Phase I is just a couple of days away for the Grand Ave development project. On monday, Frank Gehry, Mayor Villaraigosa, Eli Broad and the rest of the usual suspects: Jan Perry, Gloria Molina, etc will gather in Disney Hall to unveil Gehry's design for the first phase of the project, including a luxury hotel, retail and restaurants, "and more than 2,000 homes for families of all incomes" (as long as that income is in the six-figure range).
The 16-acre park design doesn't seem to be a part of the anouncement. The campaign waged by the LA Times and the Lear Center, Grand Intervention, seems to have worked: "Planning and design for the 16-acre grand civic park is moving forward with the selection of a core design and planning team that will conduct several public outreach meetings in the next few months." So it looks like residents and stakeholders will actually get a say in how Broad and his buddies build the park. Lots of buzz over a park that will barely leave a thumbprint - in comparison, New York's Central Park is 843 acres, Hyde Park in London is 615 acres. So a measly 16 acres is just a pimple on the butt of Broad's plans.