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Three New Entrance Parks to the Ballona Creek Bikepath

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Three New Entrance Parks to the Ballona Creek Bikepath Newsletter Issue Number 28 April 2010 Ballona Creek Renaissance... dedicated to renewing Ballona THREE NEW ENTRANCE PARKS Creek and its watershed for a TO THE BALLONA CREEK BIKEPATH healthier, more sustainable environment and community. Building on the success of a 2005 project, at- (We are also known as BCR) tractive new gates and entrance parks were www.ballonacreek.org installed in September at three locations along the Ballona Creek bikepath: McConnell Ave- Mail us at: nue, Inglewood Blvd and Sepulveda Blvd. Ballona Creek Renaissance The Mountains Recreation and Conservation PO Box 843 Authority (MRCA), a state agency, created the Culver City, CA 90232 projects to enhance the experience of cyclists, walkers and joggers along the bikepath by Or Contact us: replacing the chain link fencing and asphalt Jim Lamm, President with natural-looking areas and rest stops. 310-839-6896 [email protected] The three areas were designed in the same Officers and Directors style as the entrance park at Centinela Ave- Jim Lamm, President nue (see our June 2005 newsletter, available Scott Malsin, Vice President on our website). Each has a metal gate with Bobbi Gold, Secretary/Treasurer design elements suggesting the creek, ocean Lucy Blake-Elahi waves, birds and bikepath. Inside the gates Cathi Lamm are appropriate native plants, low rock walls, Irene Reingold Amy Rosenstein benches and drinking fountains. (The McCon- Gerald Sallus nell entrance does not have a fountain but is Sandrine Cassidy Schmitt only half a mile from the Centinela entrance, Mim Shapiro which does.) June Walden Artist Lucy Blake-Elahi, pictured above, who is also a founding member of BCR, Advisory Council designed the Sepulveda Blvd gate, shown below. The McConnell Ave and Steven Coker Lori Escalera Inglewood Blvd gates were created by Brett Goldstone, who also created the Bob & Pat Hadley Centinela Ave. gate as well as similar gates at several entrances along the L.A. Richard S. Hibbs River, Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River bikepaths. See more information and Marina Curtis Tidwell photos next page. Webmaster Scott Malsin, ProPoint Newsletter Editor Bobbi Gold In this issue: 1. New Creek Entrance Parks 3. Ballona Greenway 4. President's Message 5. Meet our Boardmembers 6. BCR Projects 8. Ballona Lagoon vs. Pincushions 10. Around the Watershed: more Construction funds for the project, $220,500, came from L.A. County Proposition A, approved by the voters in 1992. Barbara Romero, Ana Petrlic, and Leslie Chan were MRCA's guiding spirits implementing these beautiful improvements. On December 4, MRCA held a public dedication and celebration on the bikepath. Speakers included Joe Edmiston, Executive Director of the MRCA and its parent, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy; State Parks Angeles District Superintendent Ron Shafer, and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Representatives of many elected officials and organizations (including BCR) were thanked for their work and support of these projects. If you couldn't attend the dedica- tion, please visit these three projects by bike, foot or motor vehicle. Right, Joe Edmiston Left, bicycle advocate How- ard Hackett rides through the new gate at McConnell Avenue. The McConnell Avenue bike- path entrance before renova- tion, an ugly mixture of graf- fiti'd signs, de- funct telephone box and chain link fencing. The low bar at the gate open- ing that pre- vented access by wheelchair users as well as motorcycles is now gone. 2 The new Inglewood Avenue entrance gate (shown with the pedestrian/bicycle gate closed) depicts herons at the edge of a stream with grasses. MORE GREENING OF THE CREEK: THE BALLONA GREENWAY - The Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA) is developing more projects to bring green corridors and passive recreation to Ballona Creek. One, the project between Milton Street and the Creek, just downstream from Centinela Avenue next to Marina del Rey Middle School, was described with illustrations in our January, 2009 newsletter, available in color from our website. The next section slated for improvement is the roughly half-mile stretch of the bikepath between the Inglewood Avenue gate and the San Diego Freeway overpass, which can be seen in the photo of the Inglewood gate at the top of this page. The project was kicked off at the conclusion of the December 4 ceremony, when a blue-shirted crew from the L.A. Conservation Corps planted 122 native shrubs and trees (Toyon, Coyote Bush, Foothill Penstemon and Lemonade Berry) just north of the Inglewood Ave. entrance park. The photo at left is the current view looking west (downstream) from the San Diego Freeway overpass next to Culver-Slauson Park. Turn the page for a conceptual rendering of the greenway from the same viewpoint. 3 Artist's conception by MRCA's Laura Saltzman of the view looking west from the same point as the photo on the previous page. For more information about MRCA, visit their website at www.mrca.ca.gov. