A workshop to learn how to secure Proposition 1 funding for the Ballona Creek-Baldwin Hills Watershed Projects will be conducted today from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at the Watts Labor Community Action headquarters, 10950 S. Central Ave.
Additional workshops will be conducted on Jan. 18, 2018 and again on April 19. Locations will be announced later.
The watershed projects are expected to include multi-benefit open space for visitors, along with water conservation infrastructure, watershed protection and habitat restoration for native wildlife.
The Baldwin Hills Conservancy was established to acquire open space and to manage public lands within the Baldwin Hills area. Its goals are to provide increased recreational space and to restore/protect the natural environment. The conservancy provides oversight for the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, and Culver City parks.
In 2014, voters passed Proposition 1, the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act, which was a bond measure to provide $7.5 billion (and to redirect $425 million from previous bonds) to provide drought relief. While the bond measure didn’t earmark specific funds for individual projects, regional interests throughout the state have lobbied since then to secure funding for local infrastructure. It was the fourth-largest water bond measure in state history in replacing an $11.1 billion passed in 2009 but kept off of the ballot because of the Great Recession. Tax payers are expected to pay approximately $14.4 billion over the next 40 years.
Representatives of the Baldwin Hills and Santa Monica conservancies hope to use the funding to capture urban runoff from rainstorms and to restore local wetlands and streamside habitats.
Find out more about the projects by visiting www.bhc.ca.gov/grantopportunities-pro-1, or RSVP to the next workshops at daniel/scioline@bhc.ca.gov.
