A Bit of Green Couldn’t Hurt

The Joni Mitchell lyric about Los Angeles, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” isn’t far off the mark when you consider that about two-thirds of the city’s soil is covered with concrete or asphalt. Among the largest areas of blacktop are Los Angeles city schoolyards, and until last week the district was planning to spend $187 million in Proposition BB funds to repave them with yet another hot, ugly layer of asphalt.

Fortunately, the environmental organization TreePeople had a better idea. Last week the Los Angeles-based nonprofit group won the blessing of a school bond oversight committee to replace up to one-third of the asphalt with areas of trees, landscaped vines, lawns and gardens. Using its broad base of private donors, TreePeople will supply the district with trees free of charge.

Within five years after planting, the trees are expected to pay for their own maintenance by cooling classrooms and thus offsetting air-conditioning costs. (One recent U.S. Department of Energy study showed that strategically planted trees can reduce air-conditioning needs by as much as 12%.)

In the short term, however, the district would have to find creative ways of paying the $2.5 million it estimates would be needed for annual upkeep. Proposition BB revenues, earmarked for building and repairing school facilities, cannot be used for maintenance. Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ruben Zacarias, however, has said the district might be able to partly offset the gardening expense by obtaining city Proposition K park funds. The district also should consider raising funds directly from parents and school communities.

Greening the city’s schools will require determination, for the district is under pressure to spend in other areas, like textbook acquisition. But the need is plain. “Playgrounds” in Los Angeles are currently little more than cracked asphalt stretching across 63 million square feet. The admirable proposal from TreePeople would create landscapes for learning, discovery and ecological health, a boon to neighborhoods as well as students. It is not an opportunity that the school district--or the city--can afford to lose.