The Southern California Town Meeting

In Preparation for the United Nations City Summit

January 27, 1996, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

CONTENTS

Executive Summary 1

Sustainable Community Framework Statement 2

Morning Plenary

Summary of Morning Presentations:

Dr. Jane Pisano, Dean, University of Southern California,

School of Public Administration 3

Don Edwards, Director, U.S. Network for Habitat II 3

Kathleen Hiyake, Asian Pacific American Legal Center 4

Rick Cole, Local Government Commission 5

Marvin Holen, Former President, Rapid Transit District 5

Lillian Kawasaki, City of Los Angeles, Department of

Environmental Affairs 5

Ron Lamb, President, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce 6

Hugo Morris, Director of Public Affairs, Teamsters Joint Council #42 6

Dr. Shirley Fannin, Director of Disease Control, Los Angeles County

Department of Health Services 6

Victoria Castro, Board of Education,

Los Angeles Unified School District 6

Tanya Tull, Co-founder, Beyond Shelter 7

Questions and Comments from the Audience 7

Concluding Remarks 9

Summary Reports from the Workshops

Sustainable Economic Development and Jobs 10

Environment 13

Public Health and Disaster Preparedness 14

Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Communal Relations 16

Poverty Alleviation and Shelter 17

Governance and Public Participation 18

Transportation and Communications 20

Education and Youth 21

Acknowledgements 23

HABITAT II, "The City Summit"

The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II or "the City Summit") will take place June 3-14, 1996, in Istanbul, Turkey, on the twentieth anniversary of the first Habitat Conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Habitat II is the culmination of a series of U.N. conferences held during the 1990s, and has as its overarching goal to "make the world's cities, towns, and villages safe, equitable, and sustainable." Since over half of the world's population will live or work in cities and towns by the year 2000, cities will play a critical role in fostering or impeding sustainable development.

In preparation for the City Summit, national governments have been asked to prepare plans of action outlining their strategies for tackling pressing urban problems. In order to give citizens from the Los Angeles area an opportunity to participate in the process of recommending goals and solutions for making cities sustainable, the Pasadena Chapter of the United Nations Association and the Southern California Council on Environment and Development held a local City Summit on Saturday, January 27, at the University of Southern California.

Three hundred people from organizations, government, business, universities, and private citizens participated in the City Summit in Southern California. It began with a panel of experts who outlined the current state of the region on issues of importance for our future - poverty alleviation and shelter, governance, environment, transportation and communications, inter/intra communal relations, and public health and disaster preparedness. In workshop sessions on these issues, participants outlined goals and measurable objectives for sustainability, and then prioritized strategies and models for implementation.

The recommendations from Los Angeles have been forwarded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for inclusion in the U.S. National Plan of Action. They have also been sent to those working on the Global Plan of Action, which will be the final report from the Summit in Turkey, and to the U.S. Network for Habitat II, to be included in the report being produced by the non-governmental organizations.

In addition, the Planning Committee that organized the Southern California City Summit is developing follow-up steps to our local City Summit and to the United Nations City Summit, with its final document, the Global Plan of Action, in order to move toward sustainability in Southern California.

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES:

A Sustainable Communities Framework Statement

By Dianne Herring, Eco-Cities Council

The task of our City Summit is to examine ways to translate the ideals of sustainability into working realities within the context of modern, urban development. To understand our task, we must first know what is meant by sustainability.

In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Paul Hawken describes sustainability simply as a "golden rule...leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do." The fact that sustainability is such a simple concept is what makes it so difficult to define. A sustainable system is one that can be maintained over the long term. The implications of this long term view are the heart of sustainability: use resources wisely, limit consumption, cooperate with others, take responsibility for yourself and your children, create self-managing systems, care for the earth and all life systems. In practical terms, sustainability implies maximizing the efficient use of energy, water and materials. It means cycling and recycling, creating closed loops where the output of one process is the input of another. It means doing as much as possible locally, utilizing the resources and talents of the local community and region.

A sustainable community has a human scale: it is of a size that allows people to feel they can influence events which impact their own lives. A sustainable community contains balanced proportions of all the major functions of normal living. Activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world, and people see themselves as part of natural ecosystems rather than controllers of those systems. Material resources are used cyclically and in proportions that can be properly assimilated by natural systems. Energy resources are used efficiently. A sustainable community supports healthy human development involving a balanced integration of all aspects of life, by individuals as well as the community as a whole, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future. The sustainable community reflects the character and the qualities of its region and avoids living in unseen ways off resources taken from other parts of society.

There is no single right way to create a sustainable ecosystem or home, neighborhood, suburb, city or region. Each pattern celebrates that unique combination of living energy and natural forces that emerges from each time and place. Ultimately, a sustainable community is founded on compassion, truth, cooperation and justice.

The task of this conference is to examine ways to translate these high ideals into working realities within the context of modern, urban development.

Every person, every community has a place in the creation of sustainability. Our city is one out of many around the world who are gathering together to discuss policies and actions that will create a sustainable future.

Summary of Morning Presentations

Dylan Presman, Conference Co-coordinator: We want to thank our sponsors for making this meeting possible: The Southern California District Council of Laborers; the Southern California Nuclear Freeze Foundation; the United Nations Association-USA, Pasadena/Foothills Chapter; the Southern California Council on Environment and Development; and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Dr. Jane Pisano, Vice President for External Relations and Dean of the School of Public Administration, USC: There are two conditions that undergird all development:

1. Participation: Unless we can increase our civic participation, we will not be successful in broader development. The only way to build communities with memory and trust is for people to participate. We need to involve social institutions, such as labor unions, churches, universities, etc. We at USC are working with our local community, recognizing that in the future we are going to have to rely on ourselves and not on government.

