Activists Hit $10,000 Goal to Save Eagle Rock, and They’re Still Going

Eagle Rock activists have raised $10,000 as part of an effort to persuade city officials to buy the 50-foot boulder from which the community gets its name.

The mark was set as an initial fund-raising goal. But the activists say they are not stopping now.

The Save the Eagle Rock Committee, a community group formed last year to fight a developer’s proposal to build apartments on the land that includes the rock, is asking the city to create a public park on the 2.2-acre lot.

The committee reached its self-imposed goal by selling paperweights in the shape of the rock and T-shirts with “Save the Eagle Rock” printed on them. The group also organized a pancake breakfast that drew city officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

“Now that we’ve found out how easy it is, we’re gonna change the goal to $20,000,” said Katie Smith, chairwoman of the committee. “You can tell everybody we’re not stopping.”

The residents who formed the committee have said that if the city does not find the money to buy the property north of the Pasadena Freeway, they will buy it themselves. Their effort has gained widespread support in Eagle Rock and among residents groups throughout Los Angeles.

City officials have said they will do everything they can to buy the land at a reasonable price. In November, the city hired an appraiser who estimated the value of the land at $500,000, said Brad Sales, spokesman for Councilman Richard Alatorre. The city Department of Recreation and Parks has set aside $230,000 to purchase the land, and a number of city officials have said they support the purchase.

City officials are also exploring the possibility of swapping a city-owned lot for the land that includes the rock, Sales said.

The southwest portion of the rock is a sheer cliff that looms imposingly above the Ventura Freeway. The cliff has an indentation in its face that produces an eagle-shaped shadow in the afternoon. The entire rock formation was declared a historical monument in 1982 by the city’s Cultural Heritage Board but was not acquired by the city.

Smith said the movement to save the rock has brought the Eagle Rock community together.

“There were groups of people that wouldn’t talk to each other before we got this thing started, but everybody will get together to raise money for the rock,” Smith said. “I think as long as we’ve got something going that keeps people talking, we ought to be doing more of it. . . .”