City of LA's Mark Mariscal showing school children plans for South L.A.'s new wetlands park.
UPDATE: South LA wetlands opens one acre. [view]
On Thursday morning, students from Forty-Ninth Street School entered through the former MTA bus yards at Avalon and 54th, and marched pass by buildings old enough to once be used to maintain street cars. The field trip was to a back parking lot to join some older people about to break ground on a new 9-acre wetland park.
After 5 years of planning, 8 years of dreaming, and City Council's 2006 approval of $8.1 million in Proposition O General Bond, a total of $19 Million in place; building the second natural park in South Los Angeles can begin.
These wetlands are not unlike Augustus Hawkins nature park, a pilot program designed to provide passive recreation space within dense urban lots. Hawkins has become an alternative destination for those wanting to see birds and plants in a neighborhood stripped of its own natural resources.
The new yet unnamed park is also designed to be a nature center for walking, cycling, bird watching––and reflecting how people interact with the outdoors––photography is considered one of the recreational benefits, as well as helping the City's storm water run-off.
Phase One's pocket park and wetland is expected to be completed in December 2010. When Jan Perry announced that Phase Two plans include saving and converting one building to be a railroad museum, kids cheered for the idea of a potential field trip that's in their own backyard.
That made the students as eager as the politicians and planners to grab a shovel and begin playing in the dirt
South L.A.'s new wetlands will be bordered by Avalon, 54th, San Pedro, and 55th.
(Above) All buildings will be demolished except for the former bus maintenance facility that (below) was once used to repair street cars.
(Above) Students react to the news that the wetlands phase II plans include a railroad museum. (Left) Obligatory shot of Groundbreaking ceremony.
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