2. Governance: In California, after Proposition 13, there is no accountability for services at any level of government. As Federal dollars decrease, and are given to the States in block grants, more power will be in the hands of the States. This means those of us who care about urban development will have to work together more closely than ever. I believe the California Constitution Revision Commission has proposed more effective structures for municipal governments, but we have to work to make that happen.

Don Edwards, Director of the U.S. Network for Habitat II: Congratulations, you are part of a series of meetings across the country in preparation for Habitat II.

I represent the international NGO facilitating group for the U.N. City Summit, also known as Habitat II. The Secretary General for Habitat II, Wally N'Dow, has been a long-time supporter of NGO participation in UN events. I hope many of you will come to the NGO Forum in Istanbul to meet with your peers from around the world.

Henry Cisneros could not be here because of the ongoing budget crisis in Washington. I will share the message from this meeting with Vice President Al Gore who will head the US Delegation to Istanbul, and with Tim Wirth, the Assistant Secretary of State.

The road to Istanbul started 20 years ago at Habitat I in Vancouver in 1976, which was the first time governments came together to address shelter issues on a global basis. Then in 1988, a major document was prepared, the global strategy for Shelter for All. Habitat II has been in planning since 1991, with preparatory meetings in Geneva, Nairobi, and finally in New York City starting this February 5.

The Global Plan of Action is the key document for governments to make commitments to each other for creating sustainable communities. The draft is available on-line. Today we have an opportunity to make input into both the Global Plan and the draft U.S. National Report. We also want U.S. citizens to come to New York City and encourage the U.S. delegation to make a strong stand at the preparatory meeting.

Since 1990, when we started working on the Earth Summit, the NGOs have been creating a mechanism to speak to our governments and to other citizens around the world. Habitat II is the culmination of a series of summits put together by the United Nations: the 1992 Earth Summit, the 1992 Human Rights Conference, the 1994 Conference on Population, the 1995 Summit on Social Development, and the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women. We want to bring the throughput from all 5 summits to Istanbul, to apply them to our towns and cities.

The outcome will be the Istanbul Compact which will look at housing and shelter strategy and address the broader issues, such as how population and migration impact on cities, women's access to credit, international migration patterns, the quality of our built environment in cities, how housing is a human right, etc.

Here in Los Angeles, a fast growing megacity, we have an opportunity to talk about a new vision for the next millennium, when the era of big government is over. The vision behind these town meetings is to discuss what happens when you find everything is coming together. We are facing a watershed national election this fall; the future of the U.N. for the next 50 years is under discussion. All this creates the opportunity for trying to move forward with a vision of something different.

The U.S. Network for Habitat II was built on previous networks, when people seized a new vision to create a future more in line with their needs. Istanbul is an opportunity to take a new look at the city. Our choice is whether we want to have sustainable communities and cities. We need to organize ourselves at the grassroots level. Don't stay home this November and let people be elected who don't support our vision.

Today we are focusing not only on Istanbul or on our government, but on the community in which you live. After the Rodney King verdict and L.A. burned, we know we can't take it for granted that we are able to sit in this room today. We need to look at how we can ensure equity and justice. We will look back on this day, knowing that we took a stand and took control of our futures and we did it because there was no one else who would do it.

Moderator: Patt Morrison, L.A. Times columnist, co-host of KCET's "Life and Times," adjunct professor at the USC School of Journalism:

Kathleen Hiyake, Program Director for Leadership Development in Inter-ethnic Relations Program: Inter-ethnic and communal relations is a central issue of urban development. Over the past 4 years L.A. has been at the center of a hotbed of inter-group relations, with the disturbances following the King verdict, the O.J. Simpson trial, Officer Mark Fuhrman's statements, and all the resulting polarization.

But the tensions in our community predate the King verdict. The Multi-Cultural Collabora-tive reports in the past 3 years there has been no progress in race relations. There is the targeting of different communities against eachother. There is the anti-immigration fervor (Proposition 187). At the community level we see increasing isolation, people looking after themselves first, pitting of group against group.

We need to see better inter-group relations tied to social justice for all of us in our communities. Let's not see inter-ethnic relations as separate, but connected to all the urban issues. And it's not just a black vs. white issue, but is very complex.

We need to equip ourselves and our leaders to deal with these issues, provide practical training. There is a lack of institutional and government support: only 13 county staff people deal with this issue for 9 million people, and only 1 staff person for the entire City of L.A. Let's see how this issue can be incorporated across all the issues we discuss today.

Rick Cole, Southern California Director of the Local Government Commission, Council member for City of Pasadena: Once we thought of L.A. as unique, but global cities across the world are looking more like us, a glittering enclave for the affluent, fraying bastions for the middle class, and slums for the poor. Each city has a first world part, second world part and third world part. If you don't believe it, go to County Hospital's emergency room. It seems the mega-structures serve the global marketplace and decisions are made on behalf of private interests, and the civic infrastructure of schools, parks, healthcare and affordable housing is left to crumble.

We need to reawaken civic participation. The only way a thousand lobbyists can dominate the MTA is because 10 million citizens allow them. The elites are turning their backs on cities, schools, and even highways, and the result is a lower quality of life for all. We all seek safe streets, good schools and economic opportunities. We should start first in our own neighborhood, but not be limited to it. The regional level is where the major investments in transportation, etc. are being made. Everything on the globe affects us. We are bringing a new vision of freedom, that the "government of, by and for the people will not perish."

Marvin Holen, past RTD, LACTC and MTA Board Member, American Public Transit Association: I have served 20 years as a citizen soldier for public transit in L.A.

In terms of moving toward a sustainable urban community, we are doing miserably. Since 1985 we have reduced the use of public transportation by about 20%, in spite of increases in population. Since taxpayers approved a 1cents sales tax, the MTA has the largest discretionary checkbook in L.A. We started a number of construction projects but they have mostly gone awry. The 30 year plan, if implemented, would have provided a transit stop within a half mile of only 11% of the population of L.A. We lost money for transit system management, which would be the best bang for the buck, instead put it into badly planned capital projects. The Metrorail project is a good project, but badly implemented, creating an imbalance in the use of resources that is undermining our bus system.

