CRA/LA Joins Effort to Clean Up & Improve Streets, Plus Create a Park Plan for School

For years, kids and parents walking to Nevin Avenue Elementary School ran an obstacle course.

Broken couches, TV sets, tables and chairs littered the sidewalk on 32nd Street in front of two graffiti-adorned sewing factory buildings next to the school. Around the corner, parked pickup trucks loaded with recycled garbage hugged the narrow street near the school’s main entrance. Drivers dumped truck contents they couldn’t sell, leaving piles of rubble behind, hazardous in winter when below-standard street lighting plunged the area into darkness by 4:30 p.m.

Today, the streets are relatively clear of rubble and graffiti. The school stands waiting for construction to start on a $1.1 million street improvement project that will bring shade trees, enhanced crosswalks, improved roadway and drainage devices, plus repair sidewalks and curbs. The sewing factory buildings that cut the school in two could be replaced by a 10,000-square-foot park.

“There’s truly been a spirit of teamwork these past few years,” says school principal Denise Pratt. “We’ve worked hard to cultivate and develop that because, working together, we can accomplish so much.”

The school, at 1569 East 32nd Street, sits in an industrial neighborhood bordering Vernon with railroad and Metro Blue Line tracks nearby. Of the 840 students – preschool to fifth graders – 80% walk to school, alone or with parents. That’s why cleaning up the streets was a high priority, Pratt said.

The turnaround effort involved Los Angeles City Councilmember Jan Perry’s staff, CRA/LA staff members, school officials, parents and children. The councilwoman’s office helped clear away the rubble and notified the school about street improvements available through the state-funded, Safe Routes to School program.

Because the school lies within CRA/LA’s Council District Nine South of the Santa Monica Freeway Recovery Redevelopment Project Area and a key project area objective is to improve public infrastructure, CRA/LA staff hired urban design consultant Deborah Murphy and worked with her and the school to prepare the grant application.

School officials sent surveys to parents and community members for ideas. Among them was converting the sewing factories to a park. Enthusiasm ran high, especially after the school received an $855,000 Caltrans, street improvement grant in August 2009, with CRA/LA slated to pay for the balance of the project. 

A few months later, when funding for parks under the Proposition 84 state park program was announced, everyone agreed to try for park funding as well. Parents and kids met over five evenings, hashed out ideas and a $2.8-million design was created, again with CRA/LA-commissioned Murphy’s help. The proposed park includes street and schoolyard access, a central play area, physical fitness zone, covered area for outdoor study and other features. The school will use the park weekdays with public usage evenings and weekends.

“This CRA/LA- and Caltrans-funded project goes beyond merely improving the streets,” said Oscar Ixco, a CRA/LA Assistant Project Manager who worked with the school. “It will also improve the lives of area residents by creating a safer, pedestrian-friendly environment that will carry the positive learning experience of Nevin beyond the school walls.”