Park Plan Perils People’s Picnics
Got trees?...not for
long
By Amber
Hartgens
On March 17, as part of the
redesign of the Oakwood Recreation Park, the Department of Recreation and Parks
voted to construct two tennis courts in the north end of the park where a
public, well-treed picnic area now exists.
The plan was endorsed by Councilwoman Cindy
Miscikowski's office even though neither Venice’s neighborhood council nor
most of Venice’s residents were advised of the plan or the three
“community meetings” which were held to discuss the redesign prior
to submitting it to the Department of Recreation and Parks.
The vote on the redesign was arranged
by the Oakwood Park Advisory Board and according to Sandy Kievman in the
Councilwoman’s office, about 50 Venice residents attended. By another
attendee’s account of the meeting, few of those who voted were Oakwood
area residents.
More than 100 Venice
residents, many of them Oakwood residents, have signed a petition opposing the
destruction of the picnic area and the construction of tennis courts. The
petition was sent to the Department of Recreation and Parks with the opposition
of at least double the residents deemed sufficient to ‘approve’ the
plan. In spite of this, the project manager from the DR&P for the Oakwood
Park said that only intervention by the Councilwoman’s office could save
the 10 sycamore trees in the north end of the park and halt construction of the
tennis courts until adequate community input could be
gathered.
Yet, despite receiving the
petition, despite the fact that the existing tennis court located in the South
end of the park is rarely used, and despite the fact that there are ample and
well-maintained tennis courts in Venice available at the Penmar Recreation Park
located on Rose Avenue, the Councilwoman’s office steadfastly supports the
plan to cut down the mature trees and pour asphalt in place of grass.
It is difficult to understand the
Councilwoman’s reluctance to obtain meaningful community input in the
matter since the picnic area is used on a daily basis by senior citizens. They
have gathered there for decades to socialize and play dominos (see picture
above) and virtually every weekend Oakwood families gather there for
children’s birthday parties, neighborhood get-togethers and social club
events.
The neighborhood of Oakwood
especially needs the open green space that the picnic area provides because many
of its residents live in low-income apartments buildings that do not have yards
in which their children can play and in which they come together with friends
and family. Denying these residents, the least advantaged of our community, a
place to gather and enjoy the outdoors by providing a patch of grass and the
shade of some trees is unjust.
The
residents of Venice, and of the Oakwood area in particular, should have the
opportunity to contribute to the redesign of this significant public space and
our representative should foster such involvement by halting the construction of
the tennis courts until well advertised meetings can be held to gather
meaningful community input.
Posted: Wed - September 1, 2004 at 03:56 PM