City agrees to manage dogged LAPD lawn after nature burns it
Tony Pierce/KPCC
The lawn at the LAPD headquarters Downtown in 2010.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — For more than a year, volunteers have helped maintain and beautify the lawn outside the shiny new LAPD headquarters.
The grassy area outside the reflective building has become a beloved neighborhood dog park and social gathering spot, but is struggling under the lack of attention from the city.
"This multimillion dollar building was built without any funds for maintenance," said Valerie Watson, a board member of the Downtown Neighborhood Council.
Now, after months of collaboration with Councilmember Jan Perry's office and multiple city departments, the LAPD lawn will start to receive some city tending. A temporary arrangement has been made with the Department of Recreation and Parks to work on the lawn twice a month.
"Right now we have to figure out how to keep the lawn going and the lawn growing," Perry said.
Department employees will use overtime hours for the work, cutting costs for the city by eliminating the need to hire additional employees.
This is the plan for the short term.
In the long term, Perry, the LAPD, and multiple city departments must figure out a budget and a game plan for continually maintaining the park. They will address issues including why some of the palm trees got sick and issues with dirt compaction and planting logistics, Perry said.
When the new headquarters was built, William Bratton was the Chief of Police,. He wanted to use the expansive grassy area as a staging era for police horses or other large scale action, Perry said.
But the lawn was always intended to be open to multiple uses, and the original design for the building also envisioned the grassy area as a community park, which it serves as now, she explained.
"You hear people saying on Facebook that they're checking in at the LAPD dog park," Watson noted.
Perry said the building is an "interesting architectural situation." It's not the pedestrian traffic and dog use that's the lawn's biggest issue; it's the building itself that is causing many of the problems, the councilwoman who oversees part of Downtown said.
The grass has been scorched by the intense reflection off the glass of the building, Perry said. There are currently no plans to alter the actual structure, but the city will have to address the problem at the ground level, so to speak.
Even though official scheduled maintenance is now planned for the headquarters by the city, Watson said many volunteers will probably continue to help out. The project became a "labor of love," Watson said.
Cheryl McDonald has become a volunteer caretaker for the space. She lives across the street from the police headquarters and said that although she protested the initial construction of the building, she ended up being "quite delighted" with the design of the park and the use of the native plants.
"God knows Downtown needed park space," she said.
McDonald started cleaning up the area after a tent set up on the lawn for a 2010 police gala damaged the plants and sprinkler system. She started small, taking a bag on her morning walks to yank overgrown grass stalks. From there, she helped organize the monthly meet-ups with the neighborhood council to keep her beloved park groomed.
Over the upcoming months, parks should be popping up all over Downtown, with several new plans for parklets taking advantage of available urban spaces and the larger-scale Civic Park that's expected to be completed in June.
derblut on December 29, 2011, at 07:07PM – #1
We're such a bozo city.
John G on December 29, 2011, at 08:19PM – #2
Wow, that's the first I heard about park grass being scorched due to the intense reflection of a building's glass facade.
There seems to be two problems here:
As much as we would like to have open space, these two problems (especially the 2nd one) will be a recurring problem unless something is changed.
Perhaps an aerial cover or enclosure could provide protection for the grass. Maybe an atrium type building could be built: There would still be green space and maybe even adding some sort of amenity (to generate business tax revenues or small user fees) could provide some sort of financial sustainability.
This problem seems unique for this location; perhaps a solution would have to be the same.
Hopefully our developers and city governments will learn something from this type of situation.
Robert A on December 30, 2011, at 09:31AM – #3
To me, the problem seems to be the sprinklers. They don't water evenly..they over water in some areas and under water in others. Perhaps they need to water more in the area close to the building. This space is a fantastic resource for Downtowners and is a welcomed gathering space for all species. I commend Ms. Perry for addressing this problem.
UrbanNthusiast on December 30, 2011, at 10:57AM – #4
The bigger question is why is this an off-leash dog park? Dangerous for dogs and people.
DawnC on January 02, 2012, at 04:44PM – #5
No one is clicking on your shit lacelace!
Why is there no consideration of artificial turf instead of planting more water sucking grass? It looks much more realistic than AstroTurf used to and would only need enough water to hose down the dog remnants once in a while.
UrbanNthusiast above is right, if it's going to continue to be a dog park, a fence really needs to be added. Several dogs have been killed because they ventured into the busy streets that surround the park. It's also dangerous for people and leashed dogs to have unrestrained dogs running around. There's a reason we have leash laws, they protect both dogs and people.
John G on January 03, 2012, at 11:54AM – #6
@ DawnC
Artificial turf (fake grass) is going to be a hard-sell to the green movement advocates, especially in an urban setting where concrete already rules. Even if artificial turf mitigates the water problem, how about the intense heat reflected off the glass facades? Discoloration and/or damage can be an issue.
I toally agree with a fenced dog park. Many cities, like New York, incorporate a fence for safety in their dog parks.
Jewel Jubic on January 03, 2012, at 09:38PM – #7
They need to go with a lot of maintenance work here and also with some security. And the idea of artificial turf is not suitable here.. business broadband
BobbyD on January 06, 2012, at 06:41PM – #8
Years ago when the Mayor was a nobody trying to get something,anything, for himself, he was running with groups that demanded to be heard and demostrated and stuff. Now that these new demonstrators made alot of damage the mayor is trying to make political gains by putting down these demonstrators- to me the mayor is another greedy SOB who says whatever he wants to make money. He helped promote the idea in some peoples' minds with his freedom talk- now he is trying to get out of any responsibility for what he did years ago.