIS Environment, a local consulting firm which the Government and its funders have contracted as specialists in charge of implementing water protection projects on a national scale.

Max Lindegger, GEN Oceania and Asia representative, is founder and main designer of Crystal Waters Ecovillage in Australia, is the principal of Ecological Solutions, an ecovillage and permaculture training/consulting firm involved in a variety of international projects.  See http://www.ecologicalsolutions.com.au/crystalwaters/

Jonggon Duangsri represents GEN South Asia and provides permaculture trainings in NE Thailand. 

Giovanni Ciarlo, co-founder of Huehuecotyl Ecovillage in Mexico, represents the Ecovillage Network of the Americas.  He is a  musican/performer and is currently involved in academic studies of urban ecovillages. http://www.oasisdesign.net/design/examples/huehue.htm

Linda Joseph, co-founder Earthart Ecovillage in Colorado <www.earthart.org>, is the GEN representative from the Ecovillage Network of the Americas.  She is an elected Saguache County Commissioner,  consults to Manitou Institute on the Habitat Conservation Program and serves on the Board of ScSEED - the Saguache County Sustainable Environment & Economic Development agency.

Alison Rosenblatt, co-founder of Next GEN (the next generation of the Global Ecovillage Network).  Youth rep to GEN, Aly plans to intern with CRSP for the next five months (see below).  She recently did a year long internship with Lost Valley Ecovillage www.lostvalley.org.   She is co-editor with Lois Arkin of the column "Ecovillage Living" for Communities Magazine.

Robert Gilman provided consulting services to the group - He is a city councilman for city of Langley WA http://www.langleywa.org/, co-founder with his late wife Diane Gilman and Ross and Hildur Jackson of Denmark of the global ecovillage movement in the early 90s.   The Gilmans published the award winning In Context Magazine: a quarterly of humane sustainable culture (precursor to Yes! magazine) and were clarifying sustainable culture throughout the 80s and early 90s www.context.org   The study the Gilmans did on ecovillages in 1991 (Eco-Villages and Sustainable Communities) which defined the term "ecovillage" has served as a foundation for many contemporary ecovillage designers.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gilman

Diana Leafe Christian, author of two books on ecovillages and intentional communities, former editor of Communities Magazine, and soon to be publisher of an electronic newsletter on ecovillages provided support to the retreat.  www.dianaleafechristian.com

Alison Rosenblatt is doing a five month internship with CRSP (Feb.- July) and living at LAEV.  Ali comes to us through the Global Ecovillage Network.  As the youth representative to the GEN board, Ali co-founded the Next Generation of Ecovillagers (NextGEN), an emerging network of young people worldwide.  She is a graduate of Skidmore College from which she holds a BS in Management and Business, and graduated Magna Cum Laude.  Her senior thesis was on "A New Paradigm? A Study on the Relationship between Ecovillages and Participatory Research" which she presented at the Fifth International Critical Management Studies Conference at the University of Manchester.  She has come out of the Living Routes program (www.livingroutes.org), and spent considerable time visiting ecovillages around the world as well as an internship at Lost Valley Ecovillage in Oregon.  She will be helping to organize our Spring Permaculture Design Course.  2/13/08

LAEV in the News.  Los Angeles City Beat ran a story in their Frontlines column on "L.A. Unified's EcoDisaster" by Joanna Lin.  2/13/08

Funny Videos and Some Serious Too.  Check them out at:
 http://youtube.com/results?search_query=l.a.+eco-village&search_type=&search=Search or just go to YouTube.com and search <l.a. eco-village>
You'll see "Chicken Races," "Eating Broccoli," "Still Life," and, on the more serious side, snippets of public input at the LAUSD public meeting of January 9, 2008. 2/13/08

Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust First Board members elected.  The BVCLT has three classes of board members:  leasee, general, and public interest.   On January 21, 2008, the very first board was elected.  Leasee representatives include Julio Santizo, Julio Roberto Santizo, Somerset Waters, and Ann Finkelstein.  General Representatives include Michelle Wong, Jill Sourial and Lara Morrison.  Public Interest representatives include Tina Mata, Helen Campbell, and Stephanie Zill.  The BVCLT has been in formation for over two years with representatives from CRSP, the LAEV Intentional Community and a sister organization to CRSP, Cultivating Sustainable Communities.  The Legal Aid Foundation has generously provided legal guidance to the organization.  We are especially grateful to Attorneys Julie Farrell and Barbara Corkrey.  The primary purpose of the BVCLT is to exercise land stewardship as the basis for creating pedestrian-centered neighborhoods emphasizing affordable housing, work and recreational spaces that are economically and socially sustainable, and that integrate urban living with nature.  The target area is within a mile or so radius of the Beverly-Vermont Metro Station.  Watch for more information and how you can become involved.

