Legion Lane “Nature Park”
April 30, 2008
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Friends of Atwater Village (“FAV”) has been working for years with L.A. City Council President Garcetti's office to try to get a park in Central or South Atwater Village. Recently the Council President met with Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (“SMMC”) to revisit a underdeveloped lot on Legion Lane as a possible site for a park.
Currently the property has a newly built never occupied two story house on it and a new road that could lead to two other homes if the privately owned project continues. SMMC looked at this site about 10 years ago but received neighborhood opposition so they took their dollars elsewhere. The climate of the neighborhood has changed and our hope is that we can gain the support of Atwater Village residents that we need to show SMMC that we will embrace the project.
Please join L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy this Saturday, May 3rd - 11:00am at 3781 Legion Lane (off of Sunnynook by the L.A. River) to discuss a potential park at this location and share your input and ideas for such a park.
If you cannot attend the meeting please email your thoughts to favboard@friendsofatwatervillage.org.
You can also see photos of the site at: www.flickr.com/photos/lopitos/sets/72157603828580400
TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND SMMC’S ROLE IN THIS PROPOSED PROJECT, PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO VISIT SMMC WEBSITE www.smmc.ca.gov read their mission statement then click on to visit your parks so you can see what type of parks they build.
As a community we need to be realistic and stay within the realm of what they do which are mostly passive recreation nature parks. We can not expect SMMC to take care of all the ill's of the river (graffiti, gangs, drugs, homelessness) only maintain and patrol what they build. The problems that currently exist will still exist whether there is a park or homes built.
FAV hopes that you can attend the meeting and also spread the word so there will be a good turnout of residents. This may be our last chance in Central Atwater Village for a park as it is the only open lot left. The owner of the property is a willing seller, SMMC is interested and CD13 is behind the project so most of the components are there. There is no guarantee that the project will materialize but it's certainly worth exploring.
Click here to download our "wish list" for the Legion Lane site (pdf file)
Sincerely,Board
Friends of Atwater Village