LAPD Topanga Area Restores Native California Landscape NA12231rf

WHAT:
A news conference highlighting the Topanga Area police station’s ambitious project to restore a native California landscape to the six-acre station in an intense one-day effort with the help of students, community volunteers and $2,000 of donated native California plants.

WHEN:
Saturday, October 20, 2012
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Native plant installation
10 a.m. – Media availability news conference with special presentation from state Sen. Fran Pavley

WHERE:
Topanga Area Community Police Station
21501 Schoenborn Street
Canoga Park, CA 90034

WHO:
Sen. Fran Pavley, 23rd District
Rebekah Rodriguez-Lynn, 23rd District Director
Rep. Howard Berman, 28th Congressional District (tentative)
Rep. Brad Sherman, 27th Congressional District (tentative)
Assembly Member Bob Blumenfield, 40th District
Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, District 3 (tentative)
LAPD Topanga Area Commanding Officer Captain Thomas P. Brascia

MORE INFO:
The new Topanga Area station opened in 2009, but due to budget pressures, the city didn’t appropriate any funds to maintain the landscaping at the six-acre property. Over the last three years, the mostly non-native plants have died off. So the Topanga Area is partnering with the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants to design a new landscape that will be drought-tolerant and also provide a habitat for birds and insects.  Two hundred California native plants will be installed with the help of community volunteers under the direction of Lisa Novick, director of community outreach for the Theodore Payne Foundation.  The project, Topanga Restoring its Urban Ecosystem (TRUE), was presented by Novick at the 2012 EcoSummit in Ohio as a model for other urban landscapes to emulate.

Inspired by the Adopt-A-Highway program, Captain Brascia has invited local businesses, groups and individuals to become involved by adopting part of the 21-zone landscape.  Sponsors can participate by volunteering to water and tend the new plants or by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Topanga Boosters, a volunteer support organization of business and community leaders, to pay for professional maintenance. The Topanga Boosters donated the $2,000-worth of native plants and are covering the cost of the landscaping project without spending any tax dollars.  The Boosters’ primary mission is to increase the effectiveness and morale of Topanga officers and staff by raising funds for community services, materials, and equipment not generally supplied by the City of Los Angeles.

CONTACT:
For more information, please contact Sergeant Thomas Mason at 818-756-3180/3070 or topangapolice@lapd.lacity.org.