Ken Goldman, President of the Southwest Homeowners Association of Beverly Hills, wrote an excellent letter about the current Roxbury Park plan to the Beverly Hills Weekly. It appeared in their August 16-22 issue. We reprint it here with his permission.
It’s time to cut through the misinformation about Roxbury Park. Plan “B-3” passed by the Parks and Rec Commission and to be considered in September by the City Council is a $40 Million solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
Roxbury Park is a neighborhood park. It is not a dumping ground for all the misplaced aspirations of the politicians’ failed industrial area “community center.” If the Southwest Homeowners and others hadn’t shown up and protested, the plan about to be sent to the City Council included an indoor pool, gym, indoor basketball courts, locker room, 2 baseball fields, a gazebo for weddings and other events for several hundred people, a subterranean parking structure, elevated tennis courts, and a 3-story behemoth building covering half of the currently open space Olympic Blvd. exposure!
Under the new “B-3” plan, it’s been “downsized” to add to the existing facilities only the expensive, dangerous underground 165-car parking structure and a new community building with 7,000 additional square feet. And what does the City’s $180,000 consultant tell us these 2 added “features” will cost us? A mere $40 Million of the most foolishly proposed dollars one can imagine (which could easily escalate to double that, based on past budgets that have been exceeded). Do we need a 500 seat gym at Roxbury Park which, in turn, requires a new 165-car subterranean garage? And if, as a high City official has reportedly said, the 500 number was incorrect and should have been only 250, then that means we don’t need the proposed garage!
What also does plan “B-3” include? The expensive-to-maintain lawn bowling area hardly ever used (never during the week), when it could be an additional play area for any age. Why? We are told “for historical reasons.” One City Councilmember is quoted as saying, “Roxbury Park is in desperate need of revitalization.” The only part of the park he accurately describes is the community building (which is in terrible shape). But not for $40 Million. The City’s consultant himself said that would cost $13.4 Million (an estimate that, by the way, was never released to the public or vetted by any independent analysis before being sent on to the Council).
And as for the consultant’s parking study which included a parking demand for 500 spaces for the 500 seat gym? It also calculated that for a soccer game or baseball game, the park will need 1 parking space for every player! I guess he never heard that moms and kids on teams typically carpool and that many neighbors and their families walk to the park. But, again, the parking study was never released to the public or vetted or even discussed by the Commission before recommending plan B-3.
What we really need is plan “B-4.” The park “before” the consultant started to fool with it. The City should simply study either a new or a refurbished community building. And while they’re at it, also study how to fund and maintain the existing facilities (for a whole lot less than $40 million). That’s what’s needed for a neighborhood park we can all use and be proud of and live next to.
Ken Goldman
Pres., Southwest Homeowners
Association Beverly Hills
P.S. A member of the Commission is quoted as stating that, “the ones who are
against it [plan B-3] are primarily people who don’t understand what a plan is and they are just afraid of change.” (Issue #410.) How demeaning and completely inaccurate. He needs to apologize to all of us who took hours and hours to understand and to participate in the process.
Posted 8/23/07
***************************************************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************************************************
". . . By all appearances, everything was decided before the meeting began. Marc O'Krent took out a previously prepared statement that was in total agreement with the consultant. He took no notice of the unanimous desire of the residents. He appeared to be carrying out what he considered his obligation to the wishes of his patron.
. . ."
. . ."
******************************************************************************************************
"As a 68 year resident of Beverly Hills, 48 of them next to Roxbury Park on Spalding Drive, I am horrified at the city’s persistent plans to destroy the park. I have been to five meetings, attended by the consultant, at each of which he produced basically the same plan--to destroy the natural park of trees, grass and plants where people can read or sunbathe, or just sit, and stuff in all the programmed athletic activities the residents turned down in the planned athletic facility in the industrial zone.
This is the only park left in Beverly Hills and was designated a Memorial Park, not a Municipal Athletic facility with all space designated to an organized use. We do not need a two-story, 365-car garage spewing out families into the totally residential area. Every resident who spoke at the meetings wanted the natural park preserved and measures taken to repair and renovate what needed repair and renovation-- such as the leaking roofs of the buildings, the floor of the auditorium, and the repulsive bathrooms and electric wiring of the community center.
The building is fine if it is fixed up and maintained. We do not need a new multistory building. All the surrounding residents agree there should be a plan put forward to fulfill these purposes instead of the boondoggle so far presented. The consultant says that he has been forbidden by the Council to do this. Seeing as they are supposed to serve us, and we don’t want this $50 million desecration, I suggest that they reconsider.
Peggy Kaus
Beverly Hills
**************************************************************************************************************************
FROM KEN GOLDMAN, Chair of Southwest Homeowners Association (9/18/07):
THANKS to all of you who came, spoke, handed out flyers, etc etc!! We had a huge and meaningful turnout. It clearly had an effect on the Council (and everyone else there).
The meeting ended at 12:15! The Council specifically did NOT adopt the Master Plan but also didn't reject it. They sent it back to the Rec & Parks Commission to quantify the cost of each item and to prioritize, to work with the "stakeholders" to see what common grounds everyone has, and then the City Council will hear it again.
The most surprising thing, to me, to come out of the meeting was financial. I had (incorrectly) assumed that all of the funds they were talking about spending ($38M for Roxbury and $18M for La Cienega) were coming out of Quimby funds which are restricted for park use. No! There are only $3M in Quimby funds. The rest of the cost would be taken from other City infrastructure projects and from additional bonded indebtedness! All for unnecessary things.
So, we'll need to keep up the vigil and the pressure. Stay tuned..
********************************************************************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************************************************
The City has a $45 million (or more) "renovation” plan that would
-- Close Roxbury Park facilities for 2-5 years of construction
-- Build a large multi-story building in the middle of the park. (The existing Community Center would be demolished).
-- Build a two story half-underground parking garage--to accommodate more than 300 cars--that will be a magnet for crime.
We need to act now to stop this misguided, unnecessary plan and save our natural, relaxing park.
NEWS
(CLICK LINKS FOR COMPLETE ACCOUNT)
KEN GOLDMAN: Roxbury Park is a neighborhood park. It is not a dumping ground for all the misplaced aspirations of the politicians’ failed industrial area “community center.”
This page was last updated: September 18, 2007
E-MAIL YOUR CITY GOVERNMENT AND TELL THEM TO STOP DESTROYING OUR PARK!
