TERA

Friends-

I am happy to report that the TERA Board of Directors had a successful strategy session on March 8th. An enormous thank you to Vidiots for being our host, and to our experienced coordinator, Sara Daleiden. Our conversation built off of the important feedback we received in the community survey that we shared in December. Thank you again to all who helped by providing important insight on how we can work to make Eagle Rock an even more vibrant community.

In the coming months, we’ll share the ideas to benefit Eagle Rock that we developed. We’re excited about getting to work and about working with the broader Eagle Rock community to bring these new initiatives to life.

Sincerely,
Michael MacDonald

Friends-

I am writing this at a time when fires continue to ravage Los Angeles, from the Palisades Fire on the Westside to the Eaton Fire uncomfortably close to our home of Eagle Rock. While the power is back on in our neighborhood and our air is starting to get better, our sidewalks, homes, and yards are littered with ash and soot—a lingering reminder of the destruction we have witnessed. Across Los Angeles we are mourning the victims of these devastating wildfires and only beginning to comprehend the effects of this tragedy.

This week, I have spoken with friends and neighbors in Eagle Rock who have had this fire uproot their lives, and I have been grateful for the neighbors who have formed a network to share information about power outages, street access, and air quality. Besides the air and the power outage, the largest impact at our house was several large tree branches downed by the winds. We could not have moved them to clear the sidewalk without the generous help of our neighbors.

All across the city, I am thankful for the first responders who continue to work to keep these fires at bay, for all of those who have provided temporary shelter for those in need, for all those that have volunteered to help at donation sites and emergency shelters, and for all of those that have stepped up to provide support through sites like GoFundMe to the many families who have lost their homes. These wildfires bring with them immense grief and sadness that will be lasting. Our community and responsibility to one another are one of our strongest tools for recovery.

The TERA Board had a retreat scheduled for January 11 to work on our strategic planning for the next year of advocacy. For obvious reasons, we were forced to postpone, but we have set a new meeting for March and will be hard at work over the next months advocating for Eagle Rock and learning how to navigate challenges in this changed city.

In the broader view, I am concerned for our shared future: a world in which the effects of our climate crisis are so plainly seen, where national politicians treat tragedies like this as a game, and where our already broken housing market is further strained. But for now, I am thankful and optimistic in having seen the strength of our community showing up for one another in the face of this disaster. Together, we will welcome in neighbors who have lost their homes, and we will work together to build a more resilient and vibrant community for ourselves and for generations to come. In us, I find hope.


Wishing you and your loved ones a healthy and safe recovery,

Michael MacDonald

TERA would like to extend a warm welcome to Los Angeles City Council District 14’s newly elected councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, a native Angeleno from Highland Park. As a single mom and daughter of undocumented Filipino immigrants, Councilmember-elect Jurado attended Pasadena City College and put herself through her undergraduate degree at UCLA, where she went on to UCLA School of Law to become a tenants rights attorney and housing rights activist. We look forward to working with Jurado’s office on efforts in Eagle Rock and throughout District 14. Congratulations on your election Ysabel!

With election day just two weeks away, there are many measures and candidates to read up on. At TERA, we see two LA City Charter amendment measures (DD and LL) as particularly important for our city and are extending our endorsement here. 

In the aftermath of scandals connected to LA’s 2021 redistricting process, two LA City Charter amendments propose to add independent redistricting commissions for Los Angeles City Council Districts (Measure DD) and LAUSD School Board Districts (Measure LL). These measures would make our local redistricting processes similar to existing state-level districts in California, which are already overseen by a politically independent redistricting commission. 

TERA participated in the 2021 redistricting process, advocating to keep Eagle Rock whole and connected to Northeast LA communities that Eagle Rock has historically shared representation with. It was clear that the process was inherently politicized by the nature of redistricting commissioners being appointed by the elected offices. Measures DD and LL are an important step to restoring residents’ faith in the local redistricting process – and to making districts more equitable moving forward.  

Independently appointed commissions would shield the redistricting process from political power grabs and require redistricting maps to meet specific standards of fairness in their inclusion of geographic communities within the same district. These districts would be created through an open community process, without the influence of local elected officials operating behind closed doors.

These two measures are the first much-needed step to bring equity to our local political representation. TERA strongly endorses Measures DD and LL, and encourages Eagle Rockers to vote YES on each measure.

Dear Fellow Eagle Rockers,

By now, many of you have heard the sad news of the passing of TERA’s president, Greg Merideth, in September. Greg was a kind and generous leader, and I count myself lucky to have had him as a friend and colleague, and to have spent the last half decade working closely with him on advocacy for our community of Eagle Rock. Now, I am taking up Greg’s legacy and stepping in as the interim TERA president.

For the past five years, I have served officially as TERA’s treasurer, though I’ve also worn many other hats: leading many of TERA’s advocacy efforts, sending out monthly newsletters, and supporting TERA’s administrative operations. By day, I am an architect, and I have always sought to bring my expertise as a professional who is both creative and adept at navigating bureaucracy to my local advocacy.

I’m excited about working with our current TERA board as we enter this new chapter, and I’d like to introduce and acknowledge them here. Luis Lopez, a former president of the area planning commission, serves as our Vice President and Membership Director. Claire Bowin, a new board member this year, brings her unique expertise in the arts, urban planning, and landscape architecture to her position as TERA’s Treasurer. New board member Colleen Corcoran is an accomplished graphic designer who serves as Communications Director. And Orion Turmon, an enthusiastic college student pursuing an education in urban planning, serves as our Secretary. TERA is well served by this unique expertise of this group, and we will be looking to grow our all-volunteer board in the near term.

TERA works best when we find ways to bring our community together, and when we find ways to collaborate with our elected leaders and other organizations on ideas that inspire us. Over the next few months, the TERA Board will be working to set an agenda and priorities for our advocacy moving forward. We welcome the input of our members, and I want to personally invite you to reach out to me at president@tera90041.org with your insight and ideas for how TERA can work to improve our Eagle Rock community.

With gratitude,

Michael MacDonald