Some Market Rate Rentals Available in the LAEV Neighborhood
If you would like to live in the LAEV neighborhood, market rate rentals (large one and two bedroom units) may soon be available.  Please be enthusiastic about living without private car ownership (we're very bike and transit oriented; there is a Flexcar in the neighborhood, closeby car rentals, and the possibility of informal car sharing when one is really in need).  We expect you to share LAEV values www.laecovillage.org/values.html and want to live more cooperatively and ecologically.  Call for details.  Lois 213/738-1254.  1/6/08

Shared Streets Project on Bimini Place started.
Many of you who have toured LAEV, know that in 1999, funding was approved to make Bimini Pl. a demonstration "shared street," also known as a traffic calmed street.  Well, the City of L.A. Bureau of Street Services has begun this work.  Sidewalks are being widened and permeable pavement installed.  The street is being narrowed at several points between First and Second.  Food bearing trees will be planted and street furniture and art created.  Thanks to Councilman Eric Garcetti and his field deputy, Alejandra Marroquin, along with Bureau of Street Services Staff, Audry Netsawang, for moving this project along.  And thanks to Joe Linton for getting it all started back in '99. 1/16/08

Old Four-Plex where LAEV started in 1993 destroyed by Los Angeles Unified School District bulldozers!
Friends of LAEV from throughout the world engaged with the LAUSD back in 1997 to save the old four-plex and the extraordinary outdoor classroom that was created by LAEV co-founders Esfandiar Abbassi and Mary Maverick, an outdoor education center that saw the science knowledge shoot way up among the K-2 kids that came to the gardens each day.  1/6/08

Eco-Villager Aurisha Smolarsky-Heims Elected to L.A. County Bicycle Coalition Board (see http://labike.org/) 1/6/08

Eco-Villager Joe Linton elected to Rampart Village Neighborhood Council (see http://www.rampartvillagenc.org/) 1/6/08

Park(ing) Day in Los Angeles  Coming September 21, 2007.  Find a Park(ing) Near You (we'll be having one at LAEV from 11:30 am - 4:30 pm)  Many Eco-Villagers will be involved in the September 21, 2007 Park(ing) Day in Los Angeles.  And you can too.  This will be a city wide event in which a number of groups set up micro parks in parking meter spaces.  There'll be several mobile "park(ings)" via bicycles with bicycle trailers full of the park(ing) makings.  Major fun and a major statement about our park-poor central city areas.  To get involved or know where to drop by to enjoy a park(ing) experience, go to http://parkingdayla.com/  The mission of this special annual event (first year in LA) started by Rebar in San Francisco <http://www.parkingday.org/> is reclaim public space over-occupied by parking spaces for parks and people.  Eco-Villager Joe Linton is helping to coordinate this event.  For a fun video about it, see http://www.myspace.com/parkingdayla (8/20/07)

Neighboring in L.A. Eco-Village
Each Saturday from 5 to 7 pm (during this summer), Eco-Villagers Esfandiar Abbassi and Julio Santizo set up a few folding tables between the sidewalk and the street here in the heart of LAEV.  They put a few orange cones in the street to keep cars from parking in front of the tables.  On the utility poles within 50 feet or so of the tables, they post signs in Spanish and English about what is happening at the tables.  A few chairs are randomly available near the tables.  As pedestrians walk by and cars and bikes ride by, they reach out to them to let them know what is available at the table.  "Hola, buenos tardes. Como esta?  Agui, tenemos libros para la comunidad, adultos y ninos tambien,"  ["Hello, how are you?  We have books for the community, adults and children too."] Julio yells out to a family walking by across the street from the tables.  Pretty soon the family is engaged with the many books on the table.  Lorenzo wanders by and begins drumming on the small instrument he happens to be carrying with him.  Julio rushes into his apartment about 40 feet away and comes out with an armful of small musical instruments which he hands out to the family members.  Julio takes the lead finding the rhythm to Lorenzo's beat and begins singing and dancing, and pretty soon the children are playing an instrument and dancing too.  Other Eco-Villagers wander by and join in the fun, spilling comfortably into the street.  Esfandiar explains the local neighborhood bartering system to the parents and the emergency preparedness training happening soon in the neighborhood and invites them to sign up. Forty minutes later, the family goes on its way with several children's books which they promise to return the following week.  This is typical of what has been going on here the past several weeks.  It is easy and fun.  The tables and signs can be and say anything you want them to about what is going on in your neighborhood.  And your welcome to come by soon on a Saturday at 5 and see how Esfandiar and Julio make it happen. (8/15/07)

