Good Mischief for Greener Communities

Green space, park access, and trees

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

East LA’s City Terrace lacks green space and tree canopy. It’s vulnerable to extreme heat. One of LA County’s most environmentally burdened areas, its residents endure toxic pollutants from industry, freeway exhaust, stench from trash and recycling centers. Cancer risk from air pollution is worse than 97% of LA County; lifelong resident/VCT member Reyna is the only one in her family who hasn’t had cancer. Clean air shouldn’t be a luxury. Yet LA communities like City Terrace–low-income, largely of color, with significant numbers of immigrants, Spanish-only speakers, undocumented–are poorly positioned to demand the greener community they deserve. Many have normalized these conditions, resignation fed by deep distrust of public agencies, decades of institutional neglect, and unfulfilled promises. With Good Mischief, Public Matters and Visión City Terrace (VCT) are shaking things up, seeding an innovative engagement ecosystem to create hospitable conditions for a greener City Terrace.

Building public will for green space and trees is core to Good Mischief. Numerous County plans poised to shape the area’s infrastructure are underway; residents can’t afford to miss opportunities to weigh in and make their priorities heard. Despite the need for heat mitigation, plans to reconfigure City Terrace Drive do not include more tree canopy. This can change, with an informed community and demonstration of public will demanding action.
Good Mischief moves the community along a spectrum: from apathy/resignation to awareness to civic discourse to action. It builds civic agency–to inform, motivate, and prepare residents to advocate for a greener community. Playful public events and unexpected spectacles invite a skeptical community in. It uses humor and provocation, like public art installations of BigArbolitos air fresheners at bus stops lacking shade, to grab people’s attention. Environmental education takes the form of a cathartic pollution monster piñata smash. Scent workshops resensitize residents to their living conditions while inviting them to discuss how they’d like the community to smell instead. Participatory educational workshops inform residents about trees and climate resilience. Community cleanups become green advocacy activations. Activities designed to cultivate and strengthen relationships between neighbors encourage residents to act from their sense of community love and pride. Participation becomes less “soul-suck” and more “conspiratorial joy."

Good Mischief is a model for how to resensitize, inform, and energize other skeptical LA County communities like City Terrace so they are better equipped to advocate for greener solutions that reflect their values and serve their interests. In the short term we will build on past actions and educational materials to achieve the long term goal of a greener community. Lost Trees, chalk drawings of tree shadows on sidewalks with “lost” tree flyers, called out the County’s practice of filling in tree wells rather than replanting them; neighbors shared memories of the lost trees. Big Arbolitos, plywood trees shaped like giant climate-resilient air fresheners, pointed out the lack of trees and freeway exhaust at bus stops; Arbolitos included signs to demand more trees. VCT led tours, sharing stories and discussing actions. Similar acts in the next year will lead to further education about trees, climate resilience, a native plant garden, and advocacy for more trees along City Terrace Drive.

Good Mischief only began a year ago, creating a remarkable foundation of materials, actions, and participation of schools, businesses, residents to build upon in the next year. 375 residents of all ages wrote public City Terrace Love Notes that led to a successful campaign against a trash facility stating “pollution is not an act of love.” We built an extensive StoryMap chronicling stories, data, health outcomes, and the industrial area for advocacy. We fabricated the “Scent of No Pollution” to inspire residents. Over 150 people attended an event with USC Trees, North East Trees, and Artemisia Nursery, learning Tree-via, plant propagation and seed bombing, and smashed pollution monster piñatas. Success is measured by ingenuity that leads to action. Hundreds participated in these activities. VCT has dozens of new volunteers. Others told VCT they are re-energized. New collaborations exist. Many businesses hosted Love Note stations. These indicators point to future actions and growth.

Public Matters and Visión City Terrace (VCT) collaborate on all project activities–planning, implementation, evaluation. We use VCT’s model of collective decision-making. While Public Matters leads creative civic engagement idea generation and actions, VCT is the project’s community lead, pulse and voice. Project actions align with and advance VCT’s goals for their own community. It sets advocacy efforts and goals. VCT plans and leads community cleanups and the upcoming planting of the native garden. However, as an all-volunteer group, VCT lacks Public Matters’ day-to-day capacity. Together, they seek to increase VCT’s capacity to reach and engage their neighbors; mobilize collective action; exert pressure on public agencies to act; and manifest a shared vision for their neighborhood.