Bruce Chan, second to the right, explains his group's model of Glendale Boulevard as a culturally rich roadway. Photo: Kris Fortin

While Jose Sigala, president of the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council, and architect Peter Lassen helped construct their group’s model of Glendale Boulevard from plastic eggshells and hair curlers, imagination came into conflict with reality. Lassen wanted to see a park sprout near the Glendale Boulevard exit of the 2 Freeway, but Sigala explained an affordable housing complex would already be placed in that same area.

“We’re going to do things ideally, and that means a park,” Lassen said.

Whether people struggled or found it easy to realize the future of a major thoroughfare in Echo Park, Saturday’s “Rethinking Glendale Boulevard,” sponsored by Echo Park Patch and the Latino Urban Forum, at the Echo Country Outpost allowed them to show their dreams of what the street could be.

Led by urban planner, and Los Angeles Streetsblog board member, James Rojas, participants were asked to create their ideal city out of toys and found objects, and then condense it with other members’ ideas to fit Glendale Boulevard. Middle-aged, children, and senior participants came up with big ideas such as closing the 2 Freeway to make it recreational space, and having streetcars run the length of the street.  Simpler ideas such as making a skate parks and petting zoos were also well received by the audience which included representatives from the L.A. City Planning Department and Eric Garcetti, the City Councilman for the area.

Here were some other notable ideas from the workshop:

Los Angeles CD 13 representative Eric Garcetti creates a model of Glendale Boulevard. In the brainstorming exercise, Garcetti proposed winding Glendale Boulevard to slow down traffic. Photo: Kris Fortin

The 2 Freeway/The Los Angeles High Line:

Many of the participants considered the 2 Freeway to cause the heavy congestion on Glendale Boulevard.  Many participants proposed closing the section of the freeway between the Interstate 5 freeway and Echo Park. In its place, people wanted to see a recreational area that includes walking paths, greenways and affordable housing. While New York has received praise for its conversion of an old railway to recreational space at The High Line, could freeways be the Los Angeles equivalent?

Glendale Boulevard as a winding road:

Councilman Eric Garcetti reflected on the areas history in his proposal for Glendale Boulevard to be a winding road.

“One of the first thing we did was to make the street not be straight anymore, and actually wind it,” Garcetti said. “It would slow people down and make it a more lyrical, waterway like element, which what this canyon was originally about.”

Glendale Boulevard as a destination:

The overarching theme in the workshop was that people wanted to slow the street down to make it more of a destination. Echo Park resident Matt Briskie said his group wanted to close small blocks adjacent to Glendale Boulevard to farmers market, and to place parking behind businesses to have more flexibility with altering road space currently occupied by parking spots.

“Just having this be not just a way to pass through Echo Park as people go on their way to work, but having this be a representation of what echo park is,” Briskie said.

Glendale Boulevard is a major part of Echo Park’s transportation network and community.  As the community and boulevard evolve, what hopes do you have for Glendale Boulevard?

Ten years ago, when the Route 2 Terminus Project was first conceived, it had some progressive goals.  Among them was the goal of slowing down traffic on the Route 2 flyover that dumps traffic on Glendale Boulevard so that pedestrians on Glendale Boulevard would be better able to use the street in a safe manner.  Until earlier this summer Metro, the lead agency on the project, and the Echo Park Community were working together on the project.  However, once Metro’s partner agencies got involved, the partnership turned sour and the Echo Park Community Action Committee is now saying that it might be better to return the funds for the project rather than go forward. 

Things have gotten so bad that the community is complaining it has yet to see a diagram of the project, even though the Metro Board is set to approve it on its consent agenda, tomorrow.  After Streetsblog contacted Metro, the above diagram was emailed a couple of hours later.

Earlier this year it appeared that the community was going to get all that it wanted, a project that increased open space, create a community plaza and park and increase bike access to both routes.  Metro verbally agreed to the plan, known as Alternative D in the environmental documents, and took the plan to its partners.  One of those partners was LADOT which didn’t like the alternative because it didn’t increase the ability to move more cars from Route 2 to Glendale Boulevard. Thus the hybrid concept was born.  This plan, first discussed with the community at a meeting this fall, but never studied as a stand-alone in any environmental study or public hearing, was rushed to the Metro Board to become the "Locally Preferred Alternative" for the project.  For a full discussion of the history and planning behind Alternative D, click here.

In its most recent newsletter, the Echo Park CAC complains that a diagram of the alternative hadn’t been released to the community and that many of the proposed improvements would actually make matters worse.  For example, they’re concerned the "barrier walls" will reduce the "open space" from Alternative D’s park-sized area to a homeless-encampment sized parcel of land in the hybrid.  Instead of a playground for their children, the walls could create a playground for taggers, harming the aesthetics, home values and safety of the community.

For their part, Metro contends that many of the things the community wished to see in Alternative D are still possible.  However, if the discussion of bus shelters, bike lanes, and traffic calming don’t appear as part of the alternative, the community frets that it wouldn’t be paid for with the $18 million that is already set aside for the project.

Meanwhile, 75% of the comments Metro has received supported "Alternative D."  It would be nice if the Metro Board were to consider the opinions of the locals when considering what should be the "Locally Preferred Alternative," but with two stakeholders, LADOT and Caltrans, who see their goal to expand and extend our traffic sewers, the deck may have been stacked against the community from the beginning.

