Vista Hermosa Park opens; it's downtown L.A.'s first new public park since 1895

Fresh bark. Tinkling water cascading down a rocky slope. California sycamores and coast live oaks, an expansive meadow of velvety green grass and squealing children everywhere -- in soccer fields and on slides, clambering atop playground snakes and turtles.

After a decade of political battles over what to do with land once slated for the Belmont Learning Center, a new park has bloomed on top of old oil fields, an earthquake fault and what had become a weed-infested, dusty lot.

Vista Hermosa Park -- whose name, Spanish for "beautiful view," reflects its backdrop of the downtown skyline -- was formally opened Saturday by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy as downtown's first new public park since 1895, giving residents of a city with far less green space than other major urban centers a chance to breathe, relax and play.

The park also represents a triumph for the low-income, largely immigrant community that had pushed for a larger share of public resources, said Councilman Ed Reyes, who represents the area.

"This is very symbolic of how a community can persevere and actually be counted, not just be displaced and thrown away," Reyes said.

A slate of the city's political elite helped pushed the project through and showed up for speeches Saturday.

They included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, County Supervisor Gloria Molina, state Sen. Gil Cedillo, Assemblyman Kevin de Leon, Councilman Jose Huizar, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David L. Brewer III and Los Angeles Board of Education President Monica Garcia.

In his remarks, De Leon said the park would help assuage what one environmentalist called the city's "nature deficit disorder."

Only 33% of Los Angeles residents live within a quarter-mile of a park, compared with 97% for Boston and 91% for New York, he said.

Nationwide, the average park space per 1,000 residents is six to 10 acres; in Los Angeles it is 3.4 acres, he said.

"This is a fundamental problem of access and equity," De Leon said. "This is a civil rights issue. When a child can't run freely and play safely in a park, it speaks to our fundamental values."

The park, he said, "sends a message that regardless of who you are, regardless of where your parents came from, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of your legal status, you deserve access to nature."