Maywood Riverfront Park, located along the Los Angeles River, recently celebrated its grand opening.
This long-awaited celebration, on May 10, included music, food, and activities for all that enjoyed the afternoon. The 7.3-acre park is home to a bike path along the Los Angeles River, a children's play area, basketball courts and a picnic area with tables.
The project, which started in 1993, has been several years in the making. It is a welcome addition to the community. The park will benefit the 30,000 residents of Maywood, as well as bicylists and joggers who use the path adjacent to the L.A. River.
There were many obstacles to the park's opening from its inception. There were more than 12 years of environmental studies and cleanup, as well as parcel-acquisition difficulties.
Six parcels from various companies had to be acquired, which included land that required the Environmental Protection Agency's approval, as well as a defunct railroad line parcel. Funding was made possible by city, state and federal governments, nonprofit organizations and private philanthropists, as well as donors in the community.
An additional challenge arose in 2005, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed allocated funding of $2 million from the California State Resource Agency, citing that these funds had not been used since 2000.
Legislative Advocacy Group worked tirelessly to regain funding by meeting with many state officials and informing them that the funds actually were allocated in 2002. The Group was successful in securing funds with assurances to the Governor's office and the California State Resource Agency that this park would open in 2006. Construction of the park was completed in the early part of 2006, with a scheduled grand opening of July 1, 2006. Due to community concerns about whether the park was safe to use and some political turmoil, the opening was delayed.
These concerns were brought to the attention of the EPA, which was responsible for conducting the last cleanup phase.
The EPA utilized a new and innovative technology known as a "electrical resistive heat system," a process that consists of heating the soil's subsurface. The benefit of utilizing thermal heating process is that soil and groundwater contamination is greatly reduced faster and cleaner compared with some of the older methods of treatment. In addition, the time required to reach cleanup goals is shorter. The real benefit for the Pemaco Superfund Site was the ability of the thermal heating to cleanup contaminants trapped in some of the clay soils located in the subsurface.
With over $10 million invested in the project and the need to ensure that Maywood Riverfront Park opened on time, Legislative Advocacy Group worked aggressively to communicate with the Maywood City Council, the EPA and with Supervisor Gloria Molina's office to avoid any interruption in funding already allocated to the project prior to its May 10 opening.
Francisco Leal, principal of Legislative Advocacy Group, said, "Riverfront Park has been a long-awaited and necessary addition for the residents of this community.
Legislative Advocacy Group is proud to be a part of making this opening possible." With over 30,000 residents, the City of Maywood is one of the most densely populated cities in California. The state standard recommends that communities should have 4 acres of parks or open space per every 1,000 in population. According to this standard, the City of Maywood parks should have a minimum of 120 acres of open space. Maywood has a mere 5.8 acres of park space currently available. Moreover, the closest substantial public open space is in the City of Long Beach, approximately 12 miles south of Maywood Riverfront Park.
Although the park will not bring Maywood anywhere near the state standard, the park will help alleviate pressure on the two existing city parks.
"Our community is truly deserving of this beautiful park and all that it has to offer," said Maywood City Council Member Thomas Martin. "It is a welcome addition that everyone can enjoy."
Maywood Riverfront Park is located at the corners of Slauson Boulevard and Alamo Street in the City of Maywood, and is part of the 51-mile Los Angeles River Greenway Project. It is the newest of several parks along the southern portion of the Los Angeles River, from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach.
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