River Park will provide 16 acres of new recreational space and athletic facilities along the L.A. River. (photo courtesy of Harvard-Westlake School)
Harvard-Westlake School and Friends of the L.A. River have announced a partnership that will be based at the upcoming River Park in Studio City, creating more equitable access to environmental education in the area.
Friends of the LA River is a nonprofit whose mission is to support nature, climate and equity on the Los Angeles River. The organization joins River Park partners including Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, Special Olympics and Angel City Sports.
In October 2017, Harvard-Westlake purchased Weddington Golf & Tennis, a 16-acre property in Studio City bounded by Whitsett Avenue and the Los Angeles River, less than a mile from Harvard-Westlake’s upper school campus. The school is transforming the site into River Park, which will offer open space and athletic and recreational opportunities to students and the community. River Park will preserve urban open space and reduce water usage by capturing, cleaning and reusing stormwater runoff. It will also reintroduce native plants, trees and animal life to a stretch of the Los Angeles River, and create recreational and athletic facilities for Harvard-Westlake and the public.
The partnership includes public community programs and educational experiences for students from local K-12 public schools, as well as learning opportunities in River Park. Friends of the L.A. River will offer access to river education and meaningful connections for students. The nonprofit primarily serves students attending schools of high need.
“Our mission is centered on building capacity for communities to advocate for the L.A. River, and connecting students to the river that runs through their city is one of the most important building blocks of that mission. Particularly students who have not historically had access to the river or its resources,” said Candice Dickens-Russell, president and CEO of Friends of the L.A. River.
“Like Harvard-Westlake, [Friends of the L.A. River] is committed to providing exceptional educational opportunities to benefit our community, and we are truly excited to collaborate with them to deliver programming at the River Park,” said Rick Commons, Harvard-Westlake School president and head of school. “[Friends of the L.A. River] has been one of L.A.’s greatest champions for climate resilience, park equity and environmental justice, and we’re proud to host them at the River Park and support their invaluable work to restore and reclaim the Los Angeles River.”
For information, visit hwriverpark.com.
2 Comments
This mega sports facility with a strip of simulated nature in a residential neighborhood in the Valley is like a whale in the rainforest. It’s not just out of place, it represents the loss of real communities to rampant commercialism. With this project and dozens of others like it, our City’s most profound innovation continues to be the transformation of residential neighborhoods and open space into a commodity at the expense of authentic community, wildlife, and climate. Youth sports is a multi-billion dollar industry.
The rendering HW provided is very misleading. Do you see four arenas – two full-size artificial turf sports fields, one Olympic-size pool, and an 80,249-square foot gym, each with spectator bleachers and dozens of light poles (some up to 80 feet in height)?
HW claims to be ‘an environmental steward.’ This plan decimates the existing recreational, green open space destroying hundreds of mature trees. Wildlife currently living on the property would be lost, destroyed, or displaced. Light and glare from dozens of light poles, many directed toward hillsides, along with 3 large electronic billboards contributing to this light intrusion, are detrimental to human health, disrupting the circadian rhythms of community members. Excessive light also hurts wildlife, interrupts connectivity and interferes with migration patterns of various species.
Noise, including amplified noise from sports practices, games, and frequent special events with hundreds of spectators, would result in exacerbated impacts to the surrounding neighborhood due to noise flows in hillside terrain, including echo. The public address system and bleachers would be directed toward southern hillside residents, as well.
The School takes such pride for installing synthetic turf is that it is now ‘safer and PFAS-free’. However, recently in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, city officials thought they too had ordered a PFAS-free artificial turf field, but later testing revealed that it contained high levels of the chemicals.
Also, the City of Boston has banned artificial turf in parks due to toxic ‘forever chemicals’. The City joins a growing number across the United States in limiting the use of artificial turf made with dangerous PFAS compounds.
HW states on its website, “We recognize the importance of being a good neighbor, developing relationships, and actively engaging in our local neighborhoods and communities”.
If that were true, Harvard Westlake would respect the opinions of City-wide organizations, including the Los Angeles Conservancy, The Federation of Hillside and Canyon Associations, the Southern California Golf Association, and Angelenos For Trees; 11 Los Angeles City Neighborhood Councils (Encino, Greater Toluca Lake, Greater Valley Glen, NoHo, North Hollywood North East, North Hollywood West, Panorama City, Reseda, Studio City, Sun Valley, and Valley Village); 3 Residents Associations (Studio City Residents Association, Valley Village Residents Association, and West Toluca Lake Residents Association); and the nearly 15,000 petition signatories, and preserve the open space of Weddington Golf and Tennis.