RESEDA : Chick Asks City to Refurbish Medians

In Reseda, beauty is in the details. At least that’s the tack taken by City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who has asked the Los Angeles Street Maintenance Department to redo the medians, or islands, in the middle of the area’s busiest streets.

The project, which is scheduled to start later this month, is neither costly nor dramatic. City officials say it will make the streets look a little cleaner--the new flowers adding just a touch of color. But Chick field deputy Rayna Gabin said the real benefits will be psychological as well as visual.

“It will make people feel a little bit better about Reseda,” she said.

Bob Kennedy, city street tree superintendent, said the city will start with pilot median-improvement projects using labor provided through alternative criminal sentences. Targeted are two medians east and west of Reseda Boulevard on Sherman Way.

The medians there, which date back to the 1950s, “are pretty much trashed,” said Gabin.

Kennedy said the irrigation systems are shot, and cars accidentally rolling over the curbs have destroyed the plants. Maintenance workers will replace the edges with new stamped concrete, clean the medians of street dirt, and replant them, he said.

Kennedy said the Reseda business community will then be called upon to finish the effort elsewhere in Reseda through the department’s “adopt-a-median” program.

Reseda, once one of the San Fernando Valley’s busiest shopping areas, has fallen on difficult times in more recent years. Revitalization of the area is a high priority of local business people, and a stated goal of Councilwoman Chick.

“This is one of our little steps forward,” said Tom Hilborn, president of the Reseda Chamber of Commerce.