12:55pm | Three parks and open space projects in Long Beach will receive a combined $200,000 in funding for development, according to a press release from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.
The funding is available through the Fourth District Capital Projects Fund, overseen by the County supervisors.
The funding will be provided for construction of new basketball court on 14th & Locust, concept plans for a new Visitors Center at El Dorado Nature Center, and to rebuild the Wild Oats Community Garden at 10th & Grand – which had to be removed to accommodate construction of the Termino Avenue Storm Drain Project.
The basketball court on 14th Street between Pine and Locust will receive $140,000 to renovate the existing park, which is a continuation of the recently-renovated skate park. Plans to develop the basketball court into a makeshift public stadium with new equipment and bleachers – akin to world-renowned courts like New York’s Rucker Park – were developed by Councilmember Robert Garcia.
“I am very grateful to Supervisor Knabe for securing this funding,” said Garcia, whose 1st District encompasses the skate park and proposed basketball court. “We are transforming this neighborhood block by block, and the new skatepark and basketball court is just the beginning.”
The El Dorado Nature Center will receive $50,000 to develop plans and environmental reports for a proposed new Visitors Center, as part of the second phase of a Master Plan that was established for the park in 2003. The City is looking to hire an architectural firm to begin the second phase, and needs to produce new plans and reports in order to apply for up to $5 million in funding from the state’s Nature Education Facilities Grant Program. The funding announced today will fund the plans that will allow the City to apply for those larger grants.
“This appropriation will be of great assistance in improving and further restoring the El Dorado Nature Center, which is one of the true jewels of the City,” said 4th District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell.
The Wild Oats Community Garden on 10th Street, after being forced out to accommodate construction of the Termino Avenue Storm Drain Project last year, will receive $10,000 to rebuild.
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Disclosure: lbpost.com publisher Shaun Lumachi is under contract with the Office of Supervisor Don Knabe.
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