LEED Neighborhood Development - Want to be on our Project Team?
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.  It is a term and a set of criteria created by the U.S. Green Building Council.  See www.usgbc.org
LEED has become the national standard for green building during the past several years.  Now for the first time, the USGBC has developed a pilot program to define what constitutes a whole green neighborhood.  CRSP is very excited about registering the Los Angeles Eco-Village Neighborhood as a pilot project.  We are hopeful that we will qualify for certification during the pilot period.  Let us know if you would like to volunteer to be part of this exciting venture.  The work is complex but fascinating, and we will be working to tight deadlines.  We are especially interested in working with folks familiar with GIS and Autocad.  Architects, planners, graduate students in architecture and planning, environmentalists, urban ecologists, transit and bike advocates--there should be at least a little bit for everyone.  If you would like to explore the possibility of what is involved, go to http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=148  If this is something your heart, knowledge, skills and, most importantly, time, will allow for in the next six to eight months, please contact Lois (213/738-1254) or Lara (213/383-8684). (8/3/07)

New L.A. Eco-Village Intentional Community Membership Procedure
The LAEV-IC has been in the process of revising the membership process for a few years now.  The first segment of the process has been consensed on.  For an introduction to the process, see http://urbansoil.net/wiki.cgi/Becoming_a_member   You can follow details on the progress of our process at http://urbansoil.net/wiki.cgi/  It is possible to live in the LAEV neighborhood without being a member of the LAEV Intentional Community (see above item on Market Rate Rentals...).  (8/3/07)

The LAEV Food Co-op
The Co-op is up and running.  It is small for right now--generally between 10 and 20 members--while the formation group works out the kinks.  Most members are Eco-Villagers, though there are a few from outside the immediate area.  The group is buying organic veggies and sometimes a few fruits from two different farmers who deliver after the Sunday Hollywood Farmers' Market.  Co-op teams, collect the money, receive the food, box it and deliver it to Eco-Villagers or store it in our fridge till others pick it up.  Watch for opportunities when the co-op is ready to expand.   See http://urbansoil.net/wiki.cgi/LAEV_Food_Coop (8/3/07)

L.A. Eco-Villager Joe Linton Working with Livable Places and Helping to Coordinate PARK(ING) DAY IN L.A. 9/21/07
Long time Eco-Village activist resident--and LA River activist, L.A. County Bicycle Coalition co-founder, artist, author of Down by the L.A. River and more--has taken a position with Livable Places as a policy associate.  One of his first major projects is to help coordinate Park(ing) Day which will occur on September 21, 2007.  The idea behind Park(ing) Day is to create micro parks within a street parking meter space for the day in dense park-poor central cities.  It is a worldwide movement.  Several locations are being planned in L.A.  Learn more about iPark(ing) Day by watching this amazing video http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parkingday/trailer/   If you would like to volunteer, go to www.parkingdayla.com (8/3/07)

EcoMaya Festival Founder and L.A. Eco-Villager Julio Santizo
Julio has been struggling with colon cancer for the past 2-1/2 years and was recently diagnosed as free of the disease.  There is still a difficult operation looming for him in the next few months.  If you would like to send him good wishes or know someone who has been struggling with this disease and would like to be part of a support group with him, write him at ecomaya@azeteca.net (8/3/07)

Dedan Gills Transitions to the Bay Area
Long time Eco-Villager Dedan Gills has relocated to the Bay Area to join his fiancée Belvie Brooks.  They are off for an extended visit to Africa where they will be married.  Dedan will be working with at-risk youth in the Bay area when they return.  Dedan was instrumental in helping LAEV develop a new level of maturity through his work with the Conflict Committee.  He will be missed.

Maybe Fridays. 
Eco-Villager Arturo Aranda has organized a monthly "open mic" event at LAEV.  Called "Maybe Fridays," the event happens the third Friday evening each month, though not necessarily--which is why it's called "Maybe Fridays."  (7/20/07)

Eco-Villager Michelle Wong debuts cart Business at Beverly/Vermont Metro Station
Selling fair trade organic coffee (purchased from another Eco-Village entrepreneur, Angel Orozco of the Coffee Cellar) tea, and healthy snacks, you can catch her most week days if you happen to be passing by the Metro at Beverly/Vermont.   Please patronize our budding Eco-Village eco-entrepreneurs when you have an opportunity. (7/20/07)

