TIME TO DREAM
LIKE GRIFFITH DID
By Stephen Box, Los Feliz Ledger - October 2005

It is unfortunate that we have allowed a trail access conflict between equestrians and cyclists to take our eyes off the bigger issue— the future of Griffith Park.

It is further unfortunate that we have allowed a debate over the future of Griffith Park to take our eyes off the even bigger issue—honoring Col. Griffith Jenkins Griffith.

It is time to return to the dreams and conditions of Col. Griffith when he set out “to make Los Angeles a happier, cleaner, and finer city.” Griffith Park’s future lies in its past and was clearly articulated by Col. Griffith when he conditionally deeded the land to the City of Los Angeles. Col. Griffith said that, Griffith Park “must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people."

The very essence of Griffith Park is defined not in terms of its land or elements but in terms of its relationship with the people of Los Angeles. Anything less destroys Griffith Park and is a violation of the land deed and the Park Charter.

In 1978, the Griffith Park Master Plan recognized that fully 98% of Griffith Park users arrived by automobile and proposed a park wide Transportation Plan that recommended a “balanced system of automobile, mass transit, bicycle and pedestrian circulation throughout the entire Park and as a means of access to the Park.”

Since then, things have gotten worse, not better.

Since then, Griffith Park has evolved to the point that the primary relationship seems to be between Griffith Park and automobiles. One would assume that an automobile is required in order to visit the park.

The City of Los Angeles has much to be proud of and Griffith Park, the largest urban municipal park in the United States of America, is high on the list.

But until the Department of Recreation and Parks makes a commitment to provide equal access to pedestrians, bicyclists and mass-transit passengers, we will more often be reminded of the fact that Los Angeles is in its 18th year as the nation's most congested metropolis.

Van Griffith, the great-grandson of Col. Griffith, writes that Griffith Park “was intended to be a natural habitat where the people of Los Angeles could get away from the daily stresses of city life and relax in an uncluttered atmosphere.”

Yet, to walk or ride into the park is to compete for lane space with automobiles, which only serves to ensure a continuation of the stress of city life.

The Griffith Park Charter refers to transportation “kept within the reach of the most modest means.”

Yet, in policy and in practice, the current access and mobility paradigm is biased toward automobile access at the expense of alternative forms of transportation.

Over a hundred years ago, an architect and legendary urban planner, by the name of Daniel Burnham, envisioned cities where the residents all live within walking distance of a park. He issued this challenge:

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die, but long after we are gone, be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence.”

It is time for the Department of Recreation and Parks to revisit the mandate of Col. Griffith and to redefine Griffith Park in the context of its relationship with the people of Los Angeles.

It is time for the Department of Recreation and Parks to reposition access and mobility as priorities in the operation of Griffith Park.

It is time for Councilmember Tom LaBonge and the Recreation and Parks General Manager, Jon Kirk Mukri, to open up the recently formed Griffith Park Master Plan Working Group and to invite advocates representing pedestrians, bicyclists, and mass-transit passengers as well as engineers and urban planners who specialize in access and mobility issues.

This past July, newly elected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood before us and made a simple request:

“Let’s make Los Angeles a city of purpose. And, to do that, I’m asking you to dream with me.”

It’s time for a dream—a dream of a city that provides equal access and mobility for pedestrians, bicyclists and passengers of mass transit and Griffith Park is a good place to start.

Now is the time to look to the past and to reconnect with the purpose of Griffith Park.

Now is the time to look to the future and to reconnect Griffith Park with ALL of the people of Los Angeles.

Stephen Box is an advocate of social change and community building through alternative forms of transportation. His company, Third Eye Creative, specializes in branding and new media. He can be reached at 323.962.6540 or Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net