|
|
After the Fire
By Rachel Heller
Ledger Contributing Writer
Photos by Colin Brown
GRIFFITH PARK—In the days after last May’s massive wildfire raged through Griffith Park, as city workers scrambled to assess the damage, some local park enthusiasts dealt with the destruction by doing their best to get back to normal.
Photographer Colin Remas Brown, of Silver Lake, decided to walk his dog.
Wandering down an open trail among the scorched oaks one afternoon, the ground a blanket of fallen ash, Brown began to sense the singular nature of the landscape. He went home and grabbed his Canon.
“It looked like it had snowed,” he recalled. “It was eerily quiet and there was this awful mood. That day, you sensed something apocalyptic had happened.”
The blaze broke out on May 8th, 2007 at 1:20 p.m. near the Roosevelt Golf Course. Fanned by high winds, flames moved quickly through dry grass and brush, threatening over 300 homes in the Los Feliz area. More than 120 fire fighters from 21 companies worked to extinguish the blaze, according to the Los Angeles Fire Dept.
Nearby residents were evacuated in the meantime – a harrowing memory for Commonwealth Ave. homeowner Norman Mennes.
“It was very frightening,” said Mennes, 92. “There was a knock at the door and the voice said, ‘get out now.’ When you think your house is going to burn, what do you take?”
Mennes took photos of his parents and of his deceased wife, and a wad of cash. A neighbor drove him to a friend’s house on Avocado St., where he spent the night. The next day, Mennes found that the house he has called home since 1974 was spared.
Before containment on May 11, the flames devoured 817 acres of native flora and hiking trails. Almost 20 percent of the 4,200-acre park—one of the country’s largest municipal havens–lay blackened, the hillsides singed bare and left prone to erosion.
Twelve months later, the healing is far from over, but there are signs of recovery. Due to the work of city officials and agencies—and the devotion of local hikers hoping to rehabilitate this well-loved urban sanctuary—Griffith Park, this spring, is again in bloom.
“The park is growing back very well,” said Mike Shull, director of planning and development for the Los Angeles Dept. of Recreation and Parks. “It’s getting quite green.”
A smooth recovery was not guaranteed when Parks Dept. employees first began to take stock of the charred land, Shull said. Trees were still smoking for weeks after the fire. Every now and then, one would flare up.
More ominous, however, were the steep slopes rising above park-adjacent homes, stripped of their vegetation. Before the fire, plant roots had worked to anchor the soil, and without them, the hillsides were susceptible to mudslides during the impending winter rains.
“Our first concern was public safety,” said Shull, who helped form a working group the week after the fire that joined local non-profits and park groups, engineers, and national parks officials to plan a course of action.
To combat potential erosion, the Parks Dept. sprayed 500 acres of the burn area with hydromulch, a wood mulch and guar gum slurry designed to form a protective layer over the topsoil. The $1.9 million project was completed in less than 30 days last September and October.
“It worked,” said Shull, adding that the mixture did not contain seeds from plants foreign to the environment. “We had virtually no erosion this winter. We wanted the park to come back naturally. Disturbing nature’s process can do more harm than good.”
This decision to let the park’s native plants regenerate answered one of the main concerns of the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council, according to council president Charley Mims.
“One of our concerns was that the city maintain native trees, plants and animals, and—to the extent feasible—that they keep non-native plants and trees out of the park,” Mims said. “Recreation and Parks heard the community… We’re very encouraged by that.”
The carpet of grass and purple blossoms now covering the hills is a boon to Los Angeles city councilmember Tom LaBonge, who has been hiking in Griffith Park for the past 30 years.
Coming down Charlie Turner Trail toward the Griffith Observatory on a recent morning with his wife, Brigid, and their cocker spaniel, Dexter, LaBonge paused to say annyong haseyo, or “hello,” to passing Korean hikers.
“This park is special to a lot of people. You pick up languages, friendships, ideas,” the 4th district councilmember said as dawn broke over Los Feliz below.
Pointing out the green ledge of Dante’s View—a beloved landmark 90 percent destroyed last year—LaBonge marveled at the park’s steady re-growth in the wake of the fire.
“Right after the fire we led hikes so people could see the destruction,” he recalled. “It was as if you were in the Observatory looking at pictures of Mars—just this barren landscape.”
Brown’s photographs tell the story best. His images capture a child’s tricycle abandoned near the scorched hillside; a red fire extinguisher dwarfed by the twisted boughs of charred trees; and most hauntingly, the burnt carcasses of deer and coyotes, gristle still clinging to the ribs, strewn among the hills where many were stopped in their tracks with no time to escape.
