LaBonge: City parks can help fight obesity and diabetes
Two city parks are being outfitted with new outdoor exercise equipment thanks to Councilmember Tom LaBonge. To combat adolescent and adult obesity,
the Councilmember directed the Los Angeles Dept. of Recreation and Parks to install the equipment where feasible and the first two fitness areas are scheduled to be installed at Glassell and Pan Pacific Parks by early 2009.
In the past 30 years, the rate of adolescent obesity has doubled in Los Angeles. As a result, more children are suffering from diseases traditionally seen in adults, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Nearly 23 percent of children ages 9-13 do not engage in any free-time physical activity during the school day and nearly 60 percent do not participate in any
kind of organized sports or physical activity program outside of school.
“Something is wrong that children aren’t running around and exercising outside,” said LaBonge, chair of the Council’s Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee. “We need to give children and adults alike the chance to come to our parks, exercise and have fun.”
Councilmember LaBonge’s motion on outdoor fitness areas was approved by the full City Council in March. Since then, department officials have identified 63 parks that have three
necessary criteria for fitness areas: available space for equipment; park users of all ages and available funding to purchase the equipment, according to Robert Oyakawa, a landscape architect with the department.
The Glassell Park fitness area will be funded with Quimby fees, which are collected from the developers of nearby condominium projects. The Pan Pacific Park project is being financed through a private donation in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit organization.
The Fourth in The Fourth
There's no better place to celebrate the Fourth of July than the Fourth Council District. The Hollywood Bowl will host the Los Angeles Philharmonic: July 4th Fireworks Spectacular on Friday, July 4th at 7:30 PM. For more information, visit: Hollywood Bowl The Ford Amphitheatre opens it's Big!World!Fun! family series with Viver Brasil's SPLASH! This performance of dance, music and story will feature characters of Afro-Brazilian myth. Saturday, July 5 at 10AM. For more information, visit: Ford Amphitheatre Have a safe weekend and continue to enjoy and love Los Angeles.
Two LaBonge park projects funded
A conceptual design of the North Atwater Park Expansion project, awarded a $2 million grant by the State of California. Download a larger version on our Flickr page.
Councilmember Tom LaBonge proudly announced today the awarding of $3.7 million in grants for the creation of a new park in Council District Four and the expansion of an existing park. State grants were awarded this week for the creation of Sunnynook River Park, which the Councilmember has been pushing for since he was elected in 2001, and the expansion of North Atwater Park.
“This is great news because both projects make it easier for people to experience the Los Angeles River. Historically, the river is what attracted the first settlers to this spot and now, there are many Angelenos who don’t even know it’s there,” the Councilmember said. “As a big supporter of city parks, I am very happy that we’ll have more green space in the Fourth Council District.”
Councilmember LaBonge has been pressing city departments to establish the Sunnynook River Park between the I-5 Freeway and the Los Angeles River just north of the Hyperion Bridge. The city will lease this five-acre parcel from CalTrans and re-landscape it with native plants. The park design will include walking paths to encourage Griffith Park visitors to take the Sunnynook Pedestrian Bridge across I-5 to the park and walk along the River.
This $1.7 million project was awarded $350,000 through the State of California’s A.B. 471 Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program as well as $1.35 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
A city storage area will be re-developed as park space with a $2 million state grant that was announced this week. About 1,800 feet of new biking and hiking trails will be landscaped with native plants and trees at North Atwater Park with funding from Proposition 50. The design also includes picnic areas, scenic vista points and interpretive signage along the Los Angeles River. This on approximately 1.3 acre parcel will link the existing park and restored creek with the adjacent LA River Greenway and surrounding community.
Marshall Bus Line Preserved
John Marshall High School students board MTA bus 175, which will continue operating for at least one year because CM LaBonge, the school community and neighborhood leaders lobbied for it.
CM LaBonge is pleased to announce that the public bus serving John Marshall High School will continue to operate for at least one more year. The Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) voted recently to preserve this line after CD4, school neighbors and the Marshall community pleaded with them to preserve Bus Line 175.
"We need to keep students in school and graduating," the Councilmember said. "Now that gas prices are so high, bus service has become a vital link for many, many Marshall students."
“Students, parents and staff at Marshall high are breathing a huge sigh of relief that Bus Line 175 is being preserved,” said CM LaBonge. “Congratulations and thanks go to the board of the MTA, Marshall students and the community for working with us to make this happen."
The Councilmember began hearing rumors from students last fall that the MTA proposed to eliminate Bus Line 175. About 85 percent of the riders on this line are from the Marshall community.
CM LaBonge spoke against eliminating the bus route. He also organized a meeting the MTA staff, Marshall school staff, the Deputy Mayor for Education and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Yolie Flores Aguilar to address the issue. CD4 and members of the Los Feliz community also sought help from County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky since the MTA is a county agency.
