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September 2, 2006
City Council to investigate possibility of Green Roofs
Remember when the Talking Heads had that sweet song "Nothing But Flowers" from their Naked album? Remember albums? There was a line in the idealistic song that went "Once there were parking lots / Now it's a peaceful oasis". If the LA City Council gets it together we might see peaceful oasises on top of parking lots as well as on top of city buildings. The ultimate LA win-win.
L.A. Deputy City Engineer Deborah Weintraub told CBS-2 yesterday that eco-friendly roofs are not only smart, but can effect the weather.
"If you looked at LA a hundred years ago you would have seen a lot more landscaping," said Weintraub. "With all the construction we have now put in the LA basin we have increased the temperature of the basin. By putting green roofs on buildings we would be adding green space that would help to lower the temperature."Our question to the city is, what is there left to investigate? Green is the way to go, that's a no-brainer, the city even has an inconvenient PDF (as opposed to an HTML) resource guide on how to make a green roof. What we'd like the City Council to do is set a deadline when the majority of city buildings that can support a green roof will enter the 21st century.
While it's a nice start that the City Council has approved one building in Council District 9 to incorporate a green roof,
Ford's Premier Automotive Group's HQ in Irvine became the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building in the OC and is about to celebrate it's fifth anniversary of having a 45,000 square-foot green roof. So whaddup LA? What's the hold up?
According to a year-old article in the OC Register, the Irvine-based architectural firm LPA built two green projects for Wal*Mart. Perhaps if LA had worked with LPA during the South Central Farm drama the compromise that LAist featured earlier this summer of moving the farm atop the proposed Wal*Mart warehouses could have been the win-win solution.
photo by birdw0rks via flickr
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nice connection with the Talking Heads on that one tony - that's the only instance of anyone every putting that album in a positive light
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The City does have a new LEED library in Lake View Terrace (which is near Sylmar and Pacoima for those who don't know).
I think the fact that the Deputy City Engineer is the one doing the talking shows how committed the City is. There are 5 full-time, well-paid Public Works Commissioners who could be trumpeting such actions across the City. Where are they?
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yes but how green is that roof?