Paving Over Blight

Tina Acosta, who grew up in the El Dorado Avenue house her father has owned for nearly 50 years, vividly remembers the blight on the street.

“It was all dirt and people would throw bottles and glasses because they probably thought it was a dumping ground,” Acosta said. “It was horrible.”

On Friday, Acosta came back to join a group of neighborhood residents, including Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla, in a ceremony to celebrate the paving of the street and the addition of a sidewalk and landscaping.

Padilla, along with area children and residents, placed their handprints in the wet cement of the new sidewalk at El Dorado Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard.

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Work on the street began about a year ago, and on Friday a handful of city street maintenance workers poured the last block of cement and then looked on and cheered with people from the neighborhood.

“I grew up 2 1/2 blocks from here and if you ask any resident if El Dorado would ever get paved, they’d say, ‘Never!’ ” Padilla said.

He told the group of about 30 that children would benefit most from the improvements in the area.

“Kids no longer have to walk to school in the mud or risk getting hit by cars,” he said.

Heidi Santos, an 11-year-old Pacoima Middle School student and one of about 20 people who left their handprints in the wet cement, was thrilled about the street’s new look.

“It was really ugly before,” she said, giggling. “Now it looks much better.”

The city paid $170,000 to add sidewalks and pave the four-block street that for 50 years was just a dirt road.

Funding came from a federal community development block grant, money the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gives communities across the nation to combat urban blight and spur economic development in poor neighborhoods.

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Immediately after the dedication, volunteers from the nonprofit organization Pacoima Beautiful began planting 35 camphor trees along the corridor. They hope to complete the work by Sunday.

“Finally, we got it!” said Isaac Arias, a 49-year resident of El Dorado Avenue. “The neighbors have been pushing to get this done for a long time. We really needed it.”