Streetsblog Los Angeles

The Pacoima Wash Vision Plan doesn't choose between modes, but seeks to accommodate all of them. That's one reason that the rift between cyclists and horse riders that was so apparent during the Bike Plan process is not even on the map. All renderings via Mia Lehrer and Associates.

One of the lessons that the world’s great cities learned is how to use natural and man created landmarks to strengthen and create great places. This is one area where Los Angeles still lags, and nowhere is this clearer than in the case of the Pacoima Wash.

The Wash is a tributary of the Los Angeles River (actually a tributary of a tributary, but who’s counting) that runs through the San Fernando Valley from the Pacoima Dam southwest through Sylmar, the city of San Fernando and eventually Pacoima. Instead of being a vibrant open space designed to connect disparate communities and bring people together outdoors, the Wash is a physical barrier as real as a freeway or freight rail line. The land surrounding the Wash is kept behind fences, the trail running parallel is closed to the public and behind bars, instead of people, the Wash’s greenspace is a resting ground for weeds.

But a non-profit environmental justice organization known as Pacoima Beautiful wants to change all that. And with the help of the L.A. County Department of Public Health’s Policies for Livable and Active Communities and Environments (PLACE) Grant they will soon have an official plan to help do so. The first step in the process of turning the Wash from eye sore to community anchor is to create a vision for the area, a vision that is informed by representative of the community, and that’s what Pacoima Beautiful and its allies are trying to do.

“Pacoima Wash is a very important natural, open space to the community so we’re protecting it,” supplies Anita Cerna with the City of Los Angeles Department of Planning. “Now we’re also studying the Wash to see if there’s a way we can use it beyond being a place to collect water”

And help for the community can’t come soon enough. Pacoima is a desert when it comes to open space, even with the large Ritchie Valens Park located just off the 118 Highway. Pacoima has 54.3 acres of park space. According to the LA City General Plan, the ideal ratio of park space is 4 acres per 1,000 residents. Because Pacoima has over 100,000 people its ideal ratio,is close to 400 acres of park space. Read more…

A pair of students walk home from summer school over the Haddon Bridge.

Safe Routes to School?

Last year, literally hundreds of students had to cross the Haddon Bridg everyday to get to class at San Fernando High School.  Locatee on the north west side of Ritchie Valens Park crossing the pedestrian bridge was literally the worst part of the day as it was both somewhat secluded and a complete eyesoar.  The paint was chipped and non-existent, the side nearest the park was used as an illegal dumping ground for electronic and hazardous household waste, and the other side often featured a gang member either harassing or recruiting the students.

That’s a pretty crappy way to start the school day.

“This area was covered in trash, graffiti covered the walls, the lights were knocked over.”  Max Podemski was the People for Livable Active Communities and the Environment (PLACE) Coordintor for Pacoima Beautiful and oversaw efforts to improve the bridge and create a new vision for the Wash (more on the plan later this week.)

And at least one student who needed the bridge more than others couldn’t access the bridge because of the poorly placed bollards.  Without help of family of friends to lift her wheelchair over the bollards, she had to travel over a mile around the Wash to get to school or visit her grandparents.  They live one mile, and a world, away.

It did sort of look like a bridge that would eat children from a bad horror movie. Photo via Pacoima Beautiful

In an effort to improve the community, and provide a micro-example of what can be done with the Wash, Pacoima Beautiful used $20,000 from its PLACE Grant and a heaping of community involvement to re-imagine the bridge.  To support their efforts, the Pacoima Neighborhood Council donated $5,000 to maintain and clean the bridge and Scotts Miracle Grow donated mulch and soil.

What a difference some paint, some plants, a minor investment in physical improvements and some public will can make.  The gang members are gone, and so are the piles of trash.  The bollards are now in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and a wheelchair can glide across as easily as a bicycle or skateboard.

“When we talked with the kids, a lot of them thought the bridge was a scary place,” explains Ken Frederick with the Mountains, Recreation and Conservation Authority, a close ally of Pacoima Beautiful on this project.  ”By cleaning it up, you sort of de-mystify it.  If you clean places up you’re going to clean up some of the crime and that element.” Read more…