NEW FUNDING FOR THREE OPEN SPACE PROJECTS IN LONG BEACH

 

 

 

 

NEWS FROM DON KNABE

Supervisor, Fourth District

County of Los Angeles

822 Hahn Hall of Administration

 

 

 

        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           Contact:         David A. Sommers

                                                                                                                                        (213) 974-1095

                                                                                                                                        (213) 453-6446 (cell)

 

 

 

NEW FUNDING FOR THREE OPEN SPACE PROJECTS IN LONG BEACH

 

LOS ANGELES, March 3, 2010 – Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe announced a commitment of $200,000 today for three parks and open space projects in the City of Long Beach.

 

$140,000 of the funding will be used towards construction of new basketball courts near Seaside Park.  The basketball court would be developed on land along 14th Street, between Pine Avenue and Locust Avenue.  The new court would increase the footprint of the greenbelt area from Locust Avenue all the way to the new Seaside Park, and will complement the recently completed skate park.

 

Another $50,000 will be used towards paying for concept plans and environmental reports for a proposed new Visitors Center at El Dorado Nature Center.  From the original 85 acres, when it was built in 1969, the El Dorado Nature Center has grown to 103 acres.  In 2003, the Master Plan for the Nature Center was created by the community.  The City of Long Beach plans to hire an architecture firm to begin the second phase of the Master Plan, which is to develop a replacement Visitors Center and Habitat Concept Plan.  Such a plan is needed in order for the City to apply for a maximum grant of $5 million in funding through California’s Proposition 84 Nature Education Facilities Grant Program, which could be used towards the development of the Visitors Center.

 

The final $10,000 of the $200,000 Supervisor Knabe announced today will be used to rebuild the Wild Oats Community Garden, located between 10th Street and Anaheim Street.  The garden will need to be removed because of construction of the Termino Avenue Storm Drain Project, a $23 million County project to improve flood control and water quality in several neighborhoods around the Colorado Lagoon and Belmont Heights.  The $10,000 contribution will go towards rebuilding and reestablishing the community garden when the construction is complete in 2011.  The funding for the reconstruction of the Wild Oats Community Garden was previously announced during Supervisor Knabe’s annual State of the County speech in November 2009.  Today’s action is simply the formal allocation of the $10,000.

 

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