“I think it was important that I took those pictures,” Brown said. “At that time, everyone was focusing on the landmarks and whether the homes were safe. Mine were the only [pictures] that showed that side of the fire—that animals had died.”
Parks Dept. workers had to clear animal remains from the burn area along with the other initial debris, Shull said.
“You don’t have a fire like that and have no casualties,” he noted, adding that it was mainly birds that perished after becoming confused in the smoke. “Most of the ground-level wildlife did get out of the way.”
These days, Griffith Park is teeming with life—both animal and human—and is almost entirely open again to the public. Hiking trails reopened incrementally over the past year, and now only one damaged road by the Old Zoo, Vista del Valle, remains closed.
Beautification efforts have been underway since last summer, when LaBonge designated “volunteer days” the second Saturday of every month to give community members a chance to help. An average of 50 to 80 locals have gathered for each date to take part in tree planting, weed removal, and fixing up the trails.
“Hundreds of people have taken advantage of this opportunity to engage with the park,” said LaBonge, who has also donated his own time to the cause.
As a result of the fire, which is believed to have started when someone threw a lit cigarette into dry brush, the city of Los Angeles last fall banned smoking in all public parks. Mims wants to see the ban extended to golf courses as well.
“We’re really hopeful that this fire can be a wakeup call for the public not to smoke in parks, and that the city will enforce this ban,” Mims said.
Heading back into the dry summer months, Shull said Griffith Park is in good shape. The Parks Dept. will continue to keep brush cleared out to guard against future fires, and will again monitor the hillsides for erosion next winter, he said.
“It could take upwards of five to seven years for all the growth to come back,” Shull said. “But we’re satisfied with the results so far.”
Meanwhile, Brown, this month, will expand his growing fan base as he exhibits his photographs at Drkrm. Gallery in Los Angeles. “Aftermath: The Griffith Park Fire” will be on display May 3rd to 18th, coinciding with the anniversary of the blaze.
“Each time I walk into the park, a little bit of those gloomy days after the fire is erased from my memory,” said Brown, who still walks his Italian Greyhound, Dan, along their old trail. “Someday soon, I’ll only have my photos to remind me.”
Colin Brown’s photography of the fire can be viewed at: Drkrm. Gallery, 2121 San Fernando Rd., Suite 3, Los Angeles, CA 90065. The opening reception is May 3rd, from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. www.drkrm.com/aftermath.html
|
Two King Middle School Students Remain in Critical Condition
By Catherine Billey
Ledger Contributing Writer
SILVER LAKE—Two sixth grade students from Thomas Starr King Middle School remain in critical condition at Childrens Hospital after being struck April 15th by a car at the intersection of Sunset and Fountain avenues shortly after dismissal, according to Los Angeles Police Dept. spokesperson Officer Ana Aguirre.
No criminal charges have been filed, police said, because the driver was not speeding, stopped immediately and there was no indication of negligence.
The accident occurred just one day after Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge and Council President Eric Garcetti visited the school to announce a $900,000 state grant award—the highest amount available from “Caltrans’ Safe Routes to School” program—to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school.
Grant monies will be used to widen sidewalks on Hyperion Avenue, intensify lighting in the Myra Avenue underpass, install signage to show drivers their current speed and to install what is called “bulb-outs” which are small sidewalk peninsulas that widen the sidewalks for pedestrians and force drivers to slow down when turning a corner.
“Most accidents occur in a signalized crosswalk,” said LaBonge in a subsequent telephone interview. “We must all slow down. There’s nothing worse than being hit by a car.”
Education Budget Cuts Felt Locally
By Kimberly Gomez, Ledger Contributing Writer
Since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announced proposed reductions of $4.8 billion in the state education budget, local school administrators have been crunching numbers to get more out of their already tightly-squeezed budget.
Local Los Angeles Unified Schools are faced with reducing budgets for bilingual education and other allocations used toward student achievement.
Many such cuts have already been designated for Title I funding, part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The federal measure was intended to help close achievement gaps between low-income and other students.
“We have a large Title I population. We hire our teaching assistants out of that and it also pays for our parent community representative and materials and supplies,” said Los Feliz Elementary School principal, Kathy Pilkinton.
Another area under consideration is the return to larger class sizes. Established in 1996, kindergarten through 3rd grade classes in California have been capped at 20 students per class.
“Hopefully, that will be something that will remain the same because it does make a difference in education especially for the little ones,” said Veronica Sasso, principal of Franklin Avenue Elementary.
