[Date]
Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation
1400 10th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: Support for the South Bay Extreme Heat Action Plan & Demonstration Projects Dear LCI Extreme Heat & Community Resilience Program Grant Team, On behalf of the Cities of Carson, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lomita, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, Redondo Beach, and County of Los Angeles Chief Sustainability Office, we are writing to express our strong support for the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) grant application to the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation for the “South Bay Extreme Heat Action Plan & Demonstration Projects”. This initiative will build upon existing plans, including the SBCCOG’s 2019 climate adaptation plan and the 2026 Los Angeles County Heat Action Plan.
With this funding, the SBCCOG will be able to implement cool roof and tree planting demonstrations, as well as develop locally tailored extreme heat infrastructure recommendations. The project emphasizes inclusive input from cities, partner agencies, nonprofit organizations, and local universities. The SBCCOG will also inform and engage residents from our communities, benefiting from their diverse perspectives to help shape the strategies that address extreme heat threats effectively, equitably, and sustainably.
The SBCCOG first created sub-regional and city-level vulnerability assessments and follow-up adaptation strategies in 2019. The work established a foundation for understanding how the South Bay and its residents will be affected by and can prepare for climate change. Seven years later, this new initiative will incorporate updated climate projections, demographic data, and community perspectives to determine how vulnerabilities have changed, as well as pinpoint new strategies to address threats from extreme heat.
In support of the SBCCOG on this new initiative, we are eager to share feedback on the drafted reports and community engagement efforts to help ensure the needs of our communities are addressed. In doing so, we aim to make sure that our subregion is resilient and that it remains safe and accessible to our residents in the face of extreme heat events.
Being a diverse subregion with many types of geographies and socioeconomic conditions, as well as a significantly large senior population, with little experience with more frequent hotter conditions, our communities are highly threatened and vulnerable to extreme heat events. With the new subregional plan, cool roofs, and tree plantings, communities like ours will be better equipped to understand and address these challenges.
As member agencies of the SBCCOG, we look forward to collaborating on the South Bay Extreme Heat Action Plan and Demonstration Projects. For these reasons, the Cities of Carson, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lomita, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, Redondo Beach, and County of Los Angeles Chief Sustainability Office strongly support this grant application.
Thank you for considering this proposal.
Sincerely,
David C. Roberts, Jr.
City Manager
City of Carson
Alejandro Vargas
Mayor
City of Hawthorne
Michael Detoy
Mayor
City of Hermosa Beach
Louis Atwell
City Manager
City of Inglewood
Andrew Vialpando
City Manager
City of Lomita
Karina Bañales
City Manager
City of Rolling Hills
Greg Grammer
City Manager
City of Rolling Hills Estates
Aram Chaparyan
City Manager
City of Torrance
Rita Kampalath, Ph.D., PE
Chief Sustainability Officer
County of Los Angeles
Jim Light
Mayor
City of Redondo Beach