State Plans 2 Parks by L.A. River

Promising to help create a new network of urban greenery, Gov. Gray Davis announced Friday that the state is spending almost $60 million to buy two former rail yards near downtown Los Angeles that will be transformed into parks.

The two lots along the Los Angeles River, now empty parcels littered with concrete slabs and laced with underground toxins, once were slated to become industrial complexes that would house warehouses and businesses.

But a coalition of neighborhood and environmental groups fought the projects, filing lawsuits that delayed the developments. After intense lobbying, the owners of the land agreed to sell the defunct yards to the state.

“I have long believed that people should not have to travel hundreds of miles to their state parks,” Davis said Friday at a news conference announcing the purchase of the 62 acres. “The state parks should come to the people.”

An audience of about 100 community members, activists and elected officials cheered from their perch on a Chinatown parking structure overlooking the 32-acre Cornfield, one of the parcels the state purchased.

Below them lay a muddy brown field surrounded by barbed wire. Old railroad crossing signs leaned haphazardly against the fence. Part of the lot was roped off in red and green tape, encircling a makeshift Christmas tree lot.

During the next year, the Trust for Public Land will remove arsenic and other toxins from the land. By next winter, officials hope to turn the lots into flourishing greenbelts with soccer fields and river views.

“Now, instead of playing in the streets, the children will have a place to play,” said Santo Palacios, a soccer coach in Elysian Park who brought a gaggle of young soccer players to the event. “Their dream has been to have a field to play in.”

Friday’s announcement capped years of furious negotiations and fervent efforts by environmentalists to provide parkland for a city that sorely needs it.

“This time, the people won,” Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said at the news conference. “This place, the Cornfield, is going to bring life and vitality back to downtown Los Angeles.”

The Cornfield--so named because of its original incarnation in the 19th century--was going to be an $80-million industrial park, a development backed by then-Mayor Richard Riordan.

Instead, the Chinatown Yard Alliance sued developer Edward J. Roski, claiming the city’s environmental review process was not followed. Soon afterward, the federal government withdrew $12 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development money for the project.

Eventually, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land brokered an agreement with Roski for the state to buy the space and turn it into a park.

The state paid $36 million in Proposition 12 parks bond and general fund money for the Cornfield. Officials said it should be open as a state park by the end of next year. The Santa Monica Conservancy is negotiating to buy an additional eight acres of the site.

Farther up the river, the state paid $22.5 million for 30 acres of the Taylor Yards, a former Union Pacific rail yard that a Florida developer wanted to turn into an industrial park.

State officials hope to eventually expand the park into a 127-acre complex with hiking trails, streams and biking areas, an effort that will take millions more in funding. The city has committed $800,000 annually to operate the park’s recreational facilities.

“Instead of trucks and cargo, we’ll be able to look forward to birds singing here, children laughing,” Hahn said.

Beneath the public congratulations officials swapped at Friday’s announcement, the political undercurrents were running fast and fierce.

Davis, who is running for reelection, was greeted with festivities worthy of a campaign event. The audience rose to its feet in a standing ovation as he arrived, and dozens of soccer players chanted his name. One woman held a sign reading, “Gracias Santa Davis.”

Hahn, who has not announced if he will endorse anyone in the governor’s race, praised Davis as “a great governor” and thanked him multiple times.

The one person whose name was not mentioned Friday was Riordan, one of Davis’ Republican opponents, who as mayor pushed for the industrial projects at the two sites.

At one point, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) mentioned that some local officials had an “opposite vision” for the rail yards than turning them into parkland.

Hahn, who was seated next to the governor, turned to Davis and whispered mischievously, “Who was that?”