The Weekly Newspaper of Manhattan Beach Herald Publications - El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 Vol. 7, No. 1 January 2, 2014 Inside This Issue Business & Professional.........................6 Calendar................................2 Classifieds............................3 Finance..................................3 Food.......................................5 Fun Page...............................4 Looking Up...........................2 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................2 Real Estate...........................7 Seniors..................................3 Sports....................................6 Weekend Forecast Mira Costa Singers Serenade Neptunian Festivities The Mira Costa Advanced Woman’s Chorale, under the direction of Michael Hayden, performing for the Neptunian Woman’s Club Christmas luncheon Nonprofit Celebrates Five Years of Work, Success in South Bay By Cristian Vasquez In November, the Lot to Spot celebrated alongside Lawndale and other South Bay area residents at Restoration Life Christian Church located on 147th Street and Larch Avenue. Directly across the street on Larch Avenue is the site of one of the nonprofit’s next projects: an empty lot turned interim dog park that they hope to convert into green space for local residents. “Community engagement for that will begin in 2014 and I believe the park should be open by late 2015,” From Lot to Spot (FLTS) Founder and Executive Director Viviana Franco said. “The new park will be dog-friendly although there is not much demand for that in Lawndale--at least we did not hear that during the design process from the community.” The celebration was a small break from the usual busy schedule that the staff of FLTS encounters on a daily basis. Founded in response to the need for recreational space and the lack of accessible green space in low-income neighborhoods, FLTS aims at improving the quality of life of the residents via these open spaces. “We have a huge issue that it takes five, six, seven or eight years to get a park in these communities and it’s not fair,” Franco said. “You come out to these park-poor communities, you have some amazing engagement workshops and get them residents all excited and then have to wait for funding. You ask the kids in the community what they want in a park and when they finally come back, they kids are all grown up. That’s not okay.” FLTS’s unique approach involves absolute community engagement in designing what is best for each particular city’s needs. All communities that FLTS works alongside with have their residents contribute ideas in developing healthy spaces. During the last five years, FLTS has worked tediously to convert vacant lots into urban spots. Working with The Trust for Public Land and with the City of Lawndale has led to successful projects in the past and has set up the upcoming project located on Larch Avenue. “From Lot to Spot and The Trust For Public Land, together, have been working in the South Bay communities for awhile,” Franco said. “We informed them City of Lawndale that we had a grant coming up and asked if they had a property or something that they wanted to build into a park space, so they did.” Community engagement for the dog park across the street from the church where FLTS celebrated its fifth year of community work will begin in January. Residents will be given a forum to provide ideas as to what they would like to see in the park space. The first meetings will take place in January, but dates are yet to be set. The goal is to have the park open by 2015. FLTS will not become involved with a project if it is not community designed. The group is committed to having the residents design the space because in the end it is an area they will use. “The City was okay with everything,” Franco said. “It has been refreshing to have this support.” For the staff of FLTS, the benefits to these spaces are more than just of a physical nature. “When kids reconnect with nature in an urban environment, it opens their mind and allows for more creativity,” Franco said. Helping create these spaces today and in the future will be crucial for every community that FLTS has worked with and they hope to set a blueprint that can be followed by future generations. “We are creating a process manual for park builders, whether it be the Public Works department or the community, on how to identify these spaces that create networks in the community,” Franco said. “It is about the green spaces and urban walking trials. It about learning how to build these paces in a timely fashion and that they are cost-effective and sustainable.” • Friday Mostly Sunny 76˚/54˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 76˚/50˚ Sunday Sunny 76˚/49˚
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