CITY HALL — A new park proposal has Santa Monicans lining up, but not necessarily for a picnic.
Dozens of residents showed up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to object to the proposal, either saying they didn’t want a park at all or at a minimum, it should have restricted hours and a fence, which would serve mostly to assuage concerns that the public space might become a haven for transients and criminal activity.
The residents said that, despite months of meeting with city officials, their concerns and requests went unanswered and City Hall is moving forward with its own agenda.
Euclid Park, expected to cost $700,000, is scheduled to open in March 2007. It will be the first park to open in Santa Monica in more than a decade.Meanwhile, Councilman Kevin McKeown led the council forward on the proposal without requiring a fence to be built. After listening to members of the public and a representative from the Santa Monica Police Department, the council directed staff to go fence-less and report patterns of use that take place at the park once it is open, so any further security measures that may be needed could be taken.
The council’s decision was approved 5-2, with Councilmen Bobby Shriver and Bob Holbrook opposing.
“I think we’ve hit rock-bottom as a council,” Holbrook said. “For the first time, people don’t want a park in Santa Monica.”
Holbrook said the controversy surrounding Euclid Park reminded him of a green space he once saw in Sausalito. That park had been fenced up and closed off to the public because it had become overrun with transients and criminal activity.
“You could look, but you couldn’t touch,” Holbrook said. “I hope we haven’t reached that point.
“It’s not the kind of environment we should have to raise families in.”
The proposed Euclid Park will sit on a one-third acre property located on the 1500 block of Euclid Street, between Colorado Avenue and Broadway.
An earlier proposal to turn the site into a community garden was scrapped, largely because city staff said it would not qualify for grant funding because it would be dominated by one group, as opposed to providing a public benefit for all residents.
Mark Rios, who is associated with Rios Clementi Hale Studios, the consultant firm in charge of the Euclid Park design, said the site is centered in a highly-dense residential neighborhood and an extensive public process is what contributed to the park’s proposed schematics.
The process included the consideration of 250 written responses to a survey sent to 3,000 residents who live close to the proposed park. There were at least two community workshops to discuss the proposal and two round-table discussions with the city’s recreation and parks commission, all of which were public. Security issues were discussed at those meetings, Rios said.
“We’ve gone through at least three generations of park design,” Rios said.
Residents attending Tuesday’s council meeting, however, were not convinced their voices had been heard during the process.
Bernadette Scully, a resident who attended the Euclid Park workshops, said the request for a fence made by her and several other residents was ignored by city staff.
“The safety issue was dismissed then, and it is being dismissed now,” Scully said. “The number-one thing residents want is safety.”
The city of Santa Monica has a number of parks that will be completed or expanded within the next few years. One — Cove Skate Park, a skatepark at Memorial Park — is set to open this week. City officials have said park capital improvement projects have been a long time coming, mostly because of budget constraints in the last few years.
Karen Ginsberg, assistant director with the community and cultural services department at City Hall, which oversees the city’s parks, said the MGM Plaza Park was the last park to be built in Santa Monica. It was completed in 1992 as part of a development agreement. It was privately built and remains privately owned, but operates as a public park.
Prior to that, the last new park to be opened in Santa Monica was Ocean View Park in 1983. Of the more than 20 parks in Santa Monica, none are fenced.Euclid Park will be adjacent to Hacienda del Mar, a housing development for people with disabilities.Among the speakers requesting a fence were the disabled occupants of Hacienda del Mar. They and their parents, who also spoke on the issue, said a fence would deter criminally-minded individuals from taking advantage of the facility’s inhabitants.
“We want a fence, and if you don’t take us seriously it will be detrimental to the people who live there,” said Justin Lee Gagnon.
SMPD Lt. Calisse Lindsey said the park would be patrolled regularly. In addition, park rangers from Memorial Park would be on hand throughout the day to supervise Euclid Park. Violations that occurred during and after hours would be strictly enforced.
Councilman Ken Genser, who supported the decision to move forward with the park without a fence, said resident fears seemed unsupported based on his experience.
“I think the concerns we’ve heard tonight are not well-founded,” Genser said. “I do get complaints about activities that occur at parks, but those (activities) are usually during the day. The police are there to enforce.”
Shriver, who helps organize the Special Olympics and other activities that support disabled individuals, said he would not vote for a park proposal that didn’t include a fence.
“What I’m hearing is that people here are fearful, and if a fence makes them feel better, I’m all for it,” Shriver said.
McKeown responded by saying that he is concerned about creating an environment that is safer rather than just one that makes them feel safe. He added that he was unsure whether or not a fence would actually deter criminal activity, but it could always be added to the park after it is built.
“It’s nice to make people feel better, but a deeper strain for me is to make people actually safer,” McKeown said. “Frankly, I’m not sure a fence is going to do that.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 16, 2005. Read the original PDF.