Community News August 08

COMMUNITY NEWS

August 2008

Two LaBonge Park Projects Funded

LOS ANGELES—Councilmember Tom LaBonge has announced the awarding of $3.7 million in grants for the creation of a new park in Council District Four and the expansion of North Atwater Park.
The new park will be called Sunnynook River Park and will be located between the 1-5 Freeway and the Los Angeles River, just north of the Hyperion Bridge.
    The city will lease the five-acre Sunnynook site from CalTrans and re-landscape it with native plants, according to LaBonge. The park design will include walking paths to encourage Griffith Park visitors to take the Sunnynook Pedestrian Bridge across I-5 to the park and walk along the river.
    The $1.7 million project was awarded $350,000 through the State of California’s A.B. 471 Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation
Program as well as $1.35 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
    For the North Atwater Park expansion, a city storage area will be re-developed as park space with a $2 million state grant. About 1,800 feet of new biking and hiking trails will be landscaped with native plants and trees through Proposition 50— a statewide ballot approved by voters in 2002.

Los Feliz Square
Neighborhood Assoc. Formed

LOS FELIZ—A new neighborhood association formed in July to focus on issues associated with homeowners and apartment dwellers south of Los Feliz Boulevard, according to founder Dana Cremin.
    The boundaries for the new association—called the Los Feliz Square Neighborhood Association—are Normandie and Vermont avenues and Los Feliz and Hollywood boulevards.
    The area designated is currently served by the Los Feliz Improvement Association (LFIA), founded in 1916. Members of the new association would additionally continue to be served by the LFIA.
Cremin said she envisions that Los Feliz Square and the LFIA can “complement” one another, with the new association tackling a different set of issues.
    “We probably won’t spend much time on [Griffith Park] renovation as a group,” said Cremin, “but we will spend a lot of time on tagging because that is what we deal with daily.”
    Cremin has been recently outspoken about the need for a preferential parking district in her neighborhood.
    The group will have its next meeting Thurs. Sept. 11th at 7 p.m. For information: Los Feliz Square Neighborhood Association, 2046 Hillhurst Ave., Box 61, LA, CA 90027 or dana@creminfamily.com.

[ SILVER LAKE CORRESPONDENT ]

Tim Campbell & Steve Machado Tie the Knot in Downtown Ceremony
By Michael Locke, Silver Lake Correspondent

Michael Locke

LOS ANGELES—Celebrity architectural designer Tim Campbell married his long time partner, Dr. Steven Machado at Campbell’s office in the downtown arts district on Sat., July 12th.
    Los Angeles Councilmember Jan Perry, who has known the couple for years, officiated at the private ceremony attended by a few close friends. The couple, who have been together for 21 years, wanted to be amongst the first to take advantage of the court ruling allowing same-sex marriages in California that went into effect on June 16th.
    “Although I have officiated civil unions before, it was my first time for a same-sex couple,” said councilmember Perry. “Tim and Steve are longtime friends and are an amazing and gifted couple who bring so much love to each other and give back in such an extraordinary fashion to their community. I really wanted to do this from the start. It’s an honor to be a part of this historic occasion,” she said.
    The newlyweds live in a striking four-story home in Silver Lake, designed by Campbell in 2004. The pair are avid patrons of contemporary political and social art; the home was designed to display their extraordinary—and sometimes disturbing—collection.
Machado is a chiropractor in private practice in Silver Lake and Beverly Hills. Campbell is principal of Studio Tim Campbell.

Tim and Steve

Pictured are Dr. Steve Machado (left) and architect
Tim Campbell (right).