SANTA CLARITA : 170-Acre Park Named for State Sen. Ed Davis
A 170-acre park in the Santa Clarita Valley has been named for retiring state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita).
Located in Towsley Canyon off The Old Road in Newhall, the new park is the first step toward what the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy hopes will be a 6,000-acre preserve.
In naming the park for Davis, who sponsored legislation to allow the Conservancy to purchase it, the agency gave a surprising legacy to a man who is remembered by many environmentalists as an opponent of their ideas.
Even Davis--who as Los Angeles’ police chief was known for expressing conservative ideas in exaggeratedly colorful statements, such as his suggestion that skyjackers should be hanged at the airport--acknowledged the irony.
“They could have named a jail for me,” Davis quipped during a ceremony last week to change the park’s name from Towsley Canyon Park to Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon. “Or a police station, or a gallows in an airport.”
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