A Big Day in the Los Angeles Eco-Village:  Somer and Aurisha Marry
Just a little over a month ago, Eco-Villagers Somer and Aurisha tied the knot in an exquisite setting in Elysian Park.  About one-third of the the 150 people attending rode their bikes to the site.  Relatives of the couple came from Poland, Paris, New York, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and all over LA.  The bride and groom, both professional musicians, in addition to writing their own vows, played music to each other as part of the ceremony: Somer on cello and Aurisha on violin.  Somer rode down the aisle on his custom made very high bike, and the bride's father rode her in a carriage hooked up to the back of a bike.  Unfortunately, it seems to have gotten a  little stuck, so Dad did actually walk her down the aisle.  A great feast followed the ceremony on beautifully set tables right there in the park.  Of course, public park spaces are "first come, first served," so thanks to Eco-Villager Esfandiar Abbassi who got out to the park site at 6 am that morning to save the place.  Many hours later,  friends and neighbors delivered and set up the tables, and the caterers brought the feast.  A rather remarkable composting toilet was set up.  Unfortunately it was for liquid only, and this writer is still not sure what folks did for No. 2.  Eco-Villagers Ann Finkelstein baked the wedding cakes which went very quickly.  Ann had been practicing her cake baking recipes on the community for several weeks before the wedding, and wow! she had it down.  The cakes were gone pretty quickly.  That night, dozens of wedding celebrants rode their bikes from the park to Lili Lakich's Neon Studio downtown where dancing and partying continued till midnight when they all rode home.  The nitrogen rich "liquids only" box did end up enriching local soils.  (7/20/07)

Eco-Village Edward Locke is awarded PhD Fellowship at University of Georgia
Long time Eco-Villager Edward Locke recently received news of his fellowship in Engineering.  He will be studying Engineering and teaching.  Edward moved to LAEV in 1999.  He is an inventor, translator and expert in Asian history and geo-politics.  We wish him well in his new adventures.  (7/20/07)

Diana Sacks Passes On
Long time Eco-Villager Diana Sacks died in February after a two year struggle with breast cancer.  She moved to Eco-Village in 1995.  Diana was a story-teller extraordinaire and loved working with children.  She gardened and was passionate about picking up trash and creating beauty.  She was also a great lover of cats and had two.  She spent many hours with several Eco-Village neighbor kids, helping them on Halloween, reading to them, tutoring them.  She was a poet, and we'll be getting some of her poems up here on this website or our wiki soon. She is in our thoughts.  She was 66 and is survived by her brother, David Sacks.   (7/20/07)

Ecovillage Network of the Americas Meeting in Brazil
Lois Arkin, CRSP Executive Director and Place Holding Council Representative for the Western U.S. for the Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA)  attended the recent meeting in the Atlantic Rainforest about four hours from Sao Paulo Brazil at the IPEMA Ecovillage http://www.ipemabrasil.org.br/  Twenty persons attended the meeting including representatives from five of the nine regions of ENA.  ENA's mission is to engage the peoples of the Americas in common effort to join the global transformation towards an ecologically, economically, and culturally sustainable future. ENA serves as the Western Hemisphere representative of the Global Ecovillage Network and works to unite cultures from North, Central and South Americas and the Caribbean to become a unified force in the ecovillage and sustainability movements.  If you are interested in helping Lois do some ecovillage organizing in the Western U.S., please make contact at 213/738-1254.  Learn more about ENA at http://ena.ecovillage.org  (7/20/07)

L.A. Eco-Village and Eco-Villagers in the News:  
-  The L.A. Times Home Section runs a letter to the editor also on Nov. 30 from Eco-Villager Lois Arkin in response to their 11/23 feature article on planting a million trees in L.A.   Lois writes:  "Thank you for this informative article.  However, in an era when oil is peaking, putting our food supply at risk--yes, pretty much everything we eat that we don't grow in our neighborhoods is oil dependent!-- we should be planting a variety of fruit and nut trees everywhere in our public and private spaces.  Our city has thousands of miles of superfluous auto parking lanes in residential areas. These could become orchards and food forests.  Children in all of  our neighborhoods could be learning how to take care of one another in the context of taking care of our future food supply in our neighborhoods.  Mayors and schools that really want to prepare kids for a future on this rapidly warming planet, take note!"
-  The Washington Post Magazine ran a cover feature story on Earthaven Ecovillage Sunday November 19, 2006 and invited readers to respond.   See the
story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111400979.html.  An interesting on-line discussion followed this story
at: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/11/17/DI2006111700851.html>, including a response from Eco-Villager Lois Arkin  (11/28/06)
-  Coffee Cellar entrepreneur and L.A. Eco-Villager Angel Orozco was the subject in a feature on the new coffee giants in L.A. who are roasting their own fair trade and organic coffees.  Check it out at http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-artisan25oct25,1,7962221.story?coll=la-headlines-food  Visit Angel's website at  http://www.coffeecellar.com

