EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Three, Number Five May/June 1994 A SUSTAINABLE ECO-VILLAGE EMERGES IN THE HEART OF RIOT-TORN LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Eco-Village, "a sustainable community in process", is located in the two block Bimini-White House Place neighborhood 3 miles west of downtown L.A. It is home for 500 people, including 100 children, who live in 172 units of somewhat blighted housing in 12 investor owned 80 year old apartment buildings At least 13 ethnic groups speaking four different languages are represented in this mixed use neighborhood of residential, retail and light industrial activities. Resources in the area, in addition to the multi-skilled residents, include the Mary Lind Foundation (alcohol and drug recovery home), Virgil Jr. High School, White House Place Primary Center, the Bresee Institute (for youth and community services) and the First Church of the Nazarene which has been very active in meeting the emergency human needs of the community. It is also the home of the Cooperative Resources and Services Project (CRSP), the coordinating organization for the Eco-village. Since 1980 CRSP has been a comprehensive resource center for small ecological cooperative communities of all kinds. Following the 1992 Los Angeles riots CRSP brought together 25 persons as the L.A. Eco-Village Planning and Advisory Group to create a sustainable community in its home neighborhood. In January 1993, at the beginning of the process, very few residents knew one another. They were fearful of each other, and there were no neighborhood activities. The following is a sample of accomplishments in the last 15 months: Thirty youngsters are stewarding newly planted fruit trees. Three community gardens are in process, with 40 cubic yards of green waste composted. Traffic calming activities have begun at the intersection of White House and Bimini Place. A junior recycling co-op and pilot apartment recycling project is providing a livelihood for youth. Forty tons of red clay brick from the January 1994 earthquake are being diverted from the landfill for Eco-Village projects. There is a neighborhood newsletter and news kiosk. A neighborhood Local Exchange Trading System (LETS), a community based credit economy which CRSP initiated in 1987, helps people trade goods and services without cash. In addition, weekly potlucks, weekly open house, monthly neighborhood meetings, field trips, education and outreach, twice weekly work days, student research projects, neighborhood organizing and the working relationships that have been established with the business and cultural resources in the community have enabled hundred of neighbors to know one another, work together and thus to build a stronger, safer neighborhood. Over the next 18 months the group plans, among other things: to activate a mutual housing association and land trust, purchase up to 16 units of housing for permanently affordable cooperatives; install a demonstration grey water reclamation system; retrofit residential buildings for energy and water efficiency and source separation recycling; establish a non-polluting vehicle cooperative; facilitate youth and family camping experiences; complete a children's health survey; expand programs into adjacent blocks; and create a collaboratively designed and built sculpture which identifies the Eco-Village neighborhood. For more on L.A. Eco-Village write Lois Arkin, Executive Director, CRSP, 3551 White House Place, Los Angeles CA 90004, (213) 738-1254. Home     Table of Contents