In partnership with LA County, the city of Culver City held a meeting on Feb. 4 to assess what community members are hoping to see from the Media Park Revitalization project. The workshop is the beginning of planned consistent public outreach on the project.
After a short introduction of the park and the context of the revitalization, the main portion of this workshop was focused on asking questions to the members of the public in attendance.
One of the early questions asked those in attendance to come up with three words that they thought of when thinking of Media Park, and the answer showed both the benefits of the space and the need for change.
‘Open spaces’ and ‘trees’ were among the most popular answers, but ‘homeless,’ and ‘dirty’ were also words largely associated with the park.
Further questions tied down specific logistical steps, such as whether or not metered parking was necessary with the parking garage nearby, and whether or not residents would be accepting of potential closures to nearby Canfield Avenue to host Farmer’s Markets and similar events.
The question ‘what does the park need’ was also posed as a way to get personal responses from the group. Among some of the highest responses were improved lighting and more seating opportunities.
The idea was posed by the developers to potentially add a small coffee shop to the park, and wondered whether or not residents would be interested in such an amenity.
However, the overwhelming response was that the availability of other nearby shops in Downtown Culver City would make such a shop obsolete.
Finally, the question of what events people were hoping to see in the future of Media Park.
While there were some answers for theatre, exercise classes, yoga, and dance, the overwhelming majority of participants were hoping that Media Park could host more concerts in the future.
This is the first of several community focused workshops on the Media Park Revitalization project. For more information, visit culvercity.org/News/Media-Park-Revitalization-and-Conceptual-Plan-Development