Debra Ward walked her son’s dog at Echo Park Lake on March 28. She is worried problems will reoccur in the park after the fence was removed. (photo by Edwin Folven)

A chain-link fence erected around Echo Park Lake in 2021 after a major cleanup and rehabilitation project was removed on March 27 and 28 by the city of Los Angeles.

Crews from the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks took down the fence at the request of Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, 13th District, who claimed it was a symbol of divisiveness that made the park unwelcoming. The councilman has the authority to have the fence removed and did not need additional approvals.

Echo Park Lake was closed in March 2021 while the city cleaned up a large homeless encampment that formed during the pandemic. Prior to the cleanup, the city moved approximately 200 people living in the encampment into housing with services. The city removed more than 35 tons of solid waste from Echo Park Lake before it reopened on May 26, 2021. The fence remained around the park and was locked from 10 p.m-5 a.m. to prevent people from returning at night.

The fence became a controversial point during the 2022 City Council election in the 13th District in which Soto Martinez defeated former Councilman Mitch O’Farrell. Soto-Martinez vowed to remove the fence if elected.

Soto-Martinez did not directly respond to inquiries on the fence removal. His spokesman Nick Barnes-Batista referred to a statement from the councilman that outlined multiple steps the city is taking to ensure the park remains safe and clear of tents.

“There will be service providers and outreach workers at the park seven days a week, and we will have a team of unarmed responders available during nighttime hours if Plans also call for more improvements at Echo Park Lake including sidewalk and walkway repairs, and the addition of ramps offering better accessibility to those who are disabled. Soto-Martinez plans to create more green space for families and programing to bring people to Echo Park Lake.

“At the end of the day, we all have the same goals of making the park, safe, clean and accessible to everyone,” Barnes-Batista said.

He added that prior to the fence being removed, Soto-Martinez enlisted volunteers who went door-to-door in the neighborhoods around the park, asking residents if they wanted the fence to stay or go.

“We knocked on 2,100 doors around the park and a majority of folks were supportive [of removing the fence],” Barnes-Batista said.

Some park users offered a different assessment on March 28, the final day of fence removal. Nearby resident Anna Marroquin said people were unable to use the park when the homeless encampment was there.

“When there were a lot of homeless people, I stopped coming because it was dangerous. It was very, very dangerous,” Marroquin said. “I have been living here for 40 years and we know everything in this area. When the fence was here, it was safe. People from the neighborhood started coming back.”

Marroquin said she is fearful homeless individuals will return at night now that the fence has been removed. It’s a concern shared by Debra Ward, who lives near the park after moving from Texas to be with her son.

“I have seen so much improvement over the last year. The park is clean and people walk here all the time. This is a destination, not just for people in Los Angeles, but all over the world,” Ward said. “The gate would be closed at night and people couldn’t come inside. I hope it doesn’t return to how it was before. It would be a shame.”

O’Farrell said he had always planned to let the community decide whether the fence would remain or be removed. He believes there is sentiment in the community to have protections in place like a fence to prevent the park from returning to its previous state before the 2021 cleanup.

“The story that isn’t getting told is that I was knee-deep in a needs assessment [to determine future improvements at the park] last fall. That was something I asked Rec and Parks to do. The mission was to get feedback from those who are directly affected and give them a say in the future of its safety and security. That was to inform our way forward and to keep Echo Park Lake safe and clean and free of homeless encampments,” O’Farrell said. “The overwhelming amount of calls and feedback was, ‘We want a permanent fence.’ I wanted a data-driven approach. I wanted an apolitical process,” O’Farrell added.

Barnes-Batista said Soto-Martinez plans to meet with residents to determine what new amenities should be included in the park and what improvements are wanted, but there are no plans for a fence to return.

“What happened two years ago when the fence went up, it was saying the government can’t keep the park safe and clean without a fence. Historically, fences have been put up around neighborhoods deemed not worthy of resources. [A fence] is not a resource to address homelessness,” Barnes-Batista said.