CONNECTExposition Park: A Gateway and a Destination
This project is the first step in making Exposition Park a true crossroads linking South LA, Downtown LA, the Westside, while benefiting visitors and residents of the surrounding community.
Are any other organizations collaborating on this proposal?
State of California, , California Science Center, , California African American Museum, , Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, , City of Los Angeles Expo Center, , Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, , University of Southern California, , Los Angeles Football Club
Please describe your project proposal.
This is the first step in making Exposition Park a true transit crossroads linking South LA, Downtown, the Westside, and nearby communities. Our project is a participatory planning process, soliciting meaningful input from the community to improve transit access, increase bike and pedestrian trips, and improve Exposition Park's contribution to surrounding neighborhoods by planning for additional amenities and better-marked links between public transit, pedestrian routes, and biking trails.
Which of the CONNECT metrics will your proposal impact?
Cultural events
Public/open streets gatherings
Government responsiveness to residents’ needs
Travel time to work
Public transit riders
Participation in neighborhood councils
Total number of local social media friends and connections Angelenos have
Transit-accessible housing and employment (the share of housing units and percentage of jobs that are located within a half-mile of transit)
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
South LA
Describe in greater detail how your proposal will make LA the best place to CONNECT?
Our project is a participatory neighborhood process for a much-needed Exposition Park Master Plan. The Master Plan will make the park both a destination and a gateway, bringing together South LA, Downtown, the Westside and nearby communities in a single park that is connected to much of the City through multiple Expo Line Metro stops and several buses, and through a unique blend of cultural, recreational, and sporting activities. We will promote transit ridership and pedestrian activity among visitors, while making tangible improvements to the neighborhood.
Exposition Park (“Expo”) sits just south of Downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to the USC campus. Its 160 acres are an iconic place to meet friends, visit a beautiful park and gardens, exercise, and enjoy life. It is home to celebrated museums, including the California Science Center, the L.A. County Natural History Museum, and the California African American Museum. The Los Angeles Football Club (a Major League Soccer team) is building Banc of California Stadium there, and the park’s Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is the home of USC Trojan Football, and the Los Angeles Rams through 2018.
Expo is a jewel in the center of the city, but it faces several challenges. Visitors and residents are concerned that navigation within and around the park is challenging. The park is located on two stops of the new and expanded Exposition Line, a direct route from Downtown to Santa Monica, but this is not immediately clear to all visitors and transit riders. Additionally, there is a clear inequity in amenities: the north side of the park hosts plentiful green space and museums, but the south and west sides of the park are largely dedicated to surface parking, limiting the experience of visitors and nearby residents.
Our goals include:
• Preserving the historical legacy of Exposition Park, while enhancing its character, landscape features, and relationship to adjacent communities and transit.
• Addressing the lack of amenities on the park’s neighborhood boundaries, reinforcing the value of the Exposition Line and the bus system, and managing traffic and parking impacts.
• Preparing for larger crowds and a growing number of uses for the park, and reducing growth in vehicle miles traveled by encouraging the use of transit to and within the neighborhood.
• Promoting biking and pedestrian activity through a clearly delineated system of pedestrian walkways and improved linkage between light rail, buses, bikes, and cars.
• Increasing space dedicated to recreational uses and cultural events.
LA2050 funds will pay for the following components of our vision:
• A comprehensive online presence, including social media and a dedicated Master Plan website.
• Public events including charrettes, workshops, public transit education, and surveys of neighborhood residents and park visitors.
• Interviews with park stakeholders, such as LA Metro, USC, and nearby businesses, schools, and the Neighborhood Council.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
Success is defined as a strong Master Plan which incorporates a robust public response from park stakeholders, including residents of the surrounding community, park tenants and visitors, and transit riders.
In order to measure our success, we will take a stakeholder inventory at the outset of the project, including the population of surrounding neighborhoods, annual park visitors, park tenants, and nearby transit riders. We will set numerical goals based on our assessment of these populations, but our current working assumption is that we will seek the following measurable input:
• Launch of an Exposition Park oral history and storytelling website soliciting input from the public, with promotion through social media and public events.
• 800 surveys of residents of adjacent neighborhoods
• 500 surveys of park visitors
• 750 attendees at public meetings and events
• 5,000 unique visitors to project website
• 5,000 followers on Exposition Park Twitter and Instagram pages
• Engagement from a comprehensive list of museums and other park tenants, nearby schools, and adjacent businesses.
How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed?
Money
Volunteers
Publicity/awareness
Technical infrastructure (computers etc.)
Community outreach
Network/relationship support