Griffith Park Monument Status?

The City Project requests that the Cultural Heritage Commission make clear the implications for diversifying access to and support for Griffith Park before voting on any monument designation.  Monument status should be conferred if but only if it will promote diversifying access to and support for Griffith Park.

At the present time members of the public and even members of the Commission have expressed confusion about the impact of monument status on diversifying access to and support for the Park.  Unless and until it is clear that monument status will promote the projects and values described below, the Commission should not vote on monument status.  The Commission should publish a study on these questions before taking action.

The City Project recognizes the special significance of Griffith Park in the city, region, state, and nation.  With five square miles of chapparal and landscaped parkland and picnic areas, Griffith Park is the largest municipal park with urban wilderness area in the United States.  We honor the vision of Colonel Griffith J. Griffith, who donated the land to the city in 1896 for a park after making a personal fortune in gold. “It must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people,” according to Col. Griffith. “I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happier, cleaner, and finer city. I wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have prospered.”  A plaque at the Park today reflects his wisdom in his words: “Public parks are a safety valve of great cities and should be made accessible and attractive where neither race, creed, nor color should be excluded.”  We agree.   Monument status should promote and not inhibit that vision.

The City Project seeks to restore 28 acres of designated parkland on the East Bank of the Los Angeles River.  The Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) is presently squandering that site for a parking lot, storage space, and surplus offices housed in trailers.  Monument status should promote and not inhibit restoration of natural park space there.  Visit Griffith Park on the East Bank of the Los Angeles River on flickr.

The City Project seeks to diversify access to and support for the Park by ensuring that the park serves the needs of the community as defined by the community throughout the region, and not just the fortunate few who live near the Park.  Monument status should not be used to restrict access to the Park, or to inhibit the evolution of the Park in serving diverse users.  For example, monument status should not be a barrier to providing more space for active recreation including team sports.

Griffith Park should provide places to have fun, engage in physical activity, and improve human health.  The Park should promote the diverse values at stake including the simple joys of playing in the Park; human health; youth development, academic performance, and alternatives to gangs and crime; social cohesion; conservation values of clean air, water, and land, habitat protection, and climate justice; economic vitality; spiritual values in protecting people and the earth; and sustainable regional planning. Green space can provide multiple environmental benefits to clean water through natural filtration and flood control basins for parks and playing fields.  Green spaces can help reduce the urban carbon footprint and global warming.  Equal justice and democracy underlie each of these other values.  Monument status should promote and not interfere with those values.

 Visit Griffith Park images on flickr.