Viewpoint: Get the DWP Out of the Park

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An armed guard is in a car stopping people going into the rec center.

This editor was with a New York Times photographer this morning. For a story about Pacific Palisades and its future, she was asked to have her photo taken. When CTN asked where other Palisades people were being photographed, the Times editor said the photos were being taken in their offices, or in their “new” homes.  She asked where I wanted a photo taken. The answer was immediate, “Pacific Palisades.”

She said that they had enough photos of burned-out buildings, and could I think of a place in the Palisades to take the photo that was “alive.” The Garden Café, which had recently opened came to mind, and then I thought of the baseball fields. When I had scaled a wall to take a photo of Potrero Canyon (still locked to residents), I had noticed the green lushness of the fields. I instantly thought of that location as one of rebirth, life and growth–just like Pacific Palisades will do.

This editor met the photographer, Stephen Ross Goldstein (Stephenrossgoldstein.com), who lived close to the Eaton Fire, and we walked to the entrance to the Recreation Center. We were instantly stopped by two guards, who wanted to know what we were doing.

I explained I was with Circling the News and Goldstein was with the Times. The guard told us he had to check to see if we were allowed into the park. I said I thought the press had access to all public places. But, we were ordered to stay put.

I asked the other guard when they started putting guards at the entrance and he said they had been there since the beginning. I told him no they hadn’t and I had photos, but he insisted they had been there since the beginning, and it wasn’t worth arguing further.

The first guard was on the phone with someone and a few minutes later we were allowed in at the Palisades Park.

The grass, shin-high, was lovely, cushy and full of clover. I sat on it, then laid down on the lush blanket, while Stephen took photos.

Here’s the question . . .when did the park turn into a guarded DWP plant? Did Palisades residents request the bocce courts, the tennis courts, the outdoor basketball courts, the ball fields and the playground (soon to be replaced) be taken away from residents? Did we vote on it? Or was this done for our “own good?”

At the Palisades Park Advisory Board held via Zoom on March 18, Andy Starrels, Rob Weber, David Card, Kambiz Kamdar and Rich McGeagh all said the community needed the park back.  Mike Skinner and Bob Benton  agreed.

A new playground is being planned for the Rec Center, with a July opening, which means it is even more important that children are not stopped by guards at the entrance to the park.

Weber said, “We need to get DWP out. We need to put some real dates on it.”

Jimmy Dunne who runs the bocce program, said that having DWP gone and the park back was important because the area is a focal point for the community and there is a need to be together after everything we’ve gone through.

A board member said that Mike Thomas, who runs the tennis center, would like to get that program running, again, too.

Board members were generally in agreement that DWP had to find a new location and the park needed to come back to the people.

A Mayor’s representative, Jenny Delwood, said that some members of the community wanted to have the DWP facility there, but she never specified which community members.

PAB Board member Maryam Zar said that she had been in numerous meetings and that Palisadians needed to find a place to house all of the items that will be needed for one of the largest construction sites in the country.

Steve Soboroff, who had been appointed by Mayor Bass to help with recovery efforts and who was in attendance, said he was in agreement that the park needed to go back to residents.

Board member David Card summed it up for the majority of the board members: “The sooner DWP vacates the better.”

(Editor’s note: Who or what is the DWP protecting, that armed guards are needed? And the Army Corps of Engineers promise when they leave a place, it is in better shape than when they found it. Maybe DWP could adopt the same principle and fix the broken parking lot that has been damaged with all of its heavy trucks.)

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