Robbins Asks State Funds for Japanese Gardens

State Sen. Alan Robbins is seeking $5 million in state funds to build Japanese gardens in the San Fernando Valley and San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Saying that he is acting at the behest of major Japanese corporations, Robbins (D-Van Nuys) proposed Thursday that the $2.5 million for each garden be matched by contributions from Japanese corporations, U. S. firms doing business in Japan and, perhaps, local governments. Japanese companies have raised $1 million for the San Diego garden, he said.

Three sites are under consideration in the Valley, two in North Hollywood and one in Universal City, Robbins said.

Robbins introduced a bill this week to allocate $5 million in state park grants for the gardens. Prospects for the bill’s passage are pretty good, he said, because it also provides for other funding sources and is supported by the Los Angeles and San Diego delegations.

Unaware of Funding Effort

In San Diego, where plans for a Japanese garden have been discussed for at least five years, city Parks and Recreation Director George Loveland expressed surprise when told of Robbins’ bill. Loveland said he was not aware of any effort to obtain state funding.

The city official also provided higher cost estimates than did Robbins. Loveland said San Diego’s plans call for the local nonprofit Japanese Garden Society to raise $3 million in private contributions and the city to put a $3-million public bond issue before voters in November.

The city ultimately hopes to spend $12 million for a traditional 12-acre garden in central Balboa Park, but had not planned to seek state aid for it, he said.

Robbins said he arrived at the $5 million cost for each garden through consultation with the San Diego planners. “There’s a tremendous amount of detail work to be done,” he said. “It takes several years for the plants to be trimmed and grow in.”

Authentic Japanese gardens typically feature waterfalls, stone lanterns and other artifacts, arched bridges, large rocks, reflecting ponds, a variety of traditional plantings and, often, a teahouse. They are generally subtle enclaves of serenity intended to invite contemplation.

Robbins said the gardens would provide a “restful retreat in an urban area” and would serve as “an important symbol of the growing friendship between the American and Japanese people.” Construction is expected to take three to four years, he said.

Although he called the initial corporate impetus “a genuine good-will gesture from the Japanese business community” and said he had received commitments from “some major Japanese corporations for support,” Robbins said he was unable to recall which companies approached him to propose the Los Angeles garden.

Loveland said one of the driving forces in San Diego was Kyocera International, a Kyoto, Japan-based ceramics manufacturer with a plant in San Diego.

3 Valley Sites

The three Valley sites under consideration, Robbins said, are next to the proposed Metro Rail terminal at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood, on or near Lankershim within or near North Hollywood’s redevelopment district and near Universal Studios in Universal City.

Those locations are accessible from the rest of Los Angeles and would meet the Japanese corporations’ requirement that the garden be near active street traffic, he said.

Robbins said the gardens would enable the Valley’s Japanese-Americans “to share a small part of the Japanese culture with the rest of the Valley.”

There is a Japanese garden at Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys but it is open to the public by appointment only.

The San Fernando Valley Japanese-American Community Center in Pacoima has 900 families as members, Robbins said.