50 New Pocket Parks in Los Angeles Will Open Over the Next 2 Years
Los Angeles is out of large parcels of land that can serve as community parks, so the plan is to go small, but be prolific. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Wednesday that 50 new "pocket parks" will be set up all over L.A. over the next two years as a way to put more green spaces in our urban neighborhoods.
Villaraigosa spoke of the plan last night at a Los Angeles Business Council event, according to the Daily News. A list of sites will be ready by March 2012.
Though we have some impressive large city parks, and privately funded parks like the Hollywood Freeway Park, some areas are lacking the park spaces as mandated by the city itself:
Currently, Los Angeles owns 15,717 acres of parkland. By the city's own standards -- which call for 10 acres of park land for every 1,000 residents -- the region is park poor when it comes to neighborhood green spaces, but abundant in larger, mountainous parkland.
These 50 pocket parks "will be paid for by a variety of sources, including park fees paid by developers." Whether the city will use existing land they own, or make land purchases--or both--is not yet known.
Previously: In July 2011 we profiled a Park a Day on LAist, including several City of LA-run parks.
