Creating and Maintaining Parks
2004-2008: WHAT’S BEEN DONE
• Airport Park opened.
• Extensive improvements made to Palisades Park.
• The City bought the former Fisher Lumber site, to expand Memorial Park.
• I claim no individual credit for the three bullet points above or the many other park improvements made in the past four years, although I supported them all.
• Santa Monica’s public beach club—the Annenberg Community Beach House—is nearing completion on the site of the Marion Davies mansion at 415 Pacific Coast Highway. The State owns this land. As State Park and Recreation Commission Chair, I heard rumblings that the State might sell the property when Santa Monica’s lease expired. The City had been unable to do anything with the property for 15 years. Right after I was elected, I impressed the urgency of the situation on various people, with good results: Wallis Annenberg pledged $27.5 million from the Annenberg Foundation, the State renewed the City’s lease, and the public beach club idea became reality. It is scheduled to open in 2009.
2008-2012: TO DO
1. Get the City moving to turn the Fisher Lumber site into parkland. Santa Monica has a miserable parkland-to-population ratio. We bought the land in 2004. People should not have to wait another four years to start enjoying it.
2. Make sure that City funds are available to buy more land for parks should suitable sites come on the market.
3. When developing park space, keep in mind that, even with the new fields at Airport Park, Santa Monica youth and adult sports leagues still need more playing fields.
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