The City of Anaheim published on its Facebook page a conceptual plan for a “re-imaging” of venerable La Palma Park, located on La Palma Avenue between Anaheim and Harbor boulevards in District 3.
Here’s the current state of La Palma Park (via Google Maps):
From the city’s Facebook page:
“After community meetings, we took into account much of the feedback we received and here’s what we came up with.
We look forward to building a park that is safe and beautiful, with the amenities the neighborhood needs.”
Other than Glover Field, La Palma Park is primarily a passive park. The re-imagining is primarily re-programming those passive spaces for active uses such as soccer fields, a sports arena and a splash pad.
Glover Field is not part of this renewal project., and will remain as is.
There were more than 130 comments and a lively discussion by residents, mostly positive.
Some residents asked how this re-do would impact the annual Cinco de Mayo festival. The city replied:
Other residents expressed concerns about preserved the mature trees in La Palma Park:
Just what we need, more soccer fields that will be reserved for team use. Hope the sports arena will be run by GOALS, otherwise pay to play and not available for general use. Did not notice any passive space unless plaza had tables and it looks like not much shaded areas to just sit in grass. Seems like it is going to be a pay to play area.
I love “we definitely are taking the trees and shade into account as we move forward with this plan”.
Of course they are–to budget the cost of removing them. This is nothing short of a travesty. We have sports fields all over the city. We have school grounds with sports fields, and more importantly and more to the point we have vacant land just to the north of La Palma Park that could be used to build sports fields, skate parks, etc. without destroying a beautiful park full of mature trees. We need more passive park space in the downtown area for use by the general public, not less.
Passive park space is in need. Who voted for this? Did the people vote for this? What happened to the surveys taken by the city to find out what do the residents of Anaheim want in their parks. How about efficient use of land spaces? Trident has a field not in use. Ball Jr. High rarely if ever uses their large field. We have vacant, run down areas throughout Anaheim, what about those for soccer. What about the rest of us. How does this redevelopment benefit the general public of Anaheim? What about the general public in Anaheim? Really what is happening in Anaheim? What is happening to Anaheim.
Clean up the parks, make them safe to use and families will go to them. Many people stay away from our parks because they are unsafe.