Taylor Yard: How to Get Involved | Link TV
Title
Taylor Yard: How to Get Involved
Published as part of an environmental storytelling partnership with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) at the University of California, Los Angeles. The first storyline focuses on the past, present and possible futures of Taylor Yard, an abandoned and contaminated rail yard adjacent to the L.A. River. Find more stories about Taylor Yard here.
If you had a chance to build anything you wanted inside a 42-acre park in your neighborhood, what would you choose? A soccer field? A long bike path? Or maybe an amphitheater?
That was the question behind the first public meeting and workshop to explore preliminary design ideas for the Taylor Yard G2 River Park site. The property, bought by the city of Los Angeles at the beginning of 2017, poses a challenge to the ambitious plan to restore 11 miles of the L.A. River between Griffith Park and Downtown Los Angeles.
Led by the city’s Bureau of Engineering, the event held this January was the first in a series of meetings and tours scheduled to occur on the site over the next few years. In the first meeting, more than 300 members of the community got together for over three hours to discuss ideas and visions about the project. “I want a skate park for my grandsons,” said a woman in one corner of the room. “Okay, but I would also like to see a safe place for wildlife,” said a young man by her side.
More Taylor Yard Stories
According to project manager Katherine Doherty, the community’s visions are important during the concept development stage because the idea is to create an environment that benefits people living in the area. “The city wants to make sure that this site is something that the local residents need and want in their community,” Doherty said. The goal, she said, is to open the site to the public in about five years.
Located on the river's east bank in the Cypress Park neighborhood, the G2 parcel is the last remnant of the Union Pacific Railroad's former Taylor Yard. The railyard has been closed for two decades. But converting the industrial parcel into a vital public space, as the city intends to do, won’t be as easy as planting a few trees. Due to the site’s contamination from serving as a railroad facility, transforming the brownfield site into a park will require creativity, and substantial soil remediation. And the idea is to use the time required to decontaminate the site to create a project that also satisfies local resident's desires.
To achieve that, besides the public meetings that will be held every six months, the Bureau of Engineering has established a technical advisor stakeholder committee and a community leadership committee that will meet quarterly. Both committees are comprised of representatives of different organizations interested in the site.
In the next general public meeting, scheduled for July, the City intends to show participants three different alternatives for concepts based on the feedback that people gave during the first event. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Engineering is accepting requests to serve on their stakeholder committees. Information about the upcoming events will be posted at http://tayloryardg2.com/. Also, the department has launched a survey to invite the public to share what they would like to see and do at the new park. Participate in the survey here.
Support the Articles you Love
We are dedicated to providing you with articles like this one. Show your support with a tax-deductible contribution to Link TV. After all, public media is meant for the public. It belongs to all of us.
Keep Reading
-
The Yurok people care for all of their family members, and their kin — including condors and salmon — reciprocate the care.
-
Places like Taylor Yard give us a window to explore ways to balance the city's critical needs for green space, livable space and climate change strategies.
-
All around the United States is a 100-mile border zone where one can be searched and one's things seized. Policies way beyond what the constitution allows is regularly implemented. Artists drew on select sites. Here's what they realized.
-
Created by policymakers in the 1940s, the border zone extends 100 miles inland from the nation’s land and sea boundaries and houses nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population. It's also where the 4th amendment rights of the people have been subverted.
- 1 of 63
- next ›
Full Episodes
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
S2 E1: Fueling Change - Oil Extraction in Alaska and California
Season 2, Episode 1
The global demand for oil and gas has long-lasting impacts on the communities that supply it.
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
S2 E2: Avocado Wars - The Battle Over Water Rights In Chile
Season 2, Episode 2
The global demand for avocados is having a devastating impact on a drought-stricken community in Chile.
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
S2 E3: Building A Future - Lumber Poaching In Oregon and Brazil
Season 2, Episode 3
Following groups like “Guardians of the Forest,” we explore illegal lumber poaching in the forests of Brazil and Oregon, where citizens and scientists are working together to combat the illegal lumber trade.
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
S2 E4: Dairy Alternatives - Rethinking Milk In California and Kenya
Season 2, Episode 4
The realities of milk production are forcing dairy communities across the globe to rethink the dairy production process.
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
S2 E5: Lighting A Path - Embracing Solar Power In California and Zanzibar
Season 2, Episode 5
Solar power is changing lives in unexpected places. This episode visits with unique solar power training programs in Zanzibar and Los Angeles.
- 1 of 9
- next ›
Comments