Davis Can Make ‘Cornfield’ Bloom
The deal that could bring to life imaginative plans for a state park and recreational complex on a scrubby, abandoned railroad yard downtown is nothing less than a Cinderella story for the activists involved. But for this fairy tale to have a happy ending, Gov. Gray Davis has to wave his magic budget pen.
Last Monday, a dozen environmental and community groups led by the Trust for Public Land announced they had signed an option to buy the 40-acre parcel near Chinatown known as the Cornfield. Majestic Realty Co. and Union Pacific Railroad had eyed the trash- and weed-strewn lot for an industrial park. The plan now is to create much-needed open space in the city’s dense, urban core and add to an emerging green chain of parks bordering the Los Angeles River.
Until recently, Majestic, one of the area’s real estate heavy hitters, had scoffed at the park plan, insisting that the jobs the warehouse project would create were more important to nearby residents. For many in the low-income Chinatown neighborhood, that may well be true. And with political muscle from Mayor Richard Riordan and approval from a city planning board, the project seemed all but inevitable.
So what happened? Majestic and Riordan underestimated the tenacity of the park plan supporters--including Friends of the Los Angeles River, the Chinatown Yards Alliance and the Natural Resources Defense Council--who had filed suit in September to stop the industrial park. Shortly afterward, the Department of Housing and Urban Development threatened to withhold about $12 million in federal funds if an environmental study wasn’t performed, funds that Majestic had counted on.
The simple fact is that in this neighborhood so long ignored by City Hall, residents need both jobs and amenities like soccer fields, landscaped park space and a cultural center, all now possibilities. But last Monday’s announcement started the clock ticking; the park coalition has until Nov. 30 to put together $30 million to purchase the site outright or the deal is off. As much as $10 million more could be required down the road.
The governor is in the hot seat. Davis has made positive noises about reclaiming open space along urban rivers and put $70 million in the state budget toward that end. Now he has to make sure that the $70 million--a combination of general fund revenues and money from Proposition 12, the $2.1-billion parks bond voters passed last year--stays there and that the Chinatown project gets its share. If that happens, the Cornfield might just write the next chapter in the long story of downtown revitalization.
