LOS ANGELES—A draft plan released by Healthy LA in June 2013 has been under close scrutiny in recent weeks because the public is expected to weigh in with their ideas on how to make the city healthier by May 13.
The plan, titled the “Health Atlas for the City of Los Angeles,” was issued by the Department of City Planning; it covers 13 chapters, the report analyzes demographic and social characteristics, economic conditions, education, health conditions, land use, transportation, food systems, crime, housing, environmental health, and the community health and equity index.
The economic conditions portion of the reported noted which areas dealt with the most ‘hardships,’ which was dependent on age, education, employment status, income, overcrowding, and poverty with specific areas and rated them on a scale of 0–100, the lower number meaning the least amount of hardships within a community plan area (CPA). “Twenty of the 35 CPAs analyzed (57 percent) had scores below the average Hardship Index score of 48.”
The education portion found that “in 2010, the proportion of the population age 25 and over that graduated from high school was 74 percent for the City of Los Angeles and 76 percent for the County.” The draft plan covered walkability, retail locations, as well as crime rates.
The health conditions portion revealed the most startling information, showing residents in Bel Air, Brentwood and the Pacific Palisades to live a total of 12 years more than residents who live in the downtown Los Angeles area. Residents of the Watts area were reported of having the lowest life expectancy rate, sustaining little to no increase from 40 years ago.
The deadline to provide additional feedback for the plan is May 13 at 5:00 p.m. Comments may be submitted to Healthy Plan Los Angeles’s social media pages on Twitter(@HealthPlanLA) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/healthplanLA); or they can be sent to Elizabeth Carvajal at elizabeth.carvajal@lacity.org or comments can be mailed to: Elizabeth Carvajal, Citywide Section, Department of City Planning, 200 N. Spring St., Room 667, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. Name, telephone, and contact information should be provided when leaving comments about the draft plan.
