I recently sat down with renowned civil rights attorney and founding director and counsel of The City Project, Robert Garcia, and over the course of several hours, I got a glimpse into the mind and personality of a compelling individual, a man who has taken up the fight for civil rights and what he calls “green justice” in Los Angeles and in communities beyond the city boundaries.
Garcia has fought countless difficult battles for social justice throughout his career. He helped free Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, the former Black Panther leader, from prison after 27 years for a crime he did not commit. He litigated international banking cases against Iran. He represented people convicted of capital crimes on death row in Mississippi, Florida and Georgia. He also prosecuted organized crime, public corruption and international narcotics trafficking cases, all while serving as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York under John Martin and Rudolph W. Giuliani — and this is just the short list.
When asked about the most challenging struggle of his career, however, Garcia readily admits that fighting for the rights of children of color and children who are poor to have the simple joys of playing in a park or a schoolyard is among the hardest work he has ever done. This interview speaks to his fight and how he has remained steadfast, never wavering from the truth of the mission before him. You can hear more in person when Garcia speaks as a keynote panelist at the 2014 NRPA Congress Opening General Session Tuesday, October 14, in Charlote, North Carolina.
Gina Mullins-Cohen: Your organization, The City Project, brought the topic of social equity in regards to parks and open green space front and center in the eyes of the public and elected officials. Tell us about the mission of The City Project and why it was founded.
Robert Garcia: The City Project was founded in 2000, and it was it founded for the very simple reason to work in the area of equality in relation to green space…the effort to focus on the lack of green space available to children of color and low-income families needed to be done. No one else was doing it, but the truth is no one else would do it.
I am a civil rights attorney. Bringing my experience to this cause, as well as the experience and effort of other civil rights attorneys, is essential, and it distinguishes The City Project from other programs. We bring the necessary legal tools to this critical conversation, and this allows us to go after alternative ways to seek social change through law, without resorting to litigation as the first means or as the only means. We are able to pull many successful strategies from the civil rights movement including the translation of research, policy and law into very real changes in people’s lives. We organize coalitions. We create strategic media campaigns. We do policy and legal advocacy outside the courts, and we provide access to justice through the courts.
Mullins-Cohen: What specific areas do you cover in your work with The City Project?
Garcia: There are five areas around which we center our work with The City Project:
- Equal access to parks and recreation
- Quality education with an emphasis on physical education
- Health disparities from lack of physical activity and healthy eating
- Economic vitality — local green jobs
- Smart growth with equitable development.
Mullins-Cohen: A few months ago, I visited Los Angeles State Historic Park for the first time. What obstacles did you face and do you continue to face in helping to take this park to a completed stage?
Garcia: The advancement and development of Los Angeles State Historic Park was slow. In 2010, officials were forced to scale down plans for the park. This was due to the California state budget deficit. So instead of the planned $55 million, the park got $18 million.
Mullins-Cohen: Tell me about the history of the site. I read that Los Angeles State Historic Park was the former site of Southern Pacific Transportation Company’s river station. It was considered the Ellis Island of Los Angeles. This is where people arriving from the East first stepped out into the city.
Garcia: Yes, the park is where major racial and ethnic groups first arrived. This includes the Tongva or Gabrieleños, Spanish soldiers and missionaries who were diverse Pobladores who settled El Pueblo; Chinese who settled in Old Chinatown; Japanese in Little Tokyo; and African Americans who settled in Bronzeville. The park reflects the past, present and future of the most diverse city in the nation.
The site could have been warehouses, but it is not. The park was born from a brownfield — a term used for land designated as or used as an industrial site. Andrew Cuomo, who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at that time, withheld federal funding for a proposed warehouse project at this same site unless there was a full environmental review that considered the park alternative and the impact on people who are of color or of low income. Secretary Cuomo cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the President’s Order 12898 on environmental justice and health, which protects equal access to public resources including parks. HUD acted in response to an administrative complaint filed by diverse allies.
But what is key to this park is that it is not here because of the vision of politicians, or some design or plan. The park is here because of the struggle and agitation by the community. Deservedly, their action is renowned as one of the most significant environmental justice victories in Los Angeles, and it is their action that is the catalyst for the revitalization of the Los Angeles River.