Lillian Kawasaki, General Manager of the L.A. City Environmental Affairs Dept., member of National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Subcommittee on Wasle and Facility Siting: We have to redesign the urban form, and deal with sprawl. The result of our current approach is not sustainable, yielding a degraded natural environment and diminished quality of life. L.A. has the worst air quality in the nation and our children have 15% decreased lung capacity. Our reliance on the auto produces long commutes and congestion. Portions of our water supply is contaminated, our natural environment is mostly gone, 95% of wetlands are destroyed, hundreds of species gone. We find former industrial sites left contaminated and vacant, discouraging reinvestment in the inner city cores. The result is a high unemployment and poverty area in the city.

Our strategies for healthy and liveable communities include:

* Reduce auto dependence; increase mass transit options.

* Redesign the urban form through enhanced land use planning.

* Use less polluting vehicles

* Do comprehensive watershed planning on stormwater pollution, river habitats, etc.

* Inform the public of our individual obligations to protect the environment.

* Develop a more cooperative and integrated approach among SCAG, SCAQMD, and other regional agencies.

* Develop a strong partnership between government, private sectors, and the community.

* Address all three issues of environment, economy, and equity together.

* Reinvest in and revitalize our distressed communities and address environmental justice.

Ron Lamb, Vice President of L.A. Chamber of Commerce: Our economy is interdependent; a sustainable economy includes health, environment, etc. We must be sensitive to human needs and rights. The number of jobs needs to increase, but they are projected to rise slowly, partly influenced by the slow national economy.

Manufacturing outlook is bright in Southern California, with exports increasing and capital spending growing. A stand-out is our innovative technology sector, with apparel and electronics also growing. Our defense cutbacks are ended, and defense spending is now flat, with the continued production of the B-2 and B-17. Construction spending of $2 billion for Metrorail and $1.8 billion for the Alameda corridor will provide a good stimulus. We also project Federal investment in space will increase and the economy in Mexico will improve from NAFTA, resulting in increased jobs here. We project inflation will end and lower mortgage rates will spur housing purchases, with current housing values remaining stable.

Hugo Morris, Director of Public Affairs for Teamsters Joint Council #42: Ron Lamb did not mention any projected increases in wages and benefits for the average family in order to sustain purchasing power in this area. We believe the Chamber of Commerce has not shown the social concern they should.

Organized labor is the major force for raising standards of living, providing health care and job security. Although organized labor nationally now comprises only 16% of the labor force, it is 25% in L.A. County. Our 400 local unions represent 700,000 members, which means work conditions are determined by unions for 2 million people and their families. We need employers to be both profitable and to have a social conscience. I urge you to help to establish laws to support collective bargaining, a higher minimum wage, and fair social insurance systems to protect people. As you saw in the demonstration out front, USC workers are faced with loss of income and health and welfare benefits, because USC is considering contracting out their work in order to pay lower wages and benefits.

Dr. Shirley Fannin, Director of Disease Control, L.A. County Dept. of Health Services: I see public health as more than health of the members of the public, but as a vital part of the cohesion in a community . It helps people understand where and why diseases are occuring in the community, so people can prevent problems. Public health intervenes to prevent the spread of disease and the social disruption that could happen if people panic about disease. We also bring attention to bear on unsafe conditions in the community and build public coalitions as necessary. We educate the community and help the community prepare itself for emergencies. Over the past 20 years, I have analyzed disasters and developed strategies to mitigate the effects. Community participation is the key. Government can provide transportation to hospitals, protect people from fires, etc. but it can't take care of individual citizens. People helping people brings us back to normal more rapidly than people staying behind closed doors.

Victoria Castro, Member of Board of Education of L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD): I have been an educator for 30 years, and now I am glad to be a spokesperson for L.A. schools, which are now approaching 60% Latino. The policies of LAUSD are not necessarily based on student or community needs, because public education is intermixed with the politics and economy of this state. Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. I grew up in the era when the schools were the setting for democracy. At one time California's Master Plan for Education was a model for the nation, and we were ranked third in the country, now we are ranked 42 or 47th. The key to improvement is civic participation. We have trained teachers to teach public values, including dealing with diversity. We also need to deal with the violence issues.

Dr. Tanya Tull, Founder of Beyond Shelter and Para Los Ninos, Chair of the L.A. Coordinating Committee for Homeless Families: I believe poverty is where we face the greatest barriers to a sustainable community, as the gap between rich and poor increases and the middle class shrinks.

There are 1.8 million living in poverty in L.A. County. Homelessness is the most visible sign of the increased poverty in America, with a total of 236,000 homeless individuals in L.A. County last year. California has cut assistance payments by 30% since 1980, to only $607 per month for a family of three, and $212 for a single person. Poverty is the biggest single predictor for crime, abuse, and neglect. Homelessness disrupts the entire family, and sometimes results in separation of parents and children. As people are unable to survive, no matter how hard they try, they become angry and depressed. As jobs and opportunity decrease, hopelessness and despair increase in direct correlation. The patchwork of services in communities is overloaded and fragmented.

But we must not give in to despair. We need to provide the "safety net" for some and the "ladder up" from despair for others.

Questions and Comments from the Audience

Jon Shaughnessy, Progressive Network: What is being done in terms of increased participation and empowerment of people? People do not participate because they don't see themselves or their organizations as having power.

Rick Cole: We need more democracy in the workplace and neighborhood. In Pasadena we have neighborhood associations that empower people to address local issues.

David Guizar: The LAUSD should deal with the decline in our schools. We need a new master plan put into effect, so teachers take responsibility for teaching our children better.

