Not In My Backyard—celebrity edition!
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirsten Dunst, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris Pine, Chloë Sevigny and Garrett Hedlund are among those who are trying to put an end to major real-estate development projects in Los Angeles.
The film stars, who all coincidentally live and work in Los Angeles, are part of The Coalition to Preserve L.A., which seeks to temporarily ban projects outside the existing zoning and land-use rules in Los Angeles. It has just submitted a petition to the LA city clerk containing over 100,000 signatures.
The celebrities have joined forces with community organizers and homeowner associations to try and get “the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative” included on the March 2017 ballot.
The Coalition to Preserve L.A is at loggerheads with Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, over development projects. They want an end to exceptions for new skyscrapers and to reduce “spot zoning,” in which developers request zoning changes.
DiCaprio’s environmental activism (and frequent air travel) is renowned but it remains to be seen how committed to celebrity politics this assortment of Young-ish Hollywood will ultimately be—or indeed if they will take the fight to locations outside where they happen to live.