LAEV has a place at My Space thanks to a new friend, Alveraz Ricardez.  Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/laecovillage.  (11/28/06)


Lizard bench or is it a dragon bench?
Thanks to artist and cob builder Ray Cirino, the first L.A. Eco-Village cob bench is nearing completion.  It's a lizard (or a dragon) adjacent to the sidewalk under the sipote tree.  It even has a metal sculpture about 20 feet away with an underground tube to the lizard's (or is it a dragon's) ear that kids can try out their dragon sounds on.  Ray is available for facilitating other community groups on neighborhood cob benches and ovens. Contact him at <cobanation@yahoo.com> for fees and availability.  (11/12/06)

Japan Hosts International Ecovillage Conference
CRSP director Lois Arkin was recently invited to Tokyo by the BeGood Cafe for their two day International Ecovillage Conference held October 28-29.  She was asked to give a presentation on the L.A. Eco-Village at the sold-out event attended by over 250 people, mostly young activists.  BeGood Cafe founded  in 1999 by Shikita Kiyoshi  is a nonprofit organization that offers solutions and strategies for restoring Earth and its communities.  They promote lifestyle changes through workshops, conferences, speakers, musical events, and a traveling cafe featuring vegetarian organic food.  Currently, thirteen major Japanese cities host BeGood activities.

With the work of the BeGood folks along with other environmental and social activist groups and the sustainable development academic community, it appears that Japan is poised for a significant ecovillage movement in both rural and urban areas.  More than 130,000 villages dot the nation, providing ample opportunity for learning and teaching traditional living patterns.  In one village Lois visited, about 2 hours by train from Tokyo, the countryside was already dotted with single family detached houses with 2 and 3 car garages, illustrating the worst of U.S. suburban sprawl.  One thing the Japanese ecovillage movement will have going for it is that much of the rural agricultural land is restricted to buyers who are professional farmers.  So it seems that ecovillage groups with farmers among them would be able to acquire such lands.  And in many parts of Tokyo, narrow mixed use streets adjacent to train stations and major bus routes appear to lend themselves nicely to urban ecovillage retrofits.

Others from the Global Ecovillage Network among the speakers at this conference included Liz Walker from EcoVillage at Ithaca and Max Lindegger from Crystal Waters in Australia.  Marti Mueller of Auroville in India, also a presenter, worked with the BeGood staff to help organize the event.  Well known sustainability architects, permaculture and eco community founders were among the Japanese presenters, including Nihon University Professor of Bio-resources Sciences Kouji Itonaga, Architect Professor Kazuo Iwamura of Musashi Institute, BIO-City Magazine Editor Hiroki Sugita, Tokyo Cohousing Founder Hiroko Kimura, Kobunaki Ecovillage founder Chikyu No Me, and PICA Lake Yamanaka For more info on the BeGood Cafe, go to http://www.begoodcafe.com/ (11/15/06)

Street Redesign on Bimini Place
As many of you are aware, in about 2000, the City of L.A. set aside about $250,000 as a result of a proposal developed by Eco-Villager Joe Linton to redesign Bimini Place into a demonstration shared street.  As many as 40 shared streets are called for in the specific plan Eco-Village is in.  Known as the Station Neighborhood Area Plan or SNAP, the plan also calls for more mixed land uses, live/work spaces, affordable housing, parks, sustainable design standards, bicycle infrastructure, and, at one time, even a demonstration car-free neighborhood. 

Well finally this year and next, that money is becoming available to the City to move forward on our demonstration shared street.  A series of meetings is in process to get more input from neighbors.  Along with Councilman Eric Garcetti's office, the Department of Street Services and the Department of Transportation are also involved in the planning process.  As a result of the first two meetings, here is a sampling of the input provided by Eco-Village neighbors:

-  Be skateboard friendly
-  Eliminate diesel delivery trucks and busses
-  Transform the alleyway into a green promenade
-  Include a demonstration of permeable pavement
-  Maximize youth and community participation in the construction of the project
-  Provide more bike racks, plus have street furniture, trash cans, and recycle cans
-  Create a fruit and nut orchard the entire length of Bimini in conjunction with children and youth
-  Create a mini park on Bimini Place to provide more green space and eliminate short-cut traffic through the neighborhood

Please let us know if you would like to be informed about these community meetings: 213/738-1254 or <crsp@igc.org>