MORE PARKS FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

   California is on a land-buying binge, in order to provide the state with more parks and open space. 

   • Acquired two major parcels in Baldwin Hills which will provide much-needed parkland to augment the Kenneth Hahn recreation area already in place. 
   • The Ballona Wetlands is now undergoing extensive review to ascertain how much of it can remain in state hands as open space and preserved as much-needed wetlands. 
   • Majestic Realty has offered to sell the “Cornfield” property in downtown Los Angeles which will be developed as parkland along the L.A. River.
   • $35 million is being spent to help create parks along the Los Angeles River in order to create a living river that re-connects much of the city. 
   • Los Angeles County Parks will receive $105 million primarily for urban parks which, according to former state Senator Tom Hayden “is a recognition that the environment is not just out there somewhere, but here in the cities.”
   • The Topanga Canyon watershed which flows into the ocean at Topanga State Beach is being acquired by the state in order to create a natural preserve entry. 
   • Our new State Assemblywoman, Fran Pavley, has proposed a hiking trail along the entire California Coast and has moved to help the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy acquire more open space in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
   • Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay founder Dorothy Greene has helped to create a Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council in order to study how water flows through the basin and how it can best be put to good ecological use, including green belts, water storage and restoration of natural streams, creeks and rivers. 
   • Closer to home, the city of Santa Monica is in the planning stages for their new Civic Center Plaza which promises to provide open space and parkland for the increasingly dense coastal zone.