The Brief

Facing a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is calling for major cuts to city resources that focus exclusively on addressing the local effects of climate change.

The cuts call for:

• Eliminating the city’s landmark climate action office, called the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, or CEMO. That includes potentially cutting the city’s first chief heat officer, Marta Segura, who directs the office. The city declined to provide further details to LAist about what her role may be if the office is cut.  
• Downsizing the Office of Petroleum and Natural Gas, including: 
  
  • Cutting one position in the oil and gas well compliance program, which oversees pollution from oil wells in the city. 
  • Cutting one position in the oil amortization program, which is tasked with helping the city figure out how to phase out urban oil drilling over the next few decades.
• All in all, eight positions are proposed to be cut across the two offices, which is estimated to save the city about $950,000. The emergency mobilization cuts make up the bulk of those savings — about $750,000.

The move comes after the most destructive fires in L.A. history that were made worse by human-caused climate change.

The proposed cuts have alarmed local environmental justice and public health advocates who have worked closely with the city on these programs.

“I can’t believe it,” said Miguel Miguel, former director of the grassroots environmental justice group Pacoima Beautiful and now director of Sierra Club California. “Not only did we just go through the worst fires we’ve seen in a long time, but all the environmental justice organizations that are trying to fight climate change consistently in Los Angeles now just got told that this is not as important as the other things we have to pay for.”

A spokesperson for the city told LAist that Bass remains "committed" to climate action and that the city will continue to coordinate progress across city departments.

What does the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office do? 

Established in 2019 in a unanimous vote by the L.A. City Council, the office is considered the first of its kind in the world.

Since then, the office has led extreme heat education campaigns, been creating a comprehensive heat action plan, and worked across city departments to develop policies to transition buildings (which account for 40% of the city’s emissions) to cleaner energy in an equitable and affordable way, among other things.

“The last thing we should be doing is cutting the very office tasked with coordinating climate efforts across departments,” Alex Jasset, energy policy lead for the non-profit Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, wrote in an emailed statement to LAist. “We strongly encourage the mayor to reconsider the proposed budget to include funding for this critical office.”

The idea of the office is to streamline the city’s approach to climate action by establishing an office solely focused on bringing together often-siloed city departments, developing a heat action plan and centering the concerns of communities most impacted by environmental pollution.

The office was established in large part due to advocacy from communities most directly affected by environmental pollution and extreme heat.

Marta Segura, who grew up on the front lines of environmental pollution in San Jose, was appointed director of the office and then became the city’s first chief heat officer. She is the only city official who focuses exclusively on the effects of worsening climate change, including working across city departments and with community-based organizations to address the health effects of extreme heat in L.A.

LAist reached out to Segura for comment, but a Climate Emergency Mobilization Office spokesperson said she was not authorized to speak with reporters because the budget proposal is not final. It’s not yet clear what will happen to her position going forward, and city officials would not provide further details to LAist.

“ Climate work is not just in the realms of climate,” said Miguel, “and the [Climate Emergency Mobilization] office was our chance to really connect and unify that work in one location to help the city of Los Angeles move forward.”

What effect would these cuts have? 

Officials and advocates worry the cuts could hinder climate progress in the city, including losing a state grant to help with extreme heat action and reducing more than half of the staff tasked with overseeing oil wells in the city.

Vahid Khorsand, the president of the city’s Board of Public Works, which oversees the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office and the Office of Petroleum and Natural Gas, expressed his concerns in a letter to the city responding to the budget proposal.

Khorsand wrote that the proposed cuts to the Office of Petroleum and Natural Gas would end already-funded efforts to monitor air quality around oil and gas drilling sites and to develop a “public transparency dashboard for oil and gas company compliance.” The planned cuts would also “delay or completely halt” work to develop a plan to phase out oil drilling in the city, he wrote.

