Longtime friends and environmental activists Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Laurie David have come together to support Proposition O, the only city bond measure and the only environmental measure on the November 2 ballot. Called the ‘Clean Water, Ocean, River, Beach, Bay Storm Water Clean-up Measure,’ the proposition is the result of years of work by scientists and environmental activists. If the measure is passed, the city would incur bonds of $500 million for projects that would clean and treat storm water before rain, irrigation and other sources wash the pollution into the ocean and rivers. ‘This is the greatest environmental opportunity of this region, without overstatement, a once-in-a-lifetime chance,’ David told a group of Proposition O supporters at the National Resources Defense Council headquarters in Santa Monica last week. ‘Proposition O is a first of its kind effort to finally solve water pollution problems that plague the L.A. region.’ According to Palisadian Fran Diamond, chair of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for L.A., storm water pollutants cause serious human health problems. Prop O funds would pay for storm water treatment methods, pollution prevention technologies, habitat and wetlands restoration, water conservation, creating green space and drinking water protection. ‘Literally billions of gallons of polluted urban runoff, a ‘witches’ brew’ of trash, pesticides, oil, grease, bacteria and live viruses, bombard Santa Monica Bay every year,’ David, an NRDC board member, said at the Prop O event. ‘This is what you, and your kids and tens of millions of visitors swim in during warm summer afternoons at Temescal Canyon, Will Rogers or by the Santa Monica Pier. ‘This is a problem that can be solved. But it won’t happen until Los Angeles fixes the system that delivers polluted storm water directly to the ocean without doing anything to clean it up first. No filtering, no removal of trash’no treatment of any kind. Proposition O will give our City the money it needs to fix this problem once and for all.’ The measure has been endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, as well as the Los Angeles City Council (which placed it on the ballot by a unanimous vote), Mayor Hahn, the Sierra Club, Heal the Bay, Santa Monica BayKeeper and other environmental, business and local groups. The measure would allow Los Angeles to comply with a strict federal court order to clean up its storm drain and runoff system. The projects would have independent financial audits and a citizen advisory committee would decide where the money would be spent. There is no official opposition to the proposition, which must pass by a two-thirds vote. The bond would be funded by money from property taxes, an estimated average increase of $35 a year for 24 years, according to Diamond, who says, ‘for our coastal economy, we can’t afford to continue having beaches closed. The money is well spent and long overdue.’ ‘We have the most impermeable city in the nation,’ says Diamond. ‘We have so little green space that all the storm water starts at the eastern end of the city and flows downhill to the ocean. When you have more green space, the water is captured and naturally gets filtered down to the groundwater. We throw away almost as much water as we import. It’s tragic and sad that we are throwing away this water that could be replenishing groundwater.’ Activists David and Louis-Dreyfus became friends when Louis-Dreyfus was cast as Elaine in ‘Seinfeld,’ the hit TV show created by David’s husband, Larry. ‘When we met, we immediately bonded,’ recalls David. ‘Since Larry’s married to me and he wrote the dialogue and the character, a lot of me rubbed off on her, and her on me.’ The Palisadians have a lot in common. ‘We love clothes, the environment, flea markets, we’re both activists and we’re both married to comedy writers,’ says David, whose husband is the creator and star of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Louis-Dreyfus’ husband, Brad Hall, is the writer/producer of ‘The Single Guy’ and ‘Watching Ellie.’ David, who has lived in the Palisades for 10 years, is very impressed by the community’s dedication to the environment. She noted how she sees many hybrid cars in town, and that Bobby Kennedy’s book ‘Crimes Against Nature,’ a critique of the Bush Administration’s environmental policies, is displayed in the window of Village Books. Both David and Louis-Dreyfus were inspired in their activism by Kennedy’s work. The two have teamed up to work together on a number of other environmental projects, including the hybrid bill AB 2628, introduced by Assemblymember Fran Pavley and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. If approved by the federal government, it will allow hybrid vehicles to travel in California’s carpool lanes. David holds numerous briefings and salons at her home to educate people about environmental topics, and every other year she chairs an NRDC event which has raised as much as $3 million for the environmental organization in one night. ‘She speaks with a pure heart about what she believes,’ says Ari Emanuel, founder of Endeavor Talent Agency, who works together with her on many issues. This weekend, he helped with a fundraiser at David’s home for his brother, Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel, at which Senator Hillary Clinton spoke. David does what she can in her day-to-day life to help the environment, including driving a hybrid car, but says ‘nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s even 80 percent.’ David uses both sides of paper for faxing and printing, composts in her garden, brings her own garment bag to the dry cleaners, avoids taking bags at stores when she can put something in her purse, and tells her daughters (Cazzie, 10, and Romy, 8) when they brush their teeth or wash their hands not to waste water. ‘I’m really immersed in these issues and really passionate about them,’ says David, who previously produced the sitcom ‘Get a Life’ and worked on the David Letterman show, and who now devotes herself to environmental activism full-time. Her projects include a documentary on global warming that she is producing for HBO. ‘We don’t want this to be a wonky science issue. We want to bring it to the popular culture and get everybody activated. ‘Most of the issues I work on affect everybody. If you’re a parent, you can relate to them’there’s nothing more relatable than wanting clean air and clean water.’ Louis-Dreyfus, the mother of two boys, has lived in the Palisades for 11 years and is on the board of Heal the Bay. The driver of a hybrid vehicle, she is involved in the NRDC’s executive forum and action forum. She is also on the board of Heal the Ocean in Santa Barbara where she and her husband have a second home. ‘We realize it’s a huge luxury, so we made it an all-green house. It’s solar-paneled, and made of recycled materials and sustainable woods. ‘I’m drawn to the water and ocean which are so basic and fundamental to life that when they are taken advantage of, it bothers me to the core,’ she says. ‘It’s such an important issue and unprecedented,’ Louis-Dreyfus says of Proposition O. ‘Such an extraordinary opportunity for California to be on the cutting edge.’
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