Vicki Castro: The master plan is the California master plan. I agree the LAUSD is in crisis. The LEARN reform program is not working -- the parent participation is not sufficient, perhaps because the parents do not feel welcome at schools. There is a lack of resources, so we have to reinvent how people can volunteer to help our schools.

Marvin Schachter, UNA: We are faced with structural unemployment, caused by changes in the way we organize our economy and jobs. For example, every merger produces layoffs. The market is not solving the problems.

Ron Lamb: There is a cyclical nature of the economy, but we need to address structural change -- we need to have consumers with money to spend.

Hugo Morris: The rhetoric from Washington, DC is that the market will take care of everything and we just need to downsize government, but I believe that government can provide the pump to prime the economy. We have the money but not the will to do something about the problems. I hope the November 1996 elections will change that.

Judy Prather: How will we create the atmosphere in Istanbul so real change happens? Others distrust Americans, not see us as team players.

Don Edwards: Yes, there is questioning of U.S. leadership, yet our country is one of the few allowing citizen input into the draft National and UN Plans. Implementation requires action networks, beyond individual organizations. Other countries want to know how to create independent networks. You are communicating hope.

Rick Cole: Our media is asleep. There is not one TV camera here even though 300 people are seriously grappling with the major urban issues.

Tanya Tull: The U.S. Congress believes the problem of homelessness should be solved on the neighborhood level, but we need to macro-scale up our solutions.

Richard Seeley, Zero Population Growth: Shouldn't we deal with the population stabilization and over-consumption issue?

Lillian Kawasaki: We need to manage our growth by providing individual education, local and regional land use planning, but not control growth. We need to develop strategies to redirect growth, but we cannot stop growth.

Doris Rigby, Interbranch Council for Women: We are concerned with our poor education results. Do we test poorly because of so many students speak Spanish?

Vicki Castro: Only a third of the 57% Latino students are Spanish or other language speakers. The major problem is the voters are not all parents, and defeat needed funding.

Ordinary Citizen: I ride the bus, and it is too much for people to have to pay $3.20 per day to go anywhere. What can we do? I wrote a letter, but got a brush-off response.

Marvin Holen: I agree the bus fares are too high, which caused a decline in ridership. With a 50cents fare in 1985 we got an increase. It is a question of allocation of resources, but the MTA has failed. To be sustainable you have to expand the transit system. We need creative political leadership.

Ron Swenson: Why is there no media coverage of the national campaign for recycling at the Olympics? Why is the media not preparing the public for the end of oil?

Patt Morrison: The news media cover stories like sports, who's winning and losing. Until that paradigm is changed, and the subtleties recognized, the media will not help.

Ben Neufeld, American Veterans Committee: The major work stoppages have to do with health benefits. Why is the labor movement letting employers not provide health benefits?

Hugo Morris: The unions are the most powerful force in improving the quality of lives of people, but sometimes it is not possible to maintain benefits. The problem of striker replacement decreases their ability to go on strike, for example, UAW lost to Caterpillar.

Rex Link: We have listened to talk about giving power to local people, but they are burning up the rainforest. Do you believe local people can think globally?

Lillian Kawasaki: The individual needs to be fully informed.

Leonard Shapiro: For public participation to happen, people need to be presented with promising issues and opportunities to make a difference. I lay the blame on the power structures who do not help people's participation.

Rick Cole: I challenge all citizens to be active, we must signal our leaders of our concerns.

Ian McIlyaine: Ron Lamb did not address the issue of sustainability of the economy. Is all economic growth good? What about the quality of our lives?

Ron Lamb: We do not seem to have the needed resources. For economic growth to be adequately distributed among all parts of society, there need to be changes in government.

David Harris, Transformation 2000: Three years ago the Mayors' Conference asked the government to provide interest-free money to municipalities to pay off their loans and do needed infrastructure work. We need an honest money system, rather than giving our money to a private bank, the Federal Reserve System.

Hugo Morris: That problem is beyond what we are addressing today.

Shirley Fannin: I hope we leave this conference with hope, not despair. Local people can solve problems, e.g. our TB control program has worked, even on Skid Row.

Anibel Comelo, Local 11: What do you say to the 300 employees who are fighting to avoid reduced income by USC canceling their contract?

Ron Lamb: Just because the economy is expanding does not mean there is justice for all. We are in a competitive global economy, but we need to be sensitive to the needs of all people.

Hugo Morris: The "global economy" is a smoke screen, there is no global competition for local janitorial and food service jobs.

Concluding Remarks

Wendy Greuel, Southern California Representative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): I am representing HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros who sends his greetings. The people in Washington, DC say it is the center of power, but I say that communities are the real center of power.

Cities have the key role in economic development and cultural life of our nation; they are a magnet for expertise and diversity of talent. But our cities are in trouble, they isolate the poor from economic opportunities, and they are disconnected from the well-to-do. Unemployment is low in many areas, but not in the inner cities. The out-migration to the suburbs means the social despair is spreading outward.

At a recent US Conference of Mayors meeting, Secretaries Reich, Peña and Cisneros talked about child care, transportation and how municipal governments are the first line of addressing city problems, and they would rather the money go directly to the cities. But this year there is zero money for summer youth employment programs anywhere.

HUD's priorities are:

1. Homeless: We propose $71 million for the L.A. area to provide a continuum of care, including housing, jobs, health care, mental health, etc.

2. Empowerment Zones: We want to provide seed money for zones that look at the whole community, including transportation, housing, public services, and community involvement and can target resources on needy neighborhoods.

3. Home Ownership: We have been concentrating on providing ways to help people own their own homes.

4. Public Housing: We want to offer tenants a choice of where to live. Secretary Cisneros is proposing projects be a "campus of learners" providing education, child care, etc. so that people can get out, if they want. We want to remove the disincentives and increase the Section 8 housing subsidy program, but there are no new Section 8 certificates available for this year.