Khorsand added that the proposal to eliminate the climate office would also require the city to forfeit a $750,000 state grant to create L.A.’s first heat action and resilience plan. Such plans can help the city prepare for the effects of climate change long-term, and receive certain types of funding for efforts such as planting trees, assisting with utility bills, and developing other strategies to address the worsening impacts of extreme heat, particularly in the hottest areas of the city that have long faced disinvestment.

“Should this office be deleted, ... community resources and education provided by this office to the most vulnerable communities who face the impacts of climate change and extreme heat would be eliminated,” Khorsand wrote.

The city’s response 

The mayor’s spokesperson, Zach Seidl, wrote in an emailed statement to LAist that “with an $800 million deficit, there are only difficult choices.”

He emphasized that, despite the proposed cuts, Bass remains committed to climate progress.

“The mayor’s office has a robust office of Energy and Sustainability led by Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley working on various equitable climate action goals and initiatives including with the environmental justice communities,” Seidl wrote. “Mayor Bass is committed to her bold climate goals and despite a tough budget cycle, is unwavering in her commitment to a sustainable and green future for Los Angeles.”

Seidl also pointed to the mayor's "climate cabinet," which is made up of 15 city departments that convene periodically to coordinate climate action priorities.

What’s next?

Public comment can be provided in person at upcoming hearings about the budget proposal, which are scheduled for the following dates:

• Friday, April 25 at 1 p.m, at Van Nuys City Hall
• Monday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at L.A. City Hall
• Thursday, May 1, at 9 a.m. at L.A. City Hall (this hearing is specifically discussing the elimination of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office)

Members of the public can also provide comments online. The council file number for the proposed budget is 25-0600.

Lawmakers on Thursday killed a controversial plan that could have allowed grizzly bears to one day return to California.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee spiked Inglewood Democratic Sen. Laura Richardson’s Senate Bill 1305. The measure would have tasked the California Department of Fish and Wildlife with creating a “roadmap that evaluates whether, and under what conditions, reintroduction of the grizzly bear is feasible and advisable.”

As is typical with the Legislature’s appropriations committees, lawmakers didn’t discuss the bill; nor did they take public testimony before the committee’s chairperson, Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland, announced the decision.

Wicks later told reporters that before intentionally reintroducing grizzly bears, the state must figure out how humans can best coexist with predatory wildlife. She pointed to the controversial return of gray wolves to California and the subsequent loss of cattle.

“The state needs to really invest in how we are actually addressing and dealing with those conflicts,” she said.

Grizzlies once lived across most of California. As many as 10,000 may have roamed before the Gold Rush. They were so prevalent that when California settlers tried to form their own nation, they called it the Bear Flag Republic. A grizzly bear is memorialized on California’s flag.

Settlers systematically exterminated the animals. They were gone by the 1920s, leaving the smaller black bear as California’s only surviving native bear species.

Two Native American tribes consponsored the bill, and several animal welfare and environmental groups supported it. They argued that bringing the second largest land predator back to America’s most populated state would right an ecological wrong and help restore California’s degraded ecosystem.

Opponents included ranchers, hunting associations and rural communities. They argued California is far too populated with people to sustain another apex predator. Rural communities are already overwhelmed with conflicts with mountain lions, black bears and wolves that attack livestock and wander into their towns, opponents said.

The measure set aside no funding for the study, but it allowed for a future Legislature or an outside group to do so.

Yue Stella Yu contributed reporting.

Irvine opened a new pedestrian bridge this week that lets you pedal, scoot, or walk over the 5 Freeway.

I threw my bike in the car and went to check it out.

I parked at Cypress Community Park in Irvine and was soon biking over the 5. The bridge is only for pedestrians, bikes, and scooters — so no cars to worry about.

A new bridge in Irvine opened this week. It stretches across the 5 Freeway and connects to other trails in the city.

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The bridge, which opened on Aug. 11, is a key link in Orange County’s network of trails that can take cyclists and pedestrians all the way from the hills to the Pacific Ocean.

“It looks like they nailed it. This is great," said James Connolly, who was on a scouting trip from his home in Costa Mesa.

