RaceReady News

I have been attending the monthly meetings of the Committee that is re-writing the Griffith Park Master Plan. (In case you haven't seen my previous post on this subject, our City paid the Melendrez Consultants over $400,000 to write this Plan. For their money, the City received a 170 page Plan, which I refer to as a "Monster" Plan, instead of a Master Plan!) It is an atrocious plan to which many park users and neighborhood councils strongly object. So, currently there is a 12 member Committee (Volunteer - ie not being paid a cent) that is going through this Master Plan Draft and rewriting it. Meetings are open to the public and time is allowed at the end of the meeting for Public Comment. Next meeting date is January 9th at 6:30 pm.

During the Public Comment period of the December 5th meeting the Department of Parks & Recs responded to a comment regarding posting of the Meeting Minutes. The representative from Parks & Recs assured the public that the Minutes would be posted on the website the following day, Tuesday, December 6th.

I thought that seemed a bit unrealistic, but hey, if they were going to be that efficient, I would take it! Now it is December 14th and NO MINUTES! Not only are there NO MINUTES from the December meeting, but November's minutes have yet to be posted!

The L.A. Parks & Recs has lost what little credibility their Department once had with me! I think it is inexcusable that their representatives can't level with the public. These meetings have been a real "eye opener" to me regarding how city politics work! Fortunately, the general public is not going away. We had a full audience at the last meeting, standing room only. During the January 9th meeting, the Melendrez Consultants are scheduled to answer some questions the current re-write Committee has regarding their $400 million "Monster" Plan. It should prove to be an interesting meeting! However I wouldn't hold my breath on ever having the Minutes posted, based on the current track record!

Posted by mary button at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I feel very fortunate to live near the largest urban park in the country, Los Angeles Griffith Park. Our RaceReady office is also near Griffith Park. Consequently I find myself doing most of my running in the Park. Even on my "off days" from running I find it rewarding to go hiking or walking in the Park. These days I do almost all of my running on running trails. I save the pavement for the occasional run or race. My knees have been thanking me since I became a trail runner.

The Dept. of Recs & Parks is currently reviewing the Griffith Park Master Plan, which is a Plan designed as the guideline for Griffith Park for the next 25 years. It is a scary document at over 175 pages! Not only is it scary because of the length, but because of the content. This Master Plan proposes more parking structures, a Destination Restaurant, aeral tramways, an expanded golf course, and many other scary ideas.

I have read most of this Master Plan and counted the number of times I have seen RUNNER mentioned. The number is zero or zilch. Is that indicative of the priority that is to be given us runners in the Park? Already we have seen our running trails taken away as the Zoo expansion project has occurred. I'm a fan of Joni Mitchell's music, and now can truly relate to her lyrics about "paving paradise and putting up a parking lot."

If you are interested in learning more about the Griffith Park Master Plan & what you can do to help, please visit the website Save Griffith Park http://savegriffithpark.org

Hopefully we can continue to enjoy & run in our Griffith Park during the next 25 years.

Posted by mary button at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)