A "Central Park" for LA (Los Angeles, Orange: city hall, houses)

[strategery52]

Not really a question, more of my thought/idea:

Los Angeles really needs more large, outdoor, public spaces; especially, a large urban park. I know we have Griffith Park, but it's hillside terrain and inaccessibility make it seem more like a wilderness preserve at times. I'd like to see something like NY's Central Park, London's Hyde Park, or SF's Golden Gate Park - someplace in the heart of the city, where a lot of people can easily walk to, set aside as a retreat for people's relaxation/recreation/kite flying/picnicing/outdoor concerts. I mean, aren't we all supposed to be chill, laid-back, and outdoorsy here in SoCal?

I'm also of the opinion that more parks/public spaces increases people's civic pride, social connectedness, sense of community, etc., and helps improve everyone's general demeanor.

Looking at LA through Google Maps satellite view will quickly show that there is hardly any open space at all left in the center of the city. (Yay for high-density car-oriented land-use patterns! ) So, we'd have to find a way to buy up a square mile of developed land/houses/businesses near downtown (and can you imagine people supporting such a plan?). Although, there do seem to be way too many parking lots/warehouses in the southern part of downtown, we could probably convert 5-6 adjacent blocks into a nice park... Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to keep on dreamin' .

[bhcompy]

The problem is that it will just become a haven for drug dealers/users and homeless, just like parks in other parts of the city. The reason Griffith Park is a nice place to go is because it's isolated and inconvenient.

[BRinSM]

LA is too big for one central park, instead, we have smaller parks spread out across the city. There are some big ones though. The eastside of town has griffith park, the valley has balboa park/sepulveda basin and Hansen Dam area, and the westside has the beach. the more central areas of the city have pan pacific park as well as a number of canyon parks. I've been to most of these parks and they do seem to be used heavily, so more parks could be justified, but i don't we're lacking too much in park space (except for the 'hood, they have little to no park space unfortunately, that's where we should be focusing our efforts).

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

The problem is that it will just become a haven for drug dealers/users and homeless, just like parks in other parts of the city. The reason Griffith Park is a nice place to go is because it's isolated and inconvenient.

I've been going down to places like Echo Park lake and MacArthur Park over the last couple of years and myself along with some midnight ridazz bicycle crew would hang around there at 2am-4am until the trains started running.

Homeless people are quite harmless, but I noticed the lack of the gang riff-raff down there was less frequent.

Perhaps because it all got chased up to Victorville?

[strategery52]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

The problem is that it will just become a haven for drug dealers/users and homeless, just like parks in other parts of the city.

This kind of pessimism makes me

[LASam]

The large park ideas I've heard kicked around in the last couple years have been as follows:

1) Cap 101 through Hollywood and build parkland on top
2) Redeveloped park between City Hall and Grand Ave
3) Further development of the Cornfield Park near Chinatown between Spring and Broadway

The most ambitious plan seems to be in Orange County on the old El Toro base land.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by strategery52

This kind of pessimism makes me

Pessimistic maybe, but also realistic. LA has bigger issues to worry about.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

It'll be interesting to see how this develops:

http://hollywoodfreewaycentralpark.org/

[canibeyou]

Originally Posted by strategery52

This kind of pessimism makes me

I wouldn't call it pessimism, I'd call it more of a reality.

Someone on here listed Hansen Dam as a "park".

Located in a horrific neighborhood (this is where Rodney King got beat... well, actually they built a children's museum on top of the spot where King got beat) it's over-run with drugs, gangs and packs of feral pitbulls that people have dumped there when night falls. It's a great idea, but when handed over to the general public, they chose to ruin an otherwise good idea. Guess they got tired of sittin' on their own front porches and decided to do their "business" in that park.

The reality of it is, people have no respect for what isn't theirs.

Than again, there are bad parts of Central Park too.

[Bruin5]

You forgot to mention Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area as being another major park in the city.