At 1:00 P.M. down at Metro Headquarters Board Room, the Metro Board Planning and Programming Committee will vote on a staff proposal to accept a "hybrid alternative" to the Route 2 Terminus project.  Last week, Streetsblog discussed the broken process that led to the "hybrid" where the community proposed a design that would have calmed traffic and added open space to the road but LADOT rejected that proposal because it didn't do anything to add capacity to the road.  Basically, all three agencies had to agree on a design, and despite Metro's approval of the local design, it had to "compromise" with the LADOT on what is now being called the "hybrid option."

There's just one small problem.  The "hybrid option" has never been studied, yet Metro now seems determined to push this option as the "locally preferred alternative."  Not only was this option not included in any environmental documents, it doesn't appear on Metro's project website and doesn't even appear on a documents on the alternatives that are being considered on the project website.

Unfortunately, Metro isn't just violating its contract with the community to have an open and transparent process by pushing an alternative that hasn't been studied; it's also possibly violating state law concerning environmental review.  After all, if agencies can just add an alternative at the end of the environmental review without studying it and declaring it the "preferred alternative;" then what is the point of the review in the first place?

The local community, which had worked hard on its own alternative that increased open space and viewed the road as a public resource, not a sewer to flush cars through, isn't going to give up without a fight.  The following excerpt is from a letter they sent to Metro staff and board members in advance of today's meeting.

Today's vote provides an interesting challenge for the Metro Board.  What is more important to them?  Voting to preserve the public process, empower a community and follow environmental regulations; or bending over backwards to widen a street and funnel even more traffic into a community that doesn't want it.

The community preferred Alternative D via The Eastsider

However, the progressives in Echo Park are pushing a plan that would actually increase open space and beautify the community. By changing the freeway bridge crossing above Glendale Boulevard into a public space with greenspace, enhancing the area around the historic Tommy Lasorda Field of Dreams; the community is pushing a third-way to deal with traffic instead of just looking at "expand" and "do nothing." The community-preferred-alternative, Alterntative D, was not included in the early environmental studies done by "transportation professionals" on behalf of Metro and were only included because of a massive community effort.

Earlier this summer, the residents seemed to have convinced Metro staff that their alternative was the best alternative and the agency pledged support at a community meeting. However, the community's plans were dashed last week when Metro held a presentation that The Eastsider dubbed, "(a meeting where) MTA officials will explain why the agency can't get behind the residents' proposal and will need more time and money to study yet another idea to untangle what's officially called the State Route 2 Terminus." Instead of sticking with "Alternative D," Metro is proposing a "hybrid" alternative that takes pieces from many of the proposals outlined in the environmental documents. The only community meeting, besides the Metro Board process which will begin at next Wednesday's Planning and Programming Committee Meeting, was the one held last week.

So what does the community think of the new proposed "locally preferred alternative?" According to The Eastsider, not much:

The idea, as presented to Lassen and other residents, keeps the bridge over Glendale Boulevard for motorists and realigns some other lanes. That would fall far short of what Lassen and others have wanted.

So what happened? Why the change in heart from backing a progressive community design to where we are now? Would you be surprised to discover that the black hat in the story is riding a horse named LADOT?

The Echo Park Community Action Committee's most recent newsletter laid out the positions and logic of all of the transportation agencies that are part of the Terminus Study. While it knocked Metro for supporting an alternative in public but not pushing it with the other agencies, and Caltrans for backing the hybrid; it reserved its harshest criticism for the asphalt-lovers at LADOT. Directly from the newsletter:

In addition to just ignoring the wishes of the community, the new design also ignores the initial purpose of the study which was, as local blog Red Car Property tells us was, "removing vehicle traffic from the southbound flyover ramp at the Terminus." Instead, the new plan could add traffic to a stretch of road that then-Council Woman Jackie Goldberg described as dangerous and unsafe.

Could you imagine the reaction if a similar plan were proposed for a street on the Westside? Residents there will go to the mat over removing some parking, bringing in their Council Members and making a key issue in a local council race. All of that begs the question, where is Eric Garcetti?

Echo Park from Above

The American Planning Association annually lists the top 10 Neighborhoods in America and this year Los Angeles’ own Echo Park cracked the list.  Despite referring to Echo Park as a "suburb," which is strange considering the commmunity’s location adjacent to the Downtown and Dodger Stadium, the APA gives an overwhelmingly positive picture of Echo Park. 

So why is it a "Top Ten" neighborhood?  The APA lists a series of housing issues as reasons for Echo Park’s unique community:

There’s been a long history of citizen activism in Echo Park. During
the 1990s residents drew attention to safety issues, which has help
lower property and personal crime rates in the neighborhood to
approximately 20 percent below the city’s average.

Residents also
keep a close eye on affordable housing. Some of the neighborhood’s more
affordable homes have been stabilized with the help of the
city-supported historic preservation efforts. In 2005, for example, the
city approved a small lot subdivision ordinance that encourages the
creation of several units on one parcel. To some degree the typical
size of an Echo Park home — just three rooms — has helped keep prices
from rising significantly compared with other parts of the city.

Another thing that makes Echo Park such a great neighborhood, is it is a community that embraces open space and community festivals.  Events such as the Lotus Festival and the Marti Celebration take full advantage of the open space provided by the vast open space in the community.

Photo: Echo29/Flickr