The city of Los Angeles on June 28 opened the 18th park of its 50 Parks Initiative at 5401 La Mirada Ave. in East Hollywood, where city officials and community members celebrated the city’s newest pocket park.

East Hollywood resident Nickolas Soviak plays on the playground equipment at La Mirada Park, a new pocket park that opened last Friday. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

As children played on the new playground and parents stood in the shade, city officials praised the four-year effort to make the park a reality.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, having just attended his final Los Angeles City Council meeting as a councilman, said the park should continue to facilitate the resurgence that the area has seen in recent years.

“A park is really an anchor for a community,” he said. “Economically, it helps an area come back.”

He said that when he was first elected to the city council in 2001, he wanted to double the number of parks in his district, which was among the country’s poorest in terms of parkland. Garcetti’s office began with 16, and as of last Friday, the number had tripled to 48.

In the past, the city would not seek a lot of input from community members when it came to the creation of park space, he said. However, in recent years, that has changed, Garcetti said. Several community meetings were held prior to construction of La Mirada Park.

“Together, we’ve changed the way we do parks,” Garcetti said, adding that if the community is involved in the planning, members will take ownership of the results. “They will maintain it, they will lift it up, they will cultivate it. And this is a great example. …It shows what is possible for a community — a place for us to come together, meet each other, to live.”

He praised the Community Redevelopment Agency, Los Angeles (CRA), which was dismantled in January 2012. Garcetti said the project would not have happened without the agency.

Neelura Bell, a special projects officer for the Hollywood CRA, said the CRA may have laid the groundwork, but the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks saw the project through.

“Today’s ribbon cutting is indeed a cause for celebration — to see the revitalization of a project concept that, as the former agency was winding down last year, the project was actually in jeopardy of getting done because we needed someone to hand the project off to,” she said, adding that Prop. 84 funds, which could be used for local park improvements, were used on the project. “As the successor agency continues to wind down its affairs, it’s really gratifying to see projects such as La Mirada that will speak to the legacy of the great work the CRA has done.”

Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, said that in 2004, the city of Los Angeles was criticized for its lack of park space. While the city has several parks, many are quite large, he said.

“Is that what the community needs? No,” Mukri said, adding that community studies showed that residents wanted park space near their residences. At the time, Garcetti began opening pocket parks in his district, he said. “They caught on, and they were well used.”

Mukri said the city began purchasing foreclosed and abandoned properties, and the 50 Parks Initiative was born. He said the pocket parks have been celebrated by thousands in their respective communities.

“We had a lot of involvement and lot of people wanting to do this,” Mukri said. “We’re not going to stop here.”

He said the lot will always be parkland under the city charter.

“It’ll never go back to what it was before,” Mukri said. “You have two choices: you can treasure it, or you can trash it. But I know this community … [and] you’re going to treasure it.”

Doug Haines, of the La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Association, mowed the lot before the city purchased the property. He said a house originally sat on the lot, but the property was purchased by an individual looking to build a small lot subdivision.

After the property owner dropped the request for entitlements, the lot sat vacant, Haines said. At one point, the property was home to a community garden.

Eventually, one of Garcetti’s field deputies reached out to the community to find a good place for a park, Haines said. The city purchased the land for $410,000, but the project went on hold with the dissolution of the CRA, he said.  Suddenly, in April, workers began constructing the park, and they have been working diligently since.

“I don’t even know if they went home last night,” Haines added.

He said some in the community fear pocket parks, as homeless individuals and gangs sometimes “take over” the property, since there is little supervision. La Mirada Park does have automatic locks, however.

“I think it’ll be great,” Haines said. “Most of the neighbors are pretty excited about it, because parents have no place for their kids to go.”