PbP Planting a Greener Future Blog Series #7: RE-VISION LITTLE TOKYO

This blog post is written by Winnie Fong, PbP-LA President. Winnie is a Principal at Estolano Advisors, an urban planning and policy consulting firm based in Los Angeles that advances racial, economic, environmental, and spatial justice.

Sustainable Little Tokyo (SLT) is currently updating its 2013 Community Vision for three remaining pieces of publicly-owned land in Little Tokyo:

First Street North (FSN) - Located between 1st and Temple St / Alameda and Aiso St, FSN is home to the Japanese American National Museum, Go For Broke, Fugetsu-Do, and many important cultural institutions, legacy businesses, and historic sites in Little Tokyo.
Metro Regional Connector Subway Station - Slated to open in Summer 2022, the Regional Connector project will make it easier for transit riders to travel between Azusa and Long Beach, and between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica, without transferring lines. A new 700-foot-long esplanade for bicyclists and pedestrians will run from 1st to Temple streets on the site that used to be the Little Tokyo stop of Metro’s L (Gold) line.
Mangrove Site - Currently used as a staging area for Metro’s Regional Connector project. Upon completion of the underground station in 2022, this site will be made available as a joint development project with Metro.

Participatory Planning Process with PbP and Sustainable Little Tokyo

Winnie Fong (PbP-LA Chapter President) created a participatory planning process for our beneficiary partner Sustainable Little Tokyo to engage over 100 local residents and community members in a fun creative placemaking exercise “The Sims Little Tokyo” at the Green Little Tokyo fundraising mixer held at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) on November 16, 2021. PbP volunteers Brian Yee Kohaya and Nick Ryu (PbP Fundraising Team) and David Liu (PbP Outreach Team) facilitated thoughtful and meaningful discussions with local members to re-imagine the possibilities on the three sites.

The Sims: Little Tokyo Activity

Similar to the popular computer simulation game SimCity, Winnie used her urban planning background and crafting skills to bring that game to life in The Sims: Little Tokyo activity to empower local stakeholders in using tiles from a “kit of parts” to visually plan out their vision on a map for a culturally, economically, and environmentally sustainable Little Tokyo for future generations. The kit of parts included sustainable features and placemaking activities that form a thriving community.

Hear what some of our community members have to say about their vision below:

For more information, updates, and opportunities to provide feedback on the SLT Re-Vision, visit Sustainable Little Tokyo here.

Community members also learned how these kit of parts contribute to environmental benefits:

Trees provide many environmental benefits. They absorb CO2, remove and store the carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air, filter particulates out of the air, cool down streets and cities, prevent water pollution and reduce runoff, and provide habitat for wildlife.

Stormwater Capture and using or storing stormwater runoff when it rains can help communities increase water supply reliability through bioswales, green roofs, infiltration basins, detention basins, and bioretention rain gardens.
Bicycling and Transit infrastructure can decrease motor vehicle usage and dependency on nonrenewable resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
Renewable Energy, such as solar and wind, generates energy that produces no greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution.

Communities also learned how Asian Americans are impacted by environmental injustice and racism. Click on the image of the map below for the graphic and research prepared by David Liu (PbP Outreach) on specific issues happening in LA County.

PbP Planting a Greener Future Blog Series #7: RE-VISION LITTLE TOKYO

PbP Planting a Greener Future Blog Series #6: CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY