Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation to Honor Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the 41st Mayor of the City of Los Angeles
Mayor Villaraigosa, the 41st Mayor of the City of Los Angeles and the first Hispanic Mayor in modern times, has declared his intention to follow in the footsteps of former Mayor Bradley. He stated at his victory celebration, "I am standing here on the shoulders of Tom Bradley"
Los Angeles (PRWEB) September 22, 2005
The Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation has selected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the first recipient of the Foundation's Tom Bradley Legacy Achievement Award.
On Thursday, September 29, at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Mayor Villaraigosa will be surrounded by friends and supporters to receive the award, together with its challenge to continue Bradley's vision of building Los Angeles as a world-class city, the "Jewel of the Pacific." The event will draw attention to Mayor Bradley's special concern for the environment and the future as a "living legacy" and a bridge to the concerns of the new City administration. The event will be attended by Congresswoman Juanita Millender McDonald, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Diane E. Watson, State Senator Richard Alacorn, State Senator Sheila Kuehl, Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Council President Alex Padilla, Council member Wendy Greuel, Councilman Dennis P Zine, Councilman Tom La Bonge, Councilman Jack Weiss, Councilman Bernard C. Parks, Councilman William J. Rosendahl, Councilman Eric Garcetti, Councilwoman Janice Hahn and City Controller Laura Chick.
Mayor Villaraigosa, the 41st Mayor of the City of Los Angeles and the first Hispanic Mayor in modern times, has declared his intention to follow in the footsteps of former Mayor Bradley. He stated at his victory celebration, "I am standing here on the shoulders of Tom Bradley". Mayor Villaraigosa has shown his commitment to not only build Los Angeles as a world-class city but to make it a global sustainable city, by implementing appropriate green technologies citywide, and by working to build the city's role as a world industrial center and marketing center for sustainable technologies.
Tom Bradley was a leader in creating a more sustainable city and was a avid supporter of the environment. Bradley saw the importance, for example, of building a regional rail rapid transportation network to reduce the pollution and congestion caused by trucks and automobiles. Many leaders argued against building an expensive mass transit system, but this impossible task was started during Mayor Bradley's first term in office. Today, with gasoline prices rising to $3.00+ a gallon, the transit system has become a necessity for many students, seniors, and workers. Among his many other "green" initiatives, Bradley also encouraged the TreePeople organization to create an Urban Forest through their challenge to plant a million trees throughout Los Angeles. Under the leadership of TreePeople's founder, Andy Lipkis, the tree project is now flourishing throughout Southern California.
As a practical step to continue this legacy of leadership, the Bradley Legacy Foundation has recently established a Green Technology Institute to develop programs, workshops, conferences and events to implement this vision. The Green Technology Institute is the creation of Les Hamasaki and the board of directors of the foundation. The Institute will be partnering with various local, state and federal level initiatives to introduce strategies, opportunities and actionable plans. It will showcase viable solutions in cooperation with innovative environmental and green technology development companies.
An emphasis of special concern to both Bradley and Villaraigosa as minority mayors is to empower minority communities and youth in particular as active participants in the future. Projects now in development by the Institute are "Project Green Phoenix" and a "Green Technology Park". Project Green Phoenix is about bridging the "digital divide", with special attention to a) emergency preparedness based upon green technologies such as alternative solar energy technologies and b) to create a sustainable future through education and training in the most underserved communities of South Los Angeles. Project Green Phoenix is also about preparing our citizen and their youths to help prepare for natural disasters and imminent threats from terrorism, while creating jobs and business opportunities in the Green Economy. In the wake of Hurricane KatrinaÂ’s disaster and the need to be prepared for future disasters, the City of Los Angeles needs to prepare its citizens and youths with solutions that will reduce the risk of been caught off-guard. A Green Technology Park will also be established in South Central Los Angeles to attract, incubate and develop promising companies for Project Green Phoenix to provide avenues for young people for 21st century employment and business opportunities. The Green Technology Institute in association with Earthnetworks Television and its CEO Gurminder Singh will be spearheading the development of the above projects. Earthnetworks Television will be a sponsor for the above projects and will be donating online and on-air television capacity for the youths of the city of Los Angeles. The goal is to train teachers to prepare students to become part of the green industry sector as entrepreneurs, professionals and employees.
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