City Seeks to Put Mini-Parks in Urban Pockets

Los Angeles recreation officials have launched an unprecedented effort to build a slew of small parks--one acre and smaller in size--to help ease the desperate need for open space in the densely populated inner city.

The city has already built a few “pocket” or mini-parks and is now negotiating the purchase of at least seven more park sites in South-Central, Hollywood and near downtown Los Angeles.

Most of the park sites are weed-choked parcels that long have been vacant. The lots include the site of a commercial building that was burned during the 1992 riots. The smallest lot is smaller than a basketball court and is bordered on one side by a freeway offramp in Hollywood.

In the past, city officials have been reluctant to build on lots smaller than one acre, contending that the maintenance and security costs made such parks unfeasible.

But city officials have reversed that policy now that they have access to money from two park bond measures approved in 1996. The city is expected to spend at least $3.5 million in Proposition K and Proposition A2 parks funds to buy the parcels.

Three of the new parks will be built in South-Central Los Angeles, where per capita parkland is one-fourth to one-fifth as plentiful as the Westside and San Fernando Valley.

Because of the dense development of the inner city, city officials say there are few opportunities to buy large parcels without condemning homes and businesses.

“We are trying to maximize what we have,” said Barry Simon, a senior manager at the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

Planning experts say that pocket parks (a half-acre or smaller) and mini-parks (between a half-acre and an acre) have caught on in large cities like New York, Atlanta and Detroit.

“Many urban planning theorists think small urban parks serve people better,” said Bill Fulton, an urban planner and writer.

Residents and activists in the inner city applaud the effort.

“We would all like a park because there are no parks around,” said Jose Cruz, who added that his three sons routinely play soccer in an empty, litter-strewn lot across the street from his South-Central home and noted that the nearest park is more than a mile away.

The city is negotiating to buy the empty lot across from Cruz’s home on East 31st Street near Central Avenue.

Because the park bonds do not pay for additional recreation staff, city officials plan to recruit neighbors to voluntarily remove trash at the parks and to watch out for crime.

Some officials and inner-city activists worry that a few of the parks may become hangouts for gangs if neighbors fail to take responsibility for the parks.

“Safety and security are definitely going to be an issue,” said Anthony Scott, executive director of the Dunbar Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit organization that provides low-income housing and other services in South-Central Los Angeles.

Scott’s office overlooks an empty lot on South Central Avenue that was the site of a two-story building that burned during the riots and was later demolished. The city plans to turn the 0.18-acre lot into a park.

“You have to have the neighbors apply some peer pressure to manage the parks,” Scott said.

Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents parts of South-Central Los Angeles, said the new parks can be a success if residents take responsibility for them.

“I see the pocket parks as a last-ditch effort, a final resort to getting open space in the inner city,” she said.

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A Little More Greenery

Los Angeles is negotiating the purchase of seven small park sites in South-Central, Hollywood and near downtown Los Angeles.

1. 5308 Latham St., South-Central

2. 4222 S. Central Ave., South-Central

3. 946 East 31st St., South-Central

4. Alvarado and Temple streets, Los Angeles

5. 5529 Lexington Ave., Hollywood

6. Yucca Street between Las Palmas and Cherokee avenues, Hollywood

7. 240 Avenue 57, Mt. Washington