October 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 71

All told, the park will cost more than $1 million
to build, so the generous donations and contributions from the different partners involved in its development and construction have played a critical
role in making this community dream a reality.

Community Impact
The park will operate under the supervision of
the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) of
the City of Los Angeles, and from the beginning,
the department has been heavily invested in the
park's success. Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager
for L.A. RAP, looks at the park as a place where
children can explore their potential and develop
necessary life skills that they may not otherwise
have a chance to cultivate without the resource
of a park.
" We know the beneﬁts of playgrounds, " Mukri
says. " We all know that we learn our problem resolution skills in the sandbox. That is a truism; as
kids, we learn to play in the sandbox, literally and
ﬁguratively, and if you don't have a sandbox to play
in, you're not getting those social skills at the very
time when lives can be inﬂuenced and changed. "
Dana Valdez, community program director for

L.A. RAP, has spent countless hours working with
the to coordinate the efforts of all of the different
partners involved in the project and make sure
RAP is providing any necessary assistance to the
planning and construction of the site.
" It's been great working with NRPA, TPL, PlayCore, and all the partners, " Valdez says. " Having all
these entities all work together, it's awesome to see
we're all doing this for the purpose of providing
open space and environmental nature programs
for these kids and young people. "
The last elements of the park are expected to be
in place late this fall, and the community is tentatively planning to hold a ribbon-cutting dedication ceremony in early December. Even before
construction is complete, however, the park is
already having a signiﬁcant effect on the lives
of local residents. Val Marquez spoke with one
neighborhood woman who gushed about how
the coming park is set to make a major impact
on both her home and her business.
" She runs a daycare center two blocks away, "
Marquez says, " and she came to the site to talk to
me with about ﬁve kids in strollers and two other
adults helping her. She told me, 'We were going to
move on to another community because my yard
is not big enough for these kids...but now that this
park is going to be open, I'm staying. I'm going to
be here just about every day, and I'm bringing all
my kids.' It was just beautiful to hear that. "
Danielle Taylor is Associate Editor for Parks &
Recreation (dtaylor@nrpa.org).

WWW.NRPA.ORG | OCTOBER 2012 |

VALUED
PARTNERS
NRPA, The Trust for
Public Land, and the Los
Angeles Department
of Recreation and
Parks gratefully
acknowledge the
following individuals
and organizations
for their generous
donations to the El
Sereno park project:
$100,000 to $500,000
Aileen Getty
The Rosalinde
and Arthur Gilbert
Foundation
Kaiser Permanente
First 5 Los Angeles
PlayCore
$50,000 to $99,999
Grifols
Union Bank Foundation
$15,000 to $49,999
Breen Engineering
EPT Design
ValleyCrest Landscape
Companies

Parks & Recreation

October 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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