Marshall students and staff then sent hundreds of letters to the MTA board, urging them to preserve this line. The MTA said some schedule changes for this route will be announced soon.
Residents should contact that agency or visit its website for more information: www.mta.net.
EMS response in CD4 upgraded
Residents of the Hollywood Hills will receive improved service from their local fire station with the addition of a third fully-staffed emergency response vehicle.
Beginning July 1, 2008, a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance will once again be stationed at Fire Station 41, 1429 N. Gardner St. BLS Rescue Ambulance 841 will be staffed every day between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. and will serve to reduce response time by fire personnel.
"The reinstatement of this service is a great example of the fire department's commitment to the people of Los Angeles. I'm proud to welcome this ambulance back to our district," said Councilmember LaBonge.
The ambulance rejoins FS41's existing paramedic ambulance and BLS engine and is part of the fire department's improvements in EMS service citywide despite this year's budget constraints.
Take It From the Tap
Councilmember LaBonge drinks fresh water as it flows into the Silver Lake Reservoir. He stands with DWP General Manager and CEO H. David Nahai and Council President Eric Garcetti.
In an effort to reduce the proliferation, littering and accumulation of plastic water bottles, Councilmember Tom LaBonge wants Angelenos to drink from the tap. The Councilmember introduced a motion to the City Council in June directing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to initiate a “Take It From the Tap” campaign.
“I’m a fan of Los Angeles water and always have been,” said the councilmember, who orders tap water in restaurants. “I’m glad people are enjoying water because it’s good for them. The trouble is that the bottles end up littering our streets, stacking up in our landfills and clogging our storm drains.”
Bottled water sales have shot up dramatically in the past decade, raising concerns among scientists and environmentalists alike. Americans buy more bottled water than any other people in the world. The Beverage Marketing Corporation says the energy required to make water bottles in the United States is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil annually. Less than 20 percent of those bottles are recycled, however.
“It’s incumbent on those of us in government to remind people that if they drink water from the tap it helps preserve their environment. And it tastes good, too,” the Councilmember said, citing a February water-tasting competition. The Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to the DWP, tied for first place in an international taste test in February of this year.
The LaBonge motion directs the LADWP to return to Council within 30 days with a report on his proposal. LaBonge’s motion was forwarded to the City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee for review.
Annual Summer Solstice Hike
Councilmember LaBonge at CD4's annual Summer Solstice Hike with a group of filmmakers from Tblisi, Georgia, who were part of the Sister Cities contingent at the event.
More than 150 people attended the annual CD4 Summer Solstice hike on June 18th.
This hike is traditionally our Sister Cities hike, and in keeping with tradition, members of our 24 Sister Cities organizations attended as did members of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. Special guests included a group of filmmakers from Tblisi, Georgia who were visiting Hollywood to learn about the American entertainment industry.
The hike proved fortuitous for the Georgians since the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) also attended the event in celebration of its 75th Anniversary. The guild has a special relationship with Griffith Park because it was established at a 1933 meeting in Los Feliz that coincided with the worst fire in the park’s history.
Actor Kent McCord, SAG's first national vice president and best known for his role on the 1970s police show "Adam-12," said Griffith Park is the perfect setting for the guild's celebration.
"The rugged terrain served King Vidor well for 'The Big Parade' and proved ideal for Robert Altman’s 'MAS*H,'" McCord said, naming two of the many famous films that were shot in Griffith Park.
Councilmember LaBonge added, at sunset at 1,625 feet above sea level, that the summer solstice hike is becoming a landmark event in and of itself.
“This event started in 1981 when I hiked up here with a friend and said, 'Why don't we turn this into a party?'" the Councilmember said from his perch on top of a picnic table. “Hiking to the top of Mount Hollywood with a group of friends is a great way to experience the City of Los Angeles and the great outdoors.”
New Website Features
In our ongoing effort to communicate well, we've made a few changes to our Website.
In the Interactive Maps section, for example, you'll see a tab named Community Associations Map. If you click on that, you'll see a map of the fourth council district with boundaries of all of our neighborhood associations delineated.
If you click on an individual neighborhood, you may notice on the left side of the page, there's a link to a Los Angeles Times story about that neighborhood. The Sunday Real Estate section has a recurring column, "Neighborly Advice," which describes the location, housing stock and public entities such as schools, for certain neighborhoods. They have NOT yet featured every neighborhood in CD4, but they've included several and those articles nicely capture the personality of the area. The Brookside and Franklin Hills neighborhoods are two that have been featured in this column.
We included these links to provide more information about the wonderful neighborhoods in CD4.
We have also added the locations of all fire and police stations to this map.
Please email us at Labonge.News@lacity.org if you have any feedback or comments about the Website.