Mullins-Cohen: Did advocacy for the Los Angeles Historical State Park help launch The City Project?
Garcia: Yes, it was the flagship project. The park was inspiration to keep going. Since then, working with the park agencies, we have developed Los Angeles River Park [and] Ascot Hills Park, which is over 132 acres and the largest green space in East Los Angeles. We have also developed Baldwin Hills Park, which is in an African-American community. One-third of Baldwin Hills Park is in reality transforming oil fields into parks.
Mullins-Cohen: 2014 marks several anniversaries in regards to social justice. We have the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty...
Garcia: And don’t forget the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education or Hernandez v. Texas where equal justice protects people based on race, color or national origin. It is also the 20th anniversary of the Environmental Justice Order. The final phase of construction for Los Angeles Historic Park begins in 2014, and this is fitting because Los Angeles Historic Park is acknowledged as one of the milestones in the environmental justice movement.
Mullins-Cohen: You have coined the term “green justice.” How would you define this?
Garcia: Green justice is equitable development, healthy use of green land, and planning by and for the community.
Mullins-Cohen: Who has adopted green justice? Have the efforts globalized?
Garcia: Yes. It has become globalized — very much so. The Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP) program, adopted by the National Park Service (NPS), was launched in Australia and has attracted other park agencies globally. Agencies in Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada are working in the program. Now the NPS has the Healthy Parks Healthy People Strategic Action Plan, as well as the HPHP Science Plan. They are also in the process of creating a community resource guide — all of these are done at the policy level.
Mullins-Cohen: Are you working with the National Park Service on any specific projects?
Garcia: Yes, we are. Recently, Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) published a discussion draft of legislation to designate the San Gabriel Mountains and river corridor as a national recreation area. The proposed national recreation area would serve 17 million people within an hour’s drive of the mountains. The San Gabriel Mountains provide over 70 percent of Los Angeles County’s open space. According to Representative Chu, these mountains provide outdoor spaces to promote public health and environmental justice in one of the most park-poor regions in the United States.
A lack of recreational opportunities has severe impacts on urban populations struggling with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and chronic illness. Parks in nearby urban areas lack the resources to adequately provide opportunities for residents to walk, jog, bike, picnic or enjoy the outdoors. The national recreation area will promote economic value and resources.
The concept of the national recreation area is to recognize the opportunities of city resources and parks. These will be national parks for the 21st century.
Mullins-Cohen: If the area is designated as a national recreation area, will development in nearby communities result in gentrification?
Garcia: Numerous studies have shown that recreational areas and open green spaces increase property value and revenues for local businesses. Gentrification is a real problem. Take the revitalization of the Los Angeles River — there is a risk that the people there now will be pushed out as the area becomes more attractive for development. Rent for housing and businesses can go up. That area of Los Angeles has been branded an industrial wasteland, so people have historically lived there simply because they could afford it. Gentrification is a land-grab, and that is a problem. Kevin Starr, the Los Angeles historian, once said “You cannot have a city with only rich people. You need the teachers, policemen and the firefighters.”
Currently we are working with experts to come up with recommendations to keep people in their jobs and help them become homeowners. If we cannot do this, the risk is turning these culturally rich areas of Los Angeles into San Francisco — a city with very little diversity.
Mullins-Cohen: Why is progress in regards to social equity in our parks so difficult to realize?
Garcia: We have been fighting for equality since before the Civil War. The work we do is part of the process in forming a more perfect Union. Fighting for parks for poor children is hard. Nobody cares. We represent the people who need what they are entitled to receive. They have the voice, but we can help to get the politicians to listen.
If you can afford it, you live in the parts of Los Angeles where there is green space or you simply travel to it. Did you know that one of the biggest green spaces in East Los Angeles is a cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery? Think about the message this sends to the children in East Los Angeles…if they want to experience green space, they have to die.
This struggle never ends.
Robert Garcia, will be a keynote speaker at NRPA's Annual Conference.
Gina Mullins-Cohen is NRPA’s Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Publishing and the Editorial Director of Parks & Recreation Magazine.