“ I wanna take my e-board, which can go about 30 miles, and go all the way to here and then turn around and go back, you know? It looks like that's feasible now," he continued.

The new bridge in Irvine opened this week.

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Sadia Kahn was trying to keep up with her two young boys, who were on scooters.

“ It's our first time here. We've been watching the construction for a while, so yeah, we're excited," she said.

Khan said she has come to really appreciate Irvine's network of parks and trails.

“Prior to having kids, it would just give me like the heebie-jeebies by how like manicured it is and then you have kids and you're like, "Oh, I get the hype," she said. "We've drank the Kool-Aid is what I'm trying to say.” 

There’re plenty of skate parks in the region — skateboarding, after all, got its start in Southern California. But a skate park of another kind has risen on the banks of the L.A. River.

It’s for fingerboarding.

The L.A. River Fingerboard Skatepark is four feet tall and sits atop a bank of dirt barriers installed by the Army Corps of Engineers about a decade ago to control floods.

The view from the back end of the L.A. River Fingerboard Skatepark.

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If you know, you know

There’s no exact address, finding it for yourself is part of the experience.

A group photo of fingerboarders at the the L.A. River Fingerboard Skatepark.

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Ryan Diaz

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“ The whole purpose of it is for you to get out and to use your brain and to discover the world, it just makes things fun,” said Ryan Diaz, who manages social media accounts dedicated to the fingerboard skatepark.

No one knows who built it or when it was built, but videos of people doing tricks on miniature ramps and rails started showing up on social media in March.

Diaz instantly recognized the location and decided to check it out. At that time, it was six by six feet — that’s before he started to add to it.

Others joined in and Diaz began documenting the expansion.

The park is about 90 feet long.

“Everyone does say if it wasn't for me, none of this would be happening,” Diaz said. “I was just happy to motivate people, bring out their creativity.”

Skate therapy

Levi Hernandez and his fingerboard.

Levi Hernandez performs a trick with his fingerboard.

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Levi Hernandez shows off his fingerboard.

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Levi Hernandez is from El Monte. It was his fourth time visiting on a recent Wednesday in July, but he’s been fingerboarding for nearly a decade, including at local events like ShredderMania.

He said he’s learning something new at the park.

“ It actually almost feels like real skateboarding in a way," Hernandez said. "Where your fingers end up sliding and where you're popping, it's just a lot of practice.”

Jimmy Tran of Chinatown is a regular that stops by the park on his way home from work every day. He used to skateboard – the real kind – regularly but had to stop after a bad injury.

Jimmy Tran performs a trick with his fingerboard.

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“ I could do the same tricks as skateboarding, but I don't have to get hurt at all, honestly. And I still have the satisfaction of landing a really clean trick,” Tran said.

Tran says it’s a place he can relax, be himself, and feel like a kid again.

Saturdays are for building

Gilbert Medrano (left) and Ryan Diaz (right) co-manages the park.

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Ryan Diaz

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Build days to expand the park are on Saturdays.

“We have kids that come from the neighborhood, and we teach them how to pour concrete and stuff like that, kind of like a big brother role,” Diaz said.

Besides the usual skatepark obstacles like ramps and rails, the crew also add art, including a large “LA” sign in Dodger Blue and requisite graffiti like the shark Diaz painted as a tribute to Jaws on a quarter pipe ramp.

Darren Mojica performs a trick on the quarter pipe ramp.

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Diaz’s dream is for the park to be recognized by the city as a local landmark.

“I want the spot to last, and for years to come for people to come and visit,” Diaz said.

Saturday build days include decorating the park with graffiti and art.

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A hardware store isn't where you’d expect to find a drawing class, a matcha pop-up or plant sales. Unless you're at Anzen Hardware, an 80-year-old staple that nearly disappeared from Little Tokyo in 2023.

The business reopened in November, and it’s been trying to find its groove in a neighborhood where legacy businesses are moving out — such as Suehiro Cafe and Rafu Shimpo — while navigating a different world from when it first opened.