Many schools, like Micheltorena Street Elementary remain in the process of listing what are must haves.
“We’ve done a bunch of parent surveys and have prioritized what we would cut if we had to,” said Susanna Furfari, principal of Micheltorena Street Elementary in Silver Lake.
Harder hit is nearby Ivanhoe Elementary. That Silver Lake school is looking at losing a handful of staff.
“Half the budget that the district gives us is gone—it looks really bad,” said principal Jumie Sugahara.
According to Sugahara, parents at the school have started a fundraising effort to make up the gap. Doing so, she said, has so far saved one teacher’s job. More funds, she said, are needed to save at least two other positions.
Over at Glenfeliz Elementary, so far, a total of three teaching assistants will be cut.
“We’re pretty bare bones and instruction will go on but it’s obviously going to affect kids if they cut even further,” said Glenfeliz principal Carole Rosenblum.
Furthering the budgetary crisis is that fewer students are enrolling today at Thomas Starr King middle and John Marshall high schools. Schools receive funds from the state on a per pupil basis.
“Losing students is a good thing—[there is] less crowding,” said Marshall High school Principal, Dan Harrison. “But it gives us smaller budgets.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District School Board will meet in May, to decide how to trim almost $100 million from next year’s budget. Further state budget cuts, educators said, could add another $460 million in required reductions over the following two years.
1st Place: “Griffith Park Scene”
by Mya Greene, 11, Ivanhoe Elementary
Out of the Ashes Art Contest Winners
The Los Feliz Ledger and Symphony in the Glen have announced the winners of the “Out of the Ashes: Griffith Park Grows Green Again,” children’s art contest.
The 1st place winner is Mya Greene, 11, Ivanhoe Elementary, for “Griffith Park Scene;” 2nd place: P. Daniel Ingar, 11, St. Francis of Assisi for “Through the Fire and Flames;” and 3rd place: Hanna Barakat, 8, Ivanhoe Elementary, for “The Green Hills.”
The kick off for the contest was Oct. 14th, 2007 at the Symphony in the Glen “Out of the Ashes” concert for Griffith Park. Local school children were asked to create artwork of life growing out of the ashes and what Griffith Park might look like when everything has re-grown. The artwork was judged on originality, creative interpretation of the theme, clarity of expression and use of color. Judges were: Allison Cohen, publisher of the Los Feliz Ledger; Barbara Ferris, with Symphony in the Glen and Al Alu, art instructor with the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Dept. currently teaching at Barnsdall Art Park.
A total of 77 submissions were received. Thank you to all students who submitted work.
Americana at Brand Set to Open May 2nd
By Kimberly Gomez,
Ledger Contributing Writer
GLENDALE—Just short of two short years since breaking ground, The Americana at Brand will open May 2nd.
The 900,000 square foot residential and retail complex sits on 15.5 acres and will feature 75 shops and boutiques, restaurants, an 18-plex cinema and luxury and apartments and condominiums.
Inspiration for the $400 million project comes from developer Rick Caruso, who also developed The Grove, located in the Fairfax district of mid Los Angeles.
Many of the hugely successful Grove’s attributes will be replicated at The Americana such as a trolley, manicured landscaping, lots of patio dining and a water fountain and stage.
The difference is the Americana’s dancing fountain is three times the size of The Grove’s and is the focal point of a 2-acre grassy park.
The opening, while anticipated, is met with some trepidation. The community has been concerned about the impact of such a project on local traffic and the potential damage The Americana could inflict on sales at the aging Glendale Galleria.
But, Caruso and his staff said they worked hard to avoid cannibalizing existing retail in the area. According to Caruso Affiliated staff, there will not be any duplication of shops in the Americana and the nearby Glendale Galleria.
“The community supported the project from day one and had a lot of input in how this was going to be,” said Todd Russell with Caruso Affiliated. “I think this is a great shot in the arm for Glendale and the city recognizes that.”
The Glendale Galleria attracts 26 million people annually—a count that Caruso hopes to double at Americana.
One feature that The Americana has that The Grove does not, is residential living. The Americana will offer condos—starting at $800,000 and apartments, ranging from $2,200 to $5,500 a month.
And here’s a nice perk: Americana residents will have access to a complete concierge service—that can fetch dry cleaning, concert tickets or deliver dinner. Passageways are underground of the shopping area so residents can traverse the site, if they like, without ever stepping foot on the public shopping area.
For a list of retailers visit americanaatbrand.com
|
