Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday announced an ambitious plan to make the city more environmentally sustainable and to create 15,000 more “green” jobs by 2017. The policy roadmap sets out short and long-term targets in 14 categories related to the environment and the economy. Garcetti wants to create a total of 20,000 green jobs by mid-2017, the end of his mayoral term. As of the end of last year, about 4,700 green jobs had been created, mostly in rooftop solar panel installations, lawn removal and waste recycling. Garcetti is also calling for 100,000 housing units to be built by 2021 and to ensure that at least 57 percent of the units are within 1,500 feet of transit stops by 2025. On the environmental front, Garcetti aims to reduce per capita water use 20 percent by 2017, triple rooftop solar energy production by 2017 and cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Garcetti has directed Matt Petersen, his sustainability officer, to work with city departments to map out strategies to achieve the goals. Some elements of the plan may need City Council approval. Some of the funding will come from the city’s General Fund, but many elements of Garcetti’s plan will need additional funding sources.
