Work on Little Downtown Park at First/Broadway Starts Monday

There's finally money to turn that shitty dirt lot at First and Broadway into a nearly-two-acre Grand Park addition and work is set to start next week. Councilmember Jose Huizar announced in a press release today that he's found $4.3 million in Quimby funds (which are paid by residential developers and go toward creating parkland) and that demolition of the remains of the underground parking structure at the site is slated to begin April 7. The city bought the lot last year and kicked out the dozens of cats and homeless people that had been living on the dirt lot (or under it, in the structure), but couldn't find funds to actually turn it into a park. The new money will go toward "demolition, grading, park design, development and construction." Demolition will likely take about five months; Huizar will start meeting with the community this summer to work on a design for the park. (There's no expected date for completion of the park, but previous estimates were two to three years.) $14.27 million has been put toward the park already, and construction is expected to cost a total of $10 million.
· LA Evicting Homeless and Feral Cats to Build Civic Center Park [Curbed LA]