Sampling New Recipe for MacArthur Park

In the four years that Inna Madueke has lived west of downtown Los Angeles, she has taken her children to MacArthur Park just three times.

On Saturday afternoon, the mother of three watched her kids scamper across a newly built playground on the north end of the troubled park.

Although she said she appreciates how the city is trying to improve the site, she worries that the efforts are not enough.

“There’s still drug dealers and people offering you those fake IDs,” said Madueke, 28, referring to the other end of the park. “It will be dirty again.”

Fifty new trees, mostly palms, now decorate the northeast end of the park. There are the spacious gated playground, recently planted grass, and new benches, tables and walkways.

City officials rededicated the north end of MacArthur Park on Saturday, unveiling the improvements after 18 months of reconstruction.

Despite the $2-million face lift, which was completed about a month ago, crime and blight still plague the south section.

Nearly 100 children and parents visited the improved area Saturday afternoon. Children happily played on slides and swings and watched martial arts demonstrations, while their parents ate grilled hot dogs and rested in the shade of palm trees near the newly paved walkways.

Meanwhile, on the south side of the 32-acre park, nearly 100 homeless people lined up near the lake to receive vegetables, fruit and soup from volunteers from the Zion Gospel Mission. Nearby, a man slept under a tree, wrapped in a sheet with only his toes exposed.

Illegal solicitors hawking fake IDs stood on the outskirts of the park, hand-signaling to passing cars and pedestrians. Trash littered walkways and hills. Dirt patches stood where grass should have been.

“We still have homeless people, we still have people who have psychological and mental problems,” said Councilman Ed Reyes. “We need stronger security, and parents need to be . . . careful in letting their children play here; this is not a utopia.”

Area Once Considered Fashionable

Reyes said upgrades at MacArthur Park will continue. An additional $1 million has been set aside to renovate a building on the north end and turn it into a community center. Also, an outdoor theater on the north end will be refurbished. Those improvements are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

But so far, no immediate plans have been made to beautify the south end, Reyes said.

The park was named for World War II and Korean War leader Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It was once surrounded by upscale residences. Charlie Chaplin’s former home lies a few blocks away.

But the park has deteriorated, along with its surroundings, since the 1970s. The area is now plagued by poverty and crime, and the open space has become a magnet for such activity.

“This park is sitting in one of the city’s most violent areas,” said Officer Michel Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division.

“We would love to have a constant presence here, but given the demands on police services in this area, it’s such a challenge,” Moore said.

Jaime Vargas, 34, took his two sons to the park Saturday. He remembered a time when “there was no way you could even walk through here and bring your family.”

Although he plans to take his children to the new playground at least twice a month now, he is still wary.

“When you have your kids playing out here, especially when they get older, they get influenced by [the crime],” he said.

As Madueke’s two daughters played in the sand beneath a jungle gym, she asked: “What are they going to do about safety?

“I think police are so tired they just ignore [the criminals]. This place could be safer, but right now it is not safe.”