Secretary Cisneros is supporting U.S. involvement in Habitat II. HUD has prepared the draft of the National Report. We have picked 25 best practices of examples of how U.S. ideas can be applied in other countries, which will be presented at the February meeting in New York. Secretary Cisneros is very interested in your ideas and wants to work with you. You can call me with your recommendations at 213-251-7122.

Summary Reports from the Workshops

The following reports are from the 8 workshop groups that included nearly
200 people from the community, agencies, businesses and government.

Sustainable Economic Development and Jobs

Overall Goals:

1. Develop new policies for economic development.

2. Strengthen public/private partnerships including NGOs.

3. Increase job creation and retention.

Objectives:

1. Develop community business standards.

2. Improve community education.

3. Create jobs in local areas.

4. Control/regulate corporations so they support local jobs and communities.

5. Cultivate sustainable industries.

6. Achieve 95% employment.

7. Everyone receives livable wages.

Strategies

A. Provide effective job training.

B. Increase skills development.

C. Have regular community discussions (at least semi-annual meetings) to get all goals and policies addressed by the whole community and revised as needed.

D. Provide education and values.

E. Expand community involvement.

F. Get out the vote.

G. Publish local community newsletters.

H. Hire community people to build homes (labor intensive work).

I. Integrate local policies with global policy.

J. Reduce impediments to business expansion.

K. Consider social justice in all job creation programs.

Subgoal: Create a full employment economy.

Objective: Reduce unemployment from 10% to 3%.

Strategies:

A. Develop businesses that address the needs of the people and environment.

B. Generate innovative financing to address social needs.

C. Utilize cutting-edge program management and business management systems.
[See Peter Drucker and R. Buckminster Fuller's ideas.]

D. Make fuller use of reputable specialists in the field of economic and social change.

E. Maintain and rehabilitate urban infrastructure.

F. Increase innovative non-profit business development and financing.

G. Foster community pride through clean-ups (environmental, graffiti, etc.).

H. Train the unskilled.

I. Increase computer literacy.

Objective: Reduce unemployment by 100% among homeless who are capable of working.

Strategies:

A. Canvass community entrepreneurs and businesses for their training needs.

B. Develop jobs for homeless youth caring for the urban forest and agriculture. (Note that intensive urban gardens could help make Los Angeles sustainable in food.)

C. Solicit funding from corporations and foundations for training.

D. Enlist resources from non-profits, including churches.

Objective: Reduce unemployment by 50% by 2006 among those homeless who are "employment impaired."

Strategy: Rehabilitate homeless through comprehensive social services safety net, including all social sectors.

Objective: Create high wage jobs for all.

A. Develop innovative businesses that have at least a 50% survival rate over 6 years.

B. Provide innovative financing for economic and social needs.

C. Provide tax incentives for investment in education and training by the private sector.

D. Support the non profit sector to provide products and services.

E. Provide pension fund incentives for social responsible investing.

F. Create atmosphere where public sector jobs are appreciated as essential.

G. Target six growth areas of industry in the Los Angeles area:
Entertainment
Communication
Health
Environment/Urban Agriculture
Transportation
International Trade

Objective: Increase real wages for all by 20%.

Strategies:

A. Raise minimum wage.

B. Canvass the six major growth industries for technology applications and training needs (in conjunction with the Department of Labor).

C. Recognize that reduced unemployment means more consumers for business.

D. Emphasize jobs in environmentally sustainable ("green") technologies.

Objective: Ensure a union-friendly environment.

Subgoal: Increase economic diversity through minority ownership and industrial diversity.

Objectives:

1. Expand community capital formation.

2. Maintain a strong environmental policy.

3. Integrate local economics with global policies.

4. Grasp opportunities to establish key industries in our communities.

Strategies:

A. Provide loans, including micro loans.

B. Provide venture capital.

C. Encourage community reinvestment by local financial institutions.

D. Provide tax incentives for local investment.

E. Remove subsidies of the auto.

F. Address and update policies annually

Subgoals:

1. Have all segments of the city adopt mutual responsibility for all communities
(e.g. San Fernando Valley takes responsibility for South Central).

2. Make quality of life the main focus of community development.

3. Have each community establish social indicators for long term economic and social planning.

Objectives:

1. Implement equitable zoning and adequate financing for schools roads, libraries and infrastructures.

2. Maximize community organizing and participation through block organizing (perhaps 150,000 people is the maximum in any one district).

3. Use social indicators to assess progress, including food security, environmental justice health care, child care, education, employment, business financing and expansion, etc.

A. Provide Headstart and child care programs for all eligible children.

B. Extend education hours and programs to the whole community.

C. Learn from other communities in the nation and world. [See Los Angeles Eco-Village and also a proposal for a global village contest.]

Environment

Goals:

1. Stress citizen integration into decision-making at all levels.

2. Emphasize global long range planning, considering our impacts on future generations.

3. Make decisions based on true cost and full cost accounting.

Objectives:

1. Reaffirm and implement national commitments made at all previous UN conferences (to be done by the President and Congress).

A. Have development aid linked to a sustainable approach.

B. Support the UN as the center for environmental information.

C. Support the conclusion of the Cairo conference on the relation between population and environmental degradation.

2. Reaffirm national and local commitments to preservation, protection, respect, and restoration of the natural environment.

