LASA students Zoomed with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to ask him their questions about the role of local media in an informed electorate and community; infrastructure; justice; housing and homelessness; and environmental considerations for today and LA’s tomorrows.
Then, they spoke with Los Angeles Chief Design Officer Christopher Hawthorne about his work with civic memory as well as design and the future of LA.
LASA students worked together over two months to select these topics and refine their questions. Some even watched the State of the City address days before the mayor’s visit to LASA. Once we welcomed the mayor, Daniel shared about LASA and Maya introduced the topics.
Then Maaso helped keep us all on schedule, introducing classmates Eleanor, Colin, Neni, Solene, and Natalie to ask the mayor questions. Olivia appreciated hearing from “someone who sees Los Angeles as a whole, rather than through a specialized lens (such as service workers, managers of water and power, or real estate figures}.”
Milla shared that while she likely expected a policy discussion, she even learned new facts about the city – “like how only 1 in 4 people who work west of the 405 actually live there.”
Colin reflected, “It was super exciting to meet Mayor Garcetti last week, and it was even better that I got to ask him a question. I think it’s great that he is trying to improve the infrastructure of Los Angeles, and that he is trying to reduce traffic before the 2028 Olympics…I enjoyed his stories of how people will interact with him in public, and it made his job seem harder than I realized at first.
I also liked how he mentioned that he is going to plant more trees around Los Angeles, which of course got me thinking about fires again.” As Olivia considered both Garcetti’s and Hawthorne’s visions of “ideal Angeleno life,” she wondered how moves towards free public transportation and affordable housing will shape the future of LA.
After our guests logged off, LASA announced the recipients of the Francine Werner Summer Research Honoraria. LASA students apply for funding to pursue self-designed projects on LA or to work on projects related to ICW’s work on fire in the American West and on Chinatown. More students applied this year than ever and all of the proposed projects are critically important to the future of LA.
Congratulations to Eleanor and Ava for their proposed work of a collection of essays exploring the relationship between culture and spaces in Los Angeles. Colin, Maya, Scarlett, and Maaso will study aspects of fire in the American West from GIS mapping to Indigenous fire practice. We look forward to walking alongside them all this summer.
LASA students shared in connection with April’s LASA that they cover a broad range of the political spectrum and include some who are focused on issues but are not convinced political solutions will provide answers. We are grateful for their leadership and voices and for the time of Mayor Garcetti and Christopher Hawthorne. Next month, we will gather for our 2021 LASA Zoom graduation!