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, by Jim Lamm Although Ballona From other articles and photos, you'll begin to get an Creek Renaissance understanding of some of the positive changes which and many other peo- are in the works through various cooperating agencies ple have been af- and groups along the creek and around the watershed. fected by these chal- These changes include two creekside native plant pro- lenging times, we find jects that will complement the greenway between Saw- ourselves increasingly telle and Inglewood Avenues and Culver City's Ballona busy with education, Creek Bikeway project between the pedestrian bridge advocacy, and resto- and Overland Avenue. ration projects. As an all-volunteer organi- As we continue to share an informal partnership with zation, we continue to Friends of Ballona Wetlands (FBW), we now realize partner and facilitate that some people have difficulty keeping the different to help keep the mo- "Ballona" groups straight. In part, this relates to BCR’s mentum building for a past practice of referring to our supporters and con- cleaner, greener and tacts as "Friends of Ballona Creek". To avoid confu- more livable Westside. With your support, we look to sion, we no longer use that term, although we still con- build our capacity by adding both a staff person and sider you friends. capable and committed volunteers. So we hope you enjoy the articles and look forward to Since January 2009, BCR has gained two new board hearing from you or seeing you soon. Ballona Creek, members: Amy Rosenstein and Sandrine Cassidy the Westside’s forgotten river, really is beginning to Schmitt. Amy, a Culver City creekside resident, active experience a renaissance as a multi-benefit community bicyclist, and LEED-certified architect, has helped with and natural resource. Explore Ballona, both in these outreach, our board retreat, and projects. For more pages and out in the watershed, the hills and the bay!. about Sandrine, see the separate article on page 5. 4 MEET OUR BOARDMEMBERS (an occasional feature) x Lucy Blake-Elahi BCR's boardmembers collaborating with artists Lori Escalera and Francois come from diverse pro- Bardol and Culver City Middle School students; and fessional backgrounds "Rivers of the World" (2000) at Duquesne Avenue, with and interests. Fine artist artists Lori Escalera and David Fairrington and high Lucy Blake-Elahi is a school students. Lucy also participated in the recent founder of BCR, having total renovation of the "Postcards" mural and continues taken an authorized mo- to work toward improving the creek and bikepath visu- tor vehicle trip from one ally, environmentally, recreationally and educationally. end of the bikepath to the other in 1995 and Those are four of many public art commissions Lucy seen the potential for has created. "The purpose of public art is to express turning a bleak concrete an agreed-upon message to enhance the appearance channel into an attrac- of the public domain. The art should be specific to the tive public venue. site, and the message can be information about the site, such as history or environment." Or it can be a Lucy's two major solo decorative safety feature, such as a median barricade works related to Ballona Creek are the new bikepath which Lucy created for the City of Lynwood to prevent gate on the west side of Sepulveda Blvd and the sun- students from running across a busy highway. dial entitled "Homage to Ballona Creek", originally in- stalled at Syd Kronenthal Park (northeast end of the Lucy also works extensively in fine art and art educa- bikepath, at National Blvd) and later moved to Bill Botts tion with many grants, honors and awards. For more Field, overlooking the creek from the hills at the south information and examples of her work, visit her website end of Duquesne Avenue. In addition, she was a prin- at www.lucyblake-elahi.com. Lucy shares her home cipal artist on the two panoramic creekside murals- and studio with husband Faz and their dog Bounce. "Postcards from Ballona" (1997) at Overland Avenue, [Photo submitted by Lucy.] Sandrine Cassidy Schmitt Sandrine's inter- bags for store merchandise. She resolved to create a est in Ballona line of attractive tote bags in different sizes, designs Creek stems from and configurations, made of natural materials. She living next to the took classes in running a small business, arranged fi- creek, seeing its nancing from friends and family as well as personal reality and envi- resources, hired a designer and photographer, and sioning its poten- launched her business three years ago. tial daily. She is also the sister of She works with fair trade suppliers in India where the artist Christophe jute plant grows sustainably. For product distribution, Cassidy, whose her company, June Fifteen, works with Build Rehabili- paintings of Bal- tation Industries, which employs Americans with dis- lona Creek were abilities, helping them achieve greater independence featured in our and learn the ethics of work through meaningful em- October, 2005, newsletter.
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