LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A section of the north side of MacArthur Park was being fenced off today for a rehabilitation project, but the rest of the park -- including the soccer field and recreation center -- will remain open.
Starting Wednesday, the area of the park between the soccer field, Alvarado Street, Sixth Street and Wilshire Boulevard will be closed to the public. The playgrounds, soccer field, recreation center and the Levitt Pavilion will remain accessible during the renovations.
The project will provide new underground waterlines, landscape and irrigation repairs, new sod installation, tree trimming, concrete repairs, furniture improvements and upgrades to the electrical system and lighting. Dead trees will also be removed and new ones will be planted, according to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
The department did not immediately provide information on when the closed section of the park would reopen.
Councilman Gil Cedillo's office said there are no people currently living in the northside of the park. His office has conducted outreach efforts at the park