Last night I took the girls with me to a community workshop hosted by the CRA for a proposed linear park on Grand Ave.
With Matt at a BCS Championship party all I wanted to do was pick up the girls from school and go home to the comforts of my couch, a large sweatshirt, my fuzzy red socks, and tights. But alas I felt obligated to go and provide my input as well as observe what exactly goes on in these community workshops.
We walked a few blocks to Spring St and took the MTA 83 to get to the Public Works Building which is where the meeting was being held and got there 30 minutes early. While we waited I had a cup of tea at Starbucks while the girls shared a yogurt parfait and chocolate soymilk- and again I wondered why I wasn’t lounging at home instead.
When we walked over to the meeting place you would have thought they were having a holiday dinner from the food spread they had. We grabbed a juice and sat down.
After the recap of the proposed project (which would be funded by a state grant from a Prop 84 park bond) we broke out into groups and brainstormed what we wanted to see in the possible site.
The location is on Grand Ave between Olympic and 9th St and would be 8 feet wide on one side (in front of FIDM) and 20 feet wide on the other (in front of the Federal Reserve) which would result from DOT narrowing the street by removing a park lane and a full lane.
The top recommendations for the site were:
1. Dog Run (which I agree with)
2. Benches and Landscape (which I thought was a given since it’s a park)
3. Water Feature
I have to say that I was one of only two parents that went to the meeting (Ginny and Alex were there with beautiful Miss Iolani) so there weren’t many votes for child equipment. I picked up some surveys so please contact me downtownl.a.parents@gmail.com if you can swing by the Saturday Playdate so I can turn them in next Wed. at the next meeting. I did raise my hand to say just that- I hoped the lack of presence from downtown parents would not undermine that fact that we need kids NON-Metal play equipment, and I must say that the group was pretty responsive overall.
Next meeting the girls will have to sit it out- poor things were enticed by the chalk, stamps and ink pads (what were they thinking?) but no paper..
Next community workshop is on Wed. January 13 Time: 6-8:30 p.m. @1149 Broadway SB Rm 6. Again I know the timing is weird which makes it hard for people to go and especially difficult when you have kids and no nanny but send in your comments so that you can be heard if not in person at least through me or another lucky parent that attends. 🙂
Check out the related LATimes article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-downtown-street6-2010jan06,0,5458088.story
and the workshop website: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yFoCrxz6Jp8/S0Twn8YpfNI/AAAAAAAAAQA/YATgudiTIC0/s1600-h/091229_OlympicGrand_eblast_EngSpan%5B1%5D_Page_1.jpg
Susana Benavidez 
