Wiser Alatorre Is Proud That Park Bears His Name

A younger Richard Alatorre would not have liked the idea of naming a park after him.

Especially since the park in question is a plain one-acre plot of brush and trees buffeted by freeway noise and guarded by a dilapidated chain-link fence and overhead power lines.

But at a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday, an older Alatorre, who is retiring after 14 years on the Los Angeles City Council, wholeheartedly embraced the naming of Alatorre-Eagle Rock View Park because the 1.03-acre site is located at the base of Eagle Rock, the granite mountain after which the northeast L.A. community is named.

Over the years, Alatorre admitted, he has learned to value things he didn’t as a young Chicano firebrand. And to his constituents in Eagle Rock, whom he has represented since he was first elected to the state Assembly in 1972, the rock--whose flat side was etched by nature to resemble an eagle--is as important a historical treasure as is Mt. Rushmore.

“I don’t think [the younger Alatorre] would have understood the importance of the rock,” said Councilman Alatorre, who attended the groundbreaking on his 56th birthday. “Quality of life wasn’t as important to me then as, say, basic civil rights.

“But this . . . I’m very honored by this.”

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land acquired the site in January with $177,000 from the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District and the city of Los Angeles. The city will become the eventual owner.

Officials said the park will be a passive-use facility with benches, some nature paths and a small parking lot off Scholl Canyon Road.

Because of the adverse publicity in the last 18 months surrounding Alatorre over FBI and IRS investigations, drug use and a messy custody battle for his 10-year-old niece, some might have thought the naming of a park for him inappropriate. But the 40 people at the ceremony, most of them residents of Eagle Rock, would have none of that.

Several pointed out that Alatorre was instrumental in the 10-year fight to gain city ownership of Eagle Rock in order to preserve it. He also was crucial to the naming of the Eagle Rock Library as a city landmark as well as its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s the perfect name for the park,” Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce President Michael Nogueira said. “He has done a lot of good work for us for almost 28 years. This is a fabulous thing to do.”

Said one Eagle Rock resident, who declined to have her name used, “They should name more things after him.”

City officials say there are plans to name more public places after the lawmaker, but they declined to be specific.

During Saturday’s ceremony, there were still reminders of Alatorre’s recent past and his long devotion to politics.

As the councilman addressed the crowd before the traditional shoveling of dirt, his niece, Melinda, whom he calls his daughter, stood by his side. The little girl said nothing, but he continually clutched her as he joked with the crowd.

Afterward, candidate Victor Griego, who with Nick Pacheco is in the June 8 runoff election to succeed Alatorre, came by. When asked if he had endorsed a candidate in the runoff, Alatorre, in his characteristic gruff tone, nodded in Griego’s direction and said, “Him.”