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Giant downtown Los Angeles Slip’N Slide proposal gets tweaked
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Some city officials are now backing a proposal to transform a downtown Los Angeles street into the equivalent of a giant Slip’N Slide for one day later this month. The support from City Councilman Jose Huizar comes after weeks of meetings with representatives from Slide the City, the company that hopes to hold the event.
The meetings resulted in changes to the proposal, which Huizar's office believes adequately address concerns of water recycling and traffic congestion.
In a written statement, Huizar spokesman Rick Coca said the councilman's office is "OK with them moving forward."
Changes to the proposal:
- The date of the event would switch from Sept. 27 to Sept. 28.
- The slide was originally proposed to stretch along Olive Street. Now it would run along Temple Street, between the federal courts building and City Hall.
- The water, estimated at 15,000 gallons, would be collected and used to water Griffith Park.
Since the plan became public last month, more than 10,000 people have signed an online petition saying the slide is an inappropriate use of water during the drought.
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Despite that, Slide the City officials said interest in the event has been high.
“We haven’t done any marketing in the area yet, and we have about 17,000 emails of people that want to participate in the event,” said T.R. Gourley, CEO of Slide the City.
Gourley said about 3,500 tickets would be sold for the event.
The Bureau of Street Sanitation will make the final determination of whether the event will be allowed. City officials said it was unclear when that decision would be made.
“The Bureau of Street Services is in the process of reviewing the permit application, and don’t have a time yet of when that decision will be made,” said Paul Gomez, spokesman for the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works.
Gomez said that Huizar's support would be part of the considerations bureau officials will weigh.
"Everything is considered in their application process," Gomez said.
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