New Downtown L.A. Park Latest Victory in Mayor's Open Space Initiative

At .7 acres, downtown L.A.'s Spring Street Park isn't likely to invite comparison to the world's great urban parks. But for a city, and neighborhood, starved of quality open space, the new park is a significant achievement.

June 19, 2013, 9am PDT | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

"Before a throng of office workers and scruffy-faced hipsters, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday opened Spring Street Park in the heart of the city’s rapidly evolving downtown, telling the crowd that there were more parks to come, including the conversion of a coveted 2-acre parcel across from City Hall," reports Catherine Saillant.

"A compact oasis of lawn, walking paths and a tinkling fountain, Spring Street Park is the 16th public space to open since Villaraigosa’s 50 Parks Initiative launched last year," she adds.

Whereas Grand Park, downtown's other new open space, is located quite far from where the bulk of the area's new residences have been created, Spring Street Park is carved out of a former parking lot between two historic condo high-rises. The park is the result of a design collaboration between the Architectural Division of the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and Lehrer Architects LA.

For Brigham Yen at DTLA Rising, the park's opening marks "another great step forward in Downtown LA’s evolution in becoming a mature urban center that’s balanced not only with more needed density but open space as well — two important ingredients needed in urban planning that encourage a pedestrian lifestyle."

Full Story:

L.A. gets new park in heart of downtown

Published on Monday, June 17, 2013 in Los Angeles Times