“To have a park be a success, you have to integrate the community. Now we have stewardship committees to keep the parks clean and neighborhood watches to keep them safe.”


—Elda Peralta, Unión de Vecinos


TWO PLANS FOR THE WATTS TOWERS PARK The participatory design process in Watts, which began in January, is reaching its climax on this sunny day in June. Following six months of community meetings, workshops, and opinion surveys, two potential designs for the park have emerged. Both designs were drafted by OLIN, an award-winning landscape architecture firm; both feature lawns laced with curving paths and dotted with trees. Both include a visitors center, a café, picnic and play groves, a festival terrace, a small orchard, an outdoor market area, and an art walk. The main difference: in one, a skate park occupies one end


JONATHAN ALCORN


Trust for Public Land senior program manager Tori Kjer at the opening of Pine Avenue Park.


of the site. In the other, that space features an exten- sion of the art walk. Residents pore over large, colorful renderings of


each plan. They talk with park planners, consult with neighbors, and add ideas of their own to a suggestion wall, which quickly fills with sticky notes. Requests


JONATHAN ALCORN


Reviewing the proposed plans for the Watts Towers Park at a barbecue event in June 2012. Residents added suggestions for the proposed park. Parks for People, by the People


Feature Title


43


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80