Harbor Gateway Residents Want Right of Way Turned Into Park

For the third time this decade, Harbor Gateway residents say they plan to fight possible development of an abandoned railroad right of way on Normandie Avenue.

An overwhelming majority of the estimated 85 people at a Harbor Gateway-Torrance Community Assn. meeting Tuesday night agreed to start a petition drive asking that the empty, 3.8-acre strip, which resembles a median, be made into a park area with grass, trees and bus-stop benches.

The petition will be aimed at the area’s City Council representative, Joan Milke Flores, and the owner of the land, Southern Pacific Transportation Co., which is negotiating to sell the property.

Officials of the San Francisco-based company wouldn’t disclose details of those discussions. “It would be premature,” company spokesman Gerald Pera said.

But residents at the meeting wanted immediate answers.

“All I know, if we don’t start something fast, this area is going to get more crowded than any of us wants,” resident Tanya Burchad said.

Many residents said they were concerned that a development on the land would add to traffic congestion. Others were worried that their property values would decrease if low-income housing were built. Twice before, residents have started petition drives to stop development of the strip. In 1981 and 1984, R.J.B.R. Development Co. of Harbor City was interested in buying the land and putting low-income housing on it. Each time, about 1,500 residents signed a petition opposing the project. In 1981, the developer withdrew the proposal. In 1984, the deal fell through.

Couldn’t Estimate Cost

Efforts by community activists Rochelle Bullock and Aloma L. Obringer to urge the city to buy the land and convert it into a park have failed. Neither city officials nor residents could estimate how much it would cost to turn the land into a park.

Niki Tennant, field deputy for Flores, said, “In the past it was quite clear that residents didn’t want development on the strip, but we never got a clear consensus that the majority of property owners wanted to pay the extra taxes in order to pay for the proposed green area.”

Tennant said that in response to the 1984 development proposal, the city distributed to community activists a petition that residents could sign to set up an assessment district to pay for converting the land into a park.

Petition Failed

The petition, which required signatures from 80% of the property owners in a half-mile radius of the strip, was never turned in.

Bullock said that petition failed because no one wants to pay extra taxes for the proposed green area. “I think we could get the park built through a community block grant or recreational and park funds . And I’m going to make sure that’s the way we get this green area,” Bullock said.

She believes this may be the last chance to have the strip turned into a park.

“How can this not be our last chance?” she said. “Look how many more people have moved here and how many housing units have been put up since 1980.” By 1986, the latest year for which the Los Angeles Planning Department has figures, Harbor Gateway population had increased by 15%, to 34,951. Only Westwood had a larger population growth.

‘It’s a Wasteland’

Pera said the company would consider selling the land to the city. “The company doesn’t mean to sound uncaring of the residents’ needs, but the whole point is to sell the area because currently it’s a wasteland,” he said.

Many residents agree. Rusted track and overgrown weeds dot the narrow, gravel strip. Occasionally, teen-agers use it as an unofficial motorcycle raceway and scurry off before police arrive. A couch was dumped near Torrance Boulevard recently, and people leave old cars bearing For Sale signs near the Carson Street intersection.

“I think grass and trees would look so much better there,” Bullock said.