“We're noticing the need for hardware tools is declining,” said Philip Hirose.

Jo Ann Maehara Hirose, along with her son Philip Hirose, are the new owners of Anzen Hardware. They are also the daughter and grandson of the founder.

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Philip Hirose is bringing new programming, from matcha pop-ups to drawing classes, to the reopened Anzen.

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Hirose and his mom, Jo Ann Maehara Hirose, are the new owners — the grandson and daughter of the founder. With the help of trusted family friend Rockett Ito Wong, Anzen is carrying on its legacy as it becomes something new.

"None of the three of us have that much experience with running retail stores," said Wong, a college student. "It's been quite a bit of trial and error."

Eight decades on First Street

Tsutomu Maehara opened Anzen Hotel Supply, a precursor to Anzen Hardware, after being incarcerated at Tule Lake during World War II.

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Tsutomu Maehara — Jo Ann Maehara Hirose’s father — settled in Los Angeles after being incarcerated at Tule Lake during World War II.

In 1946, he founded Anzen Hotel Supply on First Street to sell provisions to nearby single-room hotels.

Anzen Hardware from its early days in Little Tokyo.

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"As soon as I could hold a broom, we were sweeping the streets or the sidewalks outside," Maehara Hirose said.

Anzen eventually pivoted to selling American hardware and imported Japanese tools and goods — including bamboo garden rakes and handcrafted knives from a company that once made samurai swords.

Twenty-year-old Rockett Ito Wong is a longtime family friend and runs the floor.

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“It's always a discovery,” said Mike Okamura, president of the Little Tokyo Historical Society and a patron since Maehara was behind the cash register.

Maehara Hirose remembered Anzen imported one of the first rice cookers from Japan. “A National. That one-button one,” she said. “They were flying off the shelves.”

These days, tariffs are making it harder to keep and find suppliers. Still, Wong has just brought in a shipment of knives and chisels.

“I don't even think it's been a question that we would source any of this stuff not from Japan,” he said.

The shop still sharpens knives. In fact, Wong is the guy responsible for the job.

A reluctant homecoming

In 2023, then-owner Nori Takatani, a distant relative of Maehara who had worked at Anzen since he was a teen, put the store up for sale. He was in ill health and asked Maehara Hirose and her husband to take over.

She was hesitant, having opened the restaurant Azay several years earlier. She worried about taking on a second business. Besides, there were two prospective buyers, both invested in preserving Anzen's legacy.

But one day, Takatani told her the deals fell through because the landlord was jacking up rent.

Wong was able to find a new supplier from Japan for an order of new wood chisels.

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“You gotta buy it,” he told her.

Anzen Hardware returned two years later at one of its previous locations, 200 E. First Street.

“It was great news and great joy,” Okamura said when the community found out who the new owners were.

More than a hardware store 

On a July evening, about a dozen people, pencils and paper in hand, were at Anzen to learn how to draw.

Their subjects were Patty and Carrie — friends in their 70s — who ended up regaling the participants, some decades younger, with stories of their lives and community advocacy work.

The “Memory Capsule Drawing” class was taught by Kris Chau, an artist and loyal patron. She still brings in the knife she bought a decade ago for sharpening.

In July, Philip and artist Kris Chau organized a drawing class at Anzen Hardware. The models were two 70-something community activists.

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She said she was inspired to start the drawing class after Hirose said he was noticing that some elders were losing confidence and purpose.

"Even though you could see the light within Carrie and Patty, they were like, 'Why would anybody wanna draw us?'" Chau said. "The young students were just, like, in tears at the end of class."

That, along with the store’s matcha pop-ups, plant sales and artist collaborations, may just be what a legacy neighborhood business needs to survive.

“Philip [Hirose] is taking it forward, but keeping in mind the history and paying tribute to it,” said Okamura, who has been helping out at both Anzen and Azay since he retired as a banker.

“I see the old Anzen — the same counters and some of the hardware too,” he continued. “But then I see other things — the programming inside the store, which has never been done before.”