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The White House Gets a Garden While LA's White House Place Garden Could Soon Adjoin a LAUSD Parking Lot
Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama joined 5th graders from a DC-area school in harvesting some of the bounty from the White House's Kitchen Garden, a 1,100-square-foot, L-shaped plot on the South Lawn planted in April. Together they picked "harvested 73-pounds of lettuce and 12-pounds of peas," then worked together to create a meal they shared picnic-style right there at the White House. NPR broadcast a lovely story about the event, including the enthusiasm of the kids for working with the land and what it's taught them. The powerful partnership between learning and gardening has never been more evident than now.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the White House Place Garden, part of the Eco-Village, is being confronted with education in an entirely different manner: The LAUSD is planning to pave paradise and, yes, put up a parking lot. They're aiming to place "a 137-space parking lot to be located across the street from the main apartment building of the Village," explains LAStreetsBlog. "If the LAUSD goes forward with its current plan, it would literally add hundreds of vehicle trips to a street that the Eco-Village has worked for years to make as car-reduced as possible."
Watch this film about the White House Place Garden and its influence on the Eco-Village in Los Angeles, and go here to find out how you can help.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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