Last November, SBLA toured the future site of Puente Hills Regional Park, expected to open in 2027.
This past weekend, the ambitious project broke ground. This all might sound very fast, but the park is actually 30 years in the making. It began in February 1994, when Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis was serving in the California State Assembly.
Back then, Solis put forth AB 2632, calling for the operators of the Puente Hills Landfill to set aside part of the property to be developed into a public park.
Solis grew up quite literally in the shadow of the landfill, in the West Puente Valley, and she remembers the lack of parkland in the area.
“We would come to what's known as the Bosque del Rio Hondo – it used to have another name. I won't say it,” Solis joked. She was referring fondly to a creek downhill from the landfill where Latinos had beach days during and after segregation.
Fittingly, the first phase of construction is the Environmental Justice (EJ) Center at the entryway to the park. This building is meant as an incubator for activism and ecological stewardship. It will feature classrooms, a maker space, a raptor rescue, solar panels, rotating exhibits, and a podcast studio.
Solis, the former Secretary of Labor for President Obama, seemed particularly excited for the project’s workforce development. She said students from La Puente, Los Altos, and Bassett High Schools have had job training from design firm Studio-MLA, and the county’s Departments of Parks and Recreation and Economic Opportunity.
“I hope that this will lead to a beautiful career, either in landscaping, engineering, or architectural design; and I've heard already testimony from some of those students that I've seen over the last year who tell me, had it not been for this opportunity, they would not even be thinking about going to a four year university now,” Solis said, “so that, in and of itself, is worth all that we are doing here today.”
The Supervisor also gave a budget update for the project. The current total funds raised are $157.35 million for the first phase of the park, up from $134 million raised last November. A previous cost estimate for the totality of Phase One (1A, 1B, 1C) was $200 million. The EJ Center is Phase 1A. A future phase 2 is undefined at this point.
Though this is Solis’ last term as a County Supervisor, she has already declared she will run for Congress if California’s mid-term redistricting is approved by voters on November 4.
“Even though I may not be in the same office,” Solis wryly closed, “ I hope to continue to be a strong supporter, and will do everything in my power to see that that happens.”
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