As some of you know, I'm a member of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, on the Built Environment committee and I'm organizing an event with Mark Larkman of City Repair (see attached a flyer and also a copy of the text below). Mark Lakeman if you don't know, is a visionary and a social architect as well as an architect with sustainable goals. As a speaker he inspires and guides a community to break out of old paradigms and step into healthier models, go to the City Repair web site for more details. So, my request is this, please come to this event, spread the word to others (post on your facebook page, calendar??) etc.

I am hoping for a 200-300 person turnout. This is an important step in gathering the community and moving towards , "Village Alchemy".

(Ojai, California – September 12, 2011) The Ojai Valley Green Coalition presents a special event on Sunday, September 25th with Mark Lakeman and Marisa Auerbach from CityRepair.org, in Portland, Oregon.

“Placemaking is a multi-layered process within which citizens foster active, engaged relationships to the spaces they inhabit. The landscapes of our lives shape those spaces in a way which creates a sense of communal stewardship and lived connection,” says Lakeman.

This is most often accomplished through a creative reclamation of public space: projects which take the form of benches on street corners where neighbors can sit, rest and talk with each other; kiosks on sidewalks where neighbors can post information about local events, needs and resources; and street paintings in the public right-of-way that demonstrate to all who pass through that this is -- a Place -- inhabited, known and loved by its residents.

With direct applications to creating a more interactive community within the Ojai Valley, this fascinating presentation will cover projects and "lessons learned" in Portland.

The Ojai Valley Green Coalition invites the public to an afternoon event on Sunday, September 25th, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E. Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA. A question & answer session will follow the presentation. There is a suggested donation of $5.00.

CityRepair.org is an organized group action that educates and inspires communities and individuals to creatively transform the places where they live. City Repair facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world.