A. Reaffirm the people's right to clean air, water and soil.

B. Promote individual responsibility and action.

C. Have complete recycling at Istanbul conference.

D. Provide healthy vegetarian food at the Istanbul conference (walk our talk).

3. Education (especially of officials) in the following areas:
Holistic thinking, comprehensive approach to problems
Population stabilization (promotion of birth control)
Use of the Internet
Use of the media
Social and environmental justice
Honoring of indigenous people's relation to the land
Multi-culturalism
Teamwork
Agenda 21
Ecology
Climate change
Species loss
Full cost and true cost accounting
Citizen's rights

A. Get elected officials to Istanbul.

B. Have 25% of the U.S. national delegation be NGO representatives.

4. Re-vision cities by redesigning urban areas towards sustainability.

A. Start here in downtown Los Angeles. [See model of Los Angeles Eco-Village.]

B. Reduce car usage.

C. Increase and protect open space and urban wilderness within and around all cities to increase awareness of urban residents' connection to nature and preserve species.

D. Promote urban agriculture.

E. Promote recycling.

F. "Close the loop" by promoting government, business and individual purchases of recycled products.

G. Apply long range planning (beyond one election cycle)

H. Assess and publicize real costs of polluted air.

I. Use renewable and non-polluting energy, move toward U.S. national self-sufficiency.

J. Limit urban sprawl.

5. Implement true cost pricing and full cost accounting.

A. Replace the current GNP with a true indicator of national wealth, including environmental and social factors.

6. Integrate citizens into the decision making process.

A. Bring communities together to learn from each other and discuss these issues and how to implement them locally and globally.

B. Post the results of this conference and the Istanbul City Summit on EcoNet and the Internet.

C. Use the electronic capabilities of the Internet to involve citizens.

Public Health and Disaster Preparedness

Objectives:

1. Implement national universal health insurance by the year 2000 including prevention coverage.

Strategies:

A. Elect State and Federal officials who support universal health insurance.

B. Begin with State health insurance plans as in Canada.

C. Finance health insurance through insurance payments combined with general revenue taxes.

2. Ensure universal access to quality comprehensive health care facilities in all geographic areas.

3. Inventory by 2000 existing health services and by 2002 all health needs, in order develop a plan by 2003 to appropriately move resources to where they are most needed and implement new necessary programs.

Strategy:

A. Conduct outcomes research to identify the most effective health care delivery mechanisms.

4. Have 90% of children appropriately immunized by their second birthday by 2000.

Strategies:

A. Publicize broadly the immunization requirements for each age group through the schools, day care centers, community and media.

B. Include immunization in all health care plans.

C. Make immunization a part of all managed care plans.

D. Use peer involvement through the schools.

E. Have public health nursing staff do follow up.

5. Achieve a 50% reduction of domestic violence by 2000.

Strategies:

A. Train conflict resolution staff and make them available to troubled families.

B. Raise awareness in schools of causes and impacts of domestic violence.

C. Develop support groups for both men and women.

D. Train law enforcement personnel.

E. Use the media to promote awareness of the problem and available services.

F. Expand shelters for battered women.

6. Complete analysis by 1997 of problems and possible solutions to poverty and hunger.

7. Develop comprehensive disaster preparedness plans in all municipalities by 1997.

Strategies:

A. Institute a plan in all neighborhoods for self-response in a disaster (make sure people know who is responsible for what and how to care for each other).

B. Develop a network of community crisis centers that can meet emergency needs.

C. Connect with Fire Departments, Neighborhood Watch, etc.

6. Achieve a 50% reduction in teen pregnancy by 2010 and then continue reductions.

Strategies:

A. Provide mentoring to help youth develop plans for a meaningful future.

B. Encourage participation in girls sports to build self esteem.

C. Provide comprehensive age-specific sex education.

D. Provide contraception devices.

7. Eliminate indigenous transmission of TB by 2015.

Strategies:

A. Educate the community about the TB problem, implications for everyone's health and opportunities for solutions.

B. Involve the community in creating coalitions to solve the problem.

8. Expand information and use of alternative health care options.

9. Expand support for the World Health Organization (WHO).

A. Support the 1986 Ottawa Charter.

Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Communal Relations

Goals:

1. Help communities recognize their interdependence and interconnectedness.

2. Encourage a respect for diversity, commonalties and inclusion of all people.

3. Create harmony among all ethnic, religion, and class groupings.

4. Create a cooperative community with increased cross-cultural communication..

5. Involve diversity into the decision making at all levels.

Objectives by the year 2001:

1. Eliminate all types of hate crimes.

2. Educate 100% of the population (K-12, adults, teachers) to respect diversity and use conflict management methods.

3. Achieve fair (proportional) representation and input into decision making at all levels.

4. Achieve full employment.

5. Expand access to higher education and job training.

6. Raise the minimum wage above the poverty level (and redefine the poverty level).

Strategies:

A. Establish dialogue between groups in an atmosphere of open communication.

B. Provide tools for effective dialogue among groups at all levels.

C. Establish a national "Day of Dialogue" with monthly follow-ups in each local community, involving schools, governments, NGOs, churches, etc.

D. Expand coalitions and networking to encourage joint actions that reach down deep into the community.

E. Support affirmative action.

F. Establish centers for conflict resolution, so that public utilizes their services.

G. Incorporate these actions in the work with education and youth.

H. Increase public awareness and support of the Native American community.

I. Promote legislation for one hour of diversity training during prime time over 2 years.

J. Encourage individuals to take responsibility and act to improve inter-group relations.

K. Raise the minimum wage above poverty level.

L. Have local governments foster better relations between immigrants and others. [For example, implement a city-sponsored "buddy system" for newcomers.]

M. Implement local job placement systems for community jobs.

N. Provide corporate incentives to support inter-ethnic relations.

O. Support volunteer organizations working in this area.

P. Implement diversity training programs for teachers and all public employees.

Q. Develop a community resource guide.

R. Organize community picnics, fairs, block parties, etc.

S. Encourage applications for citizenship.

Poverty Alleviation and Shelter

Goals: Provide adequate income and decent affordable housing for all.

1. Expand holistic responses to reduce poverty (poverty alleviation involves integration of many approaches). [For models, contact the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Homelessness Coalition and Los Angeles' Beyond Shelter.]

