A North Long Beach park expansion 18 years in the making is now complete.
City officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to mark the opening of an expanded portion of Davenport Park at Paramount Boulevard and 55th Way.
The $10.58 million project expanded the park from 5.5 acres to 11.5 acres, adding a grass multi-sports field, fitness equipment, bleachers, additional parking and a decomposed granite walking path. Other amenities include shaded picnic areas and drought-tolerant landscaping with updated lighting, bike racks, renovated restrooms and a connecting path between the original park and the expanded western portion.
Davenport Park is named after Ed “Pops” Davenport, an officer who served in the Long Beach Police Department for 40 years. The park opened in 2006 and was built to replace park space that was taken up by the LBPD North Division Station built at Scherer Park.
Also in 2006, the city’s redevelopment agency acquired the vacant lot next to Davenport Park in the hopes that it would become usable open space by 2010.
However, expanding onto that lot proved complicated as an old landfill, which closed in 1947, is located underneath it.
Prior to the park expansion, the city had to build a gas-control system to mitigate methane from the former landfill site. That $2.95 million project was completed last December.
Eighth District Councilmember Al Austin said he has been pushing for the park expansion since he got into office 12 years ago.
“There was a need here in this community, there was a big need in this community for green space, for active recreation, for a place where folks can come and be a community,” Austin said. “Today is a day of celebration for North Long Beach, today is a celebration for the Eighth District.”
Mayor Rex Richardson dubbed Austin the “champion” of Davenport Park for his dedication to getting the project across the finish line, including securing $3.7 million in grant funding from the congressionally established Land and Water Conservation Fund. Most of the expansion was funded with Measure A sales tax proceeds.
Richardson said improvements to nearby Artesia Boulevard were also on display over the past weekend for Beach Streets, an event that lets bicyclists and pedestrians roam on closed-down roadways.
He called the still-underway street improvements to Artesia Boulevard “a transformational investment from city limit to city limit.”
The city broke ground on the $40 million project in February 2023 with the goal of adding three miles of protected bike lanes, new landscaping, medians, and other features to promote pedestrian safety.
Construction is expected to be completed later this year.
Work on a new full-length basketball court at Davenport Park is also expected to begin soon. The current two-half basketball courts slope severely.
“[At] open space all across the North Long Beach area, we’re finally seeing the investments that are necessary to make sure that the residents have what they need to thrive,” Richardson said.