By VAUGHAN DAVIES
Los Angeles has fewer parks per resident than any other large American city, but more than 100 acres of potential park space is hiding in plain sight. Construction would not require residents to be relocated or buildings to be demolished, and funding is available from a variety of public and private sources.
It’s a radical concept, but we need some radical thinking and action to match. We could build a beautiful park over what is now an ugly scar that slashes through the city’s downtown: the so-called 101 trench, that unsightly two-thirds of a mile stretch of the 101 Freeway just east of the 110 interchange. The trench separates some of our most prized and appealing landmarks Olvera Street, Chinatown and Union Station from the rest of downtown, creating isolated pockets of activity rather than what we need … a livable, walkable and unified downtown district.
The concept for this new urban “Park 101” was the product of an international group of students hosted by my firm, EDAW Inc. They spent several weeks interviewing community and government leaders, and using that input to design the park, which would make a tunnel out of a stretch of the freeway. Park 101 was unveiled recently during a public design charrette and received a standing ovation from all in attendance, including Caltrans, Los Angeles Planning Department, Metro, the Community Redevelopment Agency, Los Angeles City Council members and the Mayor’s Office.
The concept certainly requires a new way of thinking. It creates a district that will be best experienced on foot, an urban campus intersected by small streets and paseos, which complement the historic downtown core with bold new architectural forms. Angelenos could walk from Union Station through the park to their jobs at Civic Center or to weekend events on Bunker Hill, not trudge across intimidating bridges above the roar and noxious fumes of freeway traffic. Students at the new $200 million Performing Arts High School, which will be built without playing fields next to the freeway, would have outdoor recreation space second to none at their doorstep.
Park 101 would connect Union Station with Grand Avenue, and serve as a catalyst for the entire revisioning of the 101 Freeway trench, ultimately linking with the Los Angeles River and Griffith Park, and connecting with such great neighborhood amenities as Echo Park Lake and Elysian Hills, as well as the proposed Hollywood Cap Park.
Other elements of the proposed park include swings, a folded landscape with a ridgeline trail, sinuous walks and local neighborhood street edges for cafe dining. Additionally, the plan calls for a signature building at the northern end of Grand Avenue, anchoring Frank Gehry’s Disney Hall with an equally bold idea the tallest and greenest skyscraper on the West Coast. Chinatown would have a great new “front door,” opening onto downtown along Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The long-proposed Latino Cultural Center could become one of the park’s great destinations, not unlike the Metropolitan Museum on one edge of New York’s Central Park.
Liquidity crisis
A great addition of valuable open space, the park also makes perfect sense within the context of the city of Los Angeles’ recently adopted Green Building Ordinance to reduce greenhouse gases, as well as California’s AB-32, a comprehensive law with similar carbon-reduction goals on a statewide basis. For sure, a large, urban park with its trees, landscape and green open space will help achieve the intent of these measures by mitigating or reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
Finding money for such public projects is always a challenge, but various sources are available. The proposed California infrastructure improvements to be funded under Propositions 1A and 1B, which are meant to update and expand the freeway system to reduce congestion, could provide considerable funding. Owners of properties near Union Station and Grand Avenue, who would benefit from this great park, could contribute to a fund for this open space as part of their development agreements. Mitigation obligations from other large projects and freeway improvements could also help pay for this park. Finally, fees from California’s proposed Green Freight Initiative, which will create more efficient and less-polluting freight shipment on highways and by rail, could provide additional funds.
Every great city in our country has a major and much-loved urban park. They provide needed open space and form the key ingredients for a successful downtown: housing and hotels, shops and cafes, museums and concert halls, public festivals and events, places for leisurely strolling. No U.S. downtown has become a thriving city center without attractive and easily accessible open space for its residents.
Los Angeles needs a park and the time is now.
Vaughan Davies is a principal and director of urban design at the Los Angeles office of EDAW, a planning, design and environmental firm.