A. Provide more affordable housing.

B. Provide increased access to basic services.

C. Expand job opportunities.

2. Publicize the effective work already being done to reduce poverty.

A. Inform media and leaders of the results.

B. Organize non-profits to deal with the media.

C. Demand local TV news dedicate so many minutes each week to local poverty issues.

3. Increase corporate responsibility for poverty alleviation.

A. Have businesses contribute a fixed % of their resources for local poverty needs.

B. Give employees work time to work in the community.

4. Expand quality child care.

A. Provide expanded benefits for child care for general relief recipients.

B. Support child care cooperatives.

C. Strengthen child support laws so mothers have adequate resources.

D. Continue public assistance benefits when employment begins, such as child care.

5. Change structural factors that continue poverty.

A. Remove tax incentives which increase poverty, such as lower capital gains taxes, which encourage land speculation and make it harder to build affordable housing.

B. Remove the bias in the tax system.

C. Have more clear wording of ballot issues so the public understands the real impact.

D. Make access to health care and preventive medical care a human right.

E. Reverse the tide of capital concentration through better anti trust laws.

F. Research public preferences on how their tax money should be distributed (such as a survey of expenditure preferences on income tax forms).

G. Require national service for all young people by age 18, in efforts such as the Forest Service, Americorps, etc.

H. Ensure an equitable flow of resources in the city, county and state.

6. Improve all sub-standard housing or replace with decent housing by the year 2015.

A. Identify locations of sub-standard housing.

B. Provide incentives for up-grading neighborhoods.

C. Coordinate dwellers of sub-standard housing to utilize their own resources, such as through cooperative barn raising. [See model of Habitat for Humanity.]

D. Have mandatory lead poisoning screening for children under age 6.

7. Review by the year 2000 all codes, policies, ordinances, and regulations and modify them so they are not hindering provision of housing for low income people.

A. Create opportunities for construction of alternate housing.

B. Review and revise zoning and land use codes.

8. Create housing funding systems from local, state and federal governments and private sources by the year 2000.

A. Create momentum to make low cost housing a priority.

B. Encourage voting in November.

C. Develop and create public private partnerships.

D. Create new financing models for homeowners, such as shared housing and other alternatives.

9. Secure and expand the provision of Section 8 vouchers/certificates by the year 2000 to provide more housing subsidies.

10. Create neighborhoods with support systems, including transportation, employment, schools, child care, shopping, medical care, recreation, etc. so people are not stuck there with no support.

A. Empower local leadership.

B. Establish healthy community indicators.

C. Create/expand local neighborhood support/service/referral centers so every person knows where to go for services.

D. Integrate services into low-income housing to create mini utopias.

E. Organize neighborhood "hubs" as focal point of the community.

11. Reduce urban sprawl by encouraging construction on in-fill areas. [See reports by Bank of America on the dangers of sprawl and the American Farmland Trust study on sprawl.]

12. Encourage family planning to reduce the rate of population growth.

A. Provide education on birth control.

Governance and Public Participation

Goal: Generate a sense of participation in and responsibility for governance (to overcome a sense of dis-empowerment, disenfranchisement and cynicism about all government).

Objectives:

1. Increase people's knowledge and skills for effective participation in community decisions. [See Neighborhood Reinvestment Training Institute, Washington, D.C.]

A. Educate people starting at the elementary level

B. Include education on the environment and sustainability.

C. Teach consensus-building and participation skills.

D. Develop a sense of responsibility for the common good.

E. Honor diversity.

2. Increase political participation.

A. Encourage voter registration and turn out.

B. Have citizen groups adopt their own impact plan to increase voter participation.

C. Recognize that the 50% of the population who do not vote are actually voting against the current system (people don't see anything different if they do vote). Perhaps add a box on the ballot for "none of the above."

D. Look at incentives to help people to get involved with the system, e.g. poor people could be paid to go to community meetings (at least reimbursed for the baby sitter).

3. Fund neighborhood associations (citizen groups) to be effective representatives for neighborhoods and to promote experience in self-governance. [See models in Portland, Oregon and Pasadena, California.]

A. Encourage small business involvement in neighborhood associations.

B. Develop a city-wide coalition of neighborhood associations.

C. Create self-governing systems with neighborhood associations to deal with local issues, plus regional assemblies composed of representatives from the associations.

4. Increase information dissemination and involvement on the issues.

A. Have regular communication with the media to encourage a more positive, balanced, responsive press.

B. Develop a media watch organization and report to the community and media.

C. Develop more effective notification processes to encourage participation, using churches, neighborhood assemblies, newsletters, information passing, etc.

D. Form letter writing groups. [See model of the Progressive Network in Santa Monica, California.]

E. Use electronic technology to disseminate political and governmental information, including an E-mail system to public libraries.

F. Create community bulletin boards in public places.

5. Promote social and business ethics.

A. Strengthen accountability of politicians and public officials.

B. Provide an ombudsman to help people present their ideas to government, and to help the government to respond to their input.

C. Support and publicize responsible businesses.

D. Nominate and elect more responsible candidates who will work on a bi-partisan basis (and get them to sign a contract before they are elected so they don't change their allegiance to corporations and lobbyists once in office).

E. Reduce influence of money in political campaigns, through measures such as public financing of election, better disclosure laws (before the election) of where the money is coming from, and limits on campaign spending. [See California initiative for controlling campaign spending to eliminate corporations buying politicians.]

F. Have a compact that businesses that get government contracts have their employees give back to the community, such as volunteering in schools and community projects.

6. Collectively deal with vested interests that need to be more sustainable, such as utilities and oil companies.

7. Reform tax system to be more equitable.

A. Tie public revenues to public benefits, e.g. use parking taxes to benefit mass transit.

Transportation and Communications

Goals:

1. Provide accessible transportation for all to jobs, housing, recreation, shopping, etc.

2. Reduce the costs of transportation to:
* the environment,
* the social/cultural fabric, and
* the lower income population.

Objectives:

1. Adopt new transportation technologies.

A. Institute true cost pricing so that all of the auto costs are borne by the drivers.

B. Provide incentives for implementation of new technologies.

C. Rearrange price incentives to support sustainable approaches.

D. Design the infrastructure to support use of new technologies.

E. Create the social and political change needed to implement technological changes.

F. Reduce the barriers to entry for new firms and ideas.

G. Evaluate present infrastructure and eliminate white elephants.

H. Promote use of non-polluting energy for all transportation (enlist the oil companies to help find solutions).

I. Expand use of electronics in transportation technologies.

J. Reduce vehicle weight.

2. Redesign the urban form.

A. Implement transit oriented districts, with mixed use zoning.

B. Have regional governmental bodies address transportation and land use issues.

C. Change zoning regulations to encourage use of transit and ensure new developments conform.

D. Implement pedestrian-friendly environments.

E. Restore open space as auto dependency decreases.

F. Pass laws to decommission streets.

G. Use integrated systems design.

H. Change legal structures for insurance and liability.

I. Provide incentives for businesses to locate near where people live.

J. Create quality housing for people near jobs, shopping and services.

K. Expand use of busways for truly rapid transit.

3. Involve/educate the public in the development of solutions.

A. Do in-depth study of accessibility and reasons for people's travel, and how to change their choices.

B. Consider all members of society, including the disabled, seniors, etc.

C. Educate the public on how we created such reliance on autos and on the true costs of autos.

D. Involve schools, citizen groups, corporations, media, and government in discussions on solutions.

E. Provide incentives for corporations to have their employees give up auto use, through van pools, mass transit, etc.

F. Have car insurance paid at the gas pump to reflect true cost pricing.

G. Have the government lead by example.

H. Educate the public that mass transit is safe.

I. Conduct a PR campaign to promote use of public transit.

J. Integrate systems of transit.

K. Provide one map/schedule for all the routes/times of buses and trains.

Education and Youth

Objectives:

1. Educate all segments of the population to gain the skills to participate fully in the economic, social and civic life of the community in a way that promotes sustainability.

A. Raise the question in the political arena (at the national, state and local levels) of how to ensure educational equity for all students, regardless of income.

B. Define educational goals and outcomes.

2. Achieve universal literacy.

A. Provide appropriate education materials and methodologies that aid literacy.

3. Provide opportunities for life-long learning and earning.

A. Implement a new grading strategy to encourage cooperation rather than competition and promote life-long learning by older students.

B. Keep education in tune with the social duty of the community, including health.

4. Have the educational system become a catalyst for positive social change.

A. Require a human relations curriculum in all schools, emphasize human relations, conflict resolution and reduction of prejudice.

B. Provide a multi-cultural curriculum.

C. Teach and embody gender equality in the schools.

D. Support continuation of Americorps.

5. Have the community and school system work together as a team to meet the needs of the population (social, academic, vocation, economic, recreational, etc.) through continuing communication between the community and the educational system.

A. Provide teaching material of sufficient quality and quantity for effective education.

B. Have each community hold discussions to define education for sustainability.

C. Provide quality child care for children of working parents.

D. Teach students the skills for good jobs to help reduce income disparities.

E. Ensure accessibility, accountability, and flexibility of the education system to meet community-established goals.

F. Provide school breakfasts and lunches as needed.

G. Provide social services (in collaboration with other community agencies) to students as needed.

H. Support job and financial security for teachers, providing opportunities for professional growth.

I. Expand experimental approaches, such as Los Angeles' LEARN program.

J. Improve school safety.

K. Have schools be models of environmental responsibility.

6. Improve the student - teacher ratio.

A. Provide teaching aides in each classroom.

B. Decrease class size.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to thank the sponsors that made this conference possible,

the planning committee and workshop facilitators.

SPONSORS

University of Southern California School of Urban & Regional Planning

The Southern California District Council of Laborers

Southern California Nuclear Freeze Foundation

Baxter Healthcare International

Parsons Brinckerhoff

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Laura Ballesteros

Robert Bartlett, Mayor, City of Monrovia

Albert G. Cohen, Southern California

Ecumenical Council

Rick Cole, Local Government Commission

Dr. Theodore Crovello, Dean, California State University, Los Angeles

Christine Essel/ Sanders Ishisaka, L.A., Community Redevelopment Agency

Petra Galindo, National Association of Social Workers

James M. Grant, Dept. of General Services, City of L.A.

Lois Hamer, Southern California

Council of Organizations

Prof. Brice Harris, History Department,

Occidental College

Bud Hayes, CEO, Social Model Recovery Systems, Inc.

Dianne Herring, Eco-Cities Council

Rev. Hans Holborn, United Nations Association, Whittier Chapter

Elwood Hopkins, Mega-Cities Project

Jeffrey Lambert, American Planning Association, Los Angeles Section

Kam Leung, United Nations Association- USA, Central LA Chapter

Vince Ornelas, National Association of

Social Workers, Los Angeles

Dorothy Nasatir Pearcy, KPFK Radio

Gene Pearcy, United Nations Association- USA, San Fernando Chapter

Bruce Philpott, United Nations Association

Betty Sandford, Board of Governors,

United Nations Association-USA,

Don Smith, Fair Housing Council

of the San Gabriel Valley

Adele Somers, United Nations Association- USA, Pacific-LA Chapter

Deanna Stevenson, Office of Councilmember Abbe Land, City of West Hollywood

Jim Stewart, Southern California Council

on Environment & Development

Sr. Diane Tillman, Brahma Kumaris

Caprice Young, Mayor's Office, City of

Los Angeles