City of Los Angeles, Partners Celebrate Groundbreaking of Two Green Alley Projects

Today, Councilmember Curren D. Price Jr., Trust for Public Land (TPL), and Los Angeles Sanitation & Environment (LASAN) announce the official groundbreaking of The Central Jefferson and Quincy Jones Green Alley networks.

These two revitalization projects will transform 11 underutilized alleyways in District 9 into vibrant, green spaces where children and families can safely walk or bike to schools, local businesses, and parks. They will include installation of lights, street planting, public art, and elements to make a safe and inviting environment for pedestrians and bicyclists.

“I represent a vibrant District where over 95 percent of my constituents identify as Black and/or Brown, a third are under the age of 18, and a large majority walk, bike or use public transit as their primary mode of transportation,” said Councilman Price. “The need for green, clean and safe spaces is crucial in the Ninth District, not only for the environment, but for the wellbeing of our disadvantaged community. I am proud to have successfully secured funding necessary for this urban greening effort, which will revamp these alleyways into a community asset yielding environmental and public health benefits for generations to come!”

The Central Jefferson Green Alley network will include renovations to approximately 0.62 linear miles of alley bounded by Hooper Avenue to the east, 42nd Place to the south, Wadsworth Avenue to the west, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north. The Quincy Jones Green Alley network will include renovations to approximately 0.17 linear miles of alley adjacent to the Central Jefferson High Green Alley network and bounded by Griffith Avenue to the east, Jefferson Boulevard to the south, San Pedro Street to the west, and 33rd Street to the north.

“If drought is our new normal, strategies that emphasize climate equity and resilience are how we protect public health and the environment,” said Barbara Romero, LASAN Executive Director, “Breaking ground on this Green Alley network will ensure that we capture and recharge stormwater, improve local water quality and provide green space for local residents.”

The Central Jefferson and Quincy Jones alley networks will give 33,00 residents, 51% of those low-income families, a safe space to play outdoors within a 10-minute walk of their home. These spaces will also help reduce environmental impacts through the capture and filtering of polluted stormwater and using increased tree cover to reduce extreme temperatures.

“Urban alleys across Los Angeles provide an incredible opportunity to turn unused asphalt into accessible green space that is critical to so many aspects of a healthy community, and the Central Jefferson and Quincy Jones Green Alley networks are two priority projects in that mission,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, California State Director and Vice President-Pacific Region for Trust for Public Land.

“Over 30,000 South LA residents live within a 10-minute walk to these alleys and by transforming them into Green Alleys we are not only preventing harmful stormwater pollution from entering our waterways but also increasing desperately needed green space and cooling the neighborhoods from rising urban heat,” added Rodriguez.

Councilmember Curren Price, Jr. has been a strong advocate and integral in engaging the surrounding community for input and support of these alley networks in his district, as well as helping secure federal and City funding.

Councilmember Price’s leadership helped complete the first green alley project in L.A., Avalon Green Alley network, which included North and South components renovating a total of six alley segments in District 9 and is helping to collect millions of gallons of stormwater runoff.

Both the Central Jefferson and Quincy Jones projects are two distinct green alley networks, each with their own unique sets of public funding sources:

• Central Jefferson public funding: the California State Coastal Conservancy, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, California State Water Resources Control Board, and the San Gabriel & Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.
• Quincy Jones public funding: the California Ocean Protection Council and the City of Los Angeles’s Transfer of Floor Area Rights (TFAR) Public Benefit Payment Trust Fund.
• Private funding for both: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Rose Hills Foundation, MUFG Union Bank, The Boeing Company, Kaiser Permanente, the S. Mark Taper Foundation, the Molina Family Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, and Wells Fargo.

The projects are a result of a large community outreach effort as well as robust planning work initiated by the City of LA – LASAN, and the Trust for Public Land in 2014 for the creation of the “South LA Green Alley Master Plan” – to improve quality of life for local residents and increase climate resilience of the region.

LASAN and TPL have created similar green alleys across Los Angeles, with plans for additional green alley networks across South Los Angeles. In October 2020, the partnership unveiled the Bradley Plaza and Green Alley in the Pacoima neighborhood. The plaza, previously a small segment of Bradley Avenue, is now closed to vehicle traffic and includes a shade structure, outdoor fitness equipment, and nature classroom.

Los Angeles has 900 miles of urban alleys, with South (or South Central) Los Angeles containing 300 of those miles, and in neighborhoods struggling with drainage issues, high crime, and a lack of green space, these spaces serve as an opportunity for creative solutions.

About LA Sanitation and Environment 

As the lead agency for the City’s environmental programs and initiatives, Sanitation protects public health and the environment through the administration and management of three program areas: Clean Water (Wastewater), Solid Resources (Solid Waste Management) and Watershed Protection (Stormwater). These infrastructure programs collect, treat, dispose and recycle the solid and liquid waste generated by the nation’s second largest city of more than four million residents. Through these essential Public Works programs, Sanitation delivers a triple bottom line of economic, environmental and social benefits that sustain quality of life in Los Angeles.

About Trust for Public Land 

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 3 million acres of public land, created more than 5,000 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $84 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected more than 9 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.