LA war on shade

Sat, 20 Jul 2019 13:07:02 GMT

https://placesjournal.org/article/shade-an-urban-design-mandate/

bus shelters funded by advertising.

'police urge residents in high-crime neighborhoods to cut down trees
that hide drug dealing and prostitution. Shade trees are designed out of
parks to discourage loitering'

'The original settlement of Los Angeles conformed roughly to the Law of
the Indies, a royal ordinance that required streets to be laid out at a
45-degree angle, ensuring access to sun in the winter and shade in the
summer.'

parks designed to not be friendly to hanging out, meant for passing
through

LA palm: the iconic Washington robusta, or Mexican fan palm

LA canopy cover is 18%, national average 27%. And correlates with
neighborhood income.

"the forestry department would plant in parkways only if petitioned by
75 percent of the property owners on a block. (“Legal owners and not
tenants,” a Times writer admonished.)"

A massive tree grows in the corner of the future garden, creating a
shady tunnel over the sidewalk. Watkins told me police have asked him to
remove it, because “loiterers hang out under the tree, and the
helicopters can’t see them.”

"Requests to deforest are common in heavily policed areas, where shade
is perceived as a magnet for drug dealing and prostitution."

"Even installing a shade sail in a public park creates new “floor area,”
requiring the provision of more parking"

"environmentalists have gone further with the Solar Rights Act, which
protects homeowners from shadows falling on their solar panels. The law
even goes so far as to define circumstances in which they can trim their
neighbors’ trees."

Rojas described “knowing how to control shade” as a fundamental Latino
value. “All these Midwesterners moved to L.A. and saw the sunshine as a
prize. They don’t want to see shade. It’s dark and gloomy and it’s all
different things.” Latinos, on the other hand, see shade as part of
their lives: “How do we live in darker places?”

Also: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/a-plea-for-shade/

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Rich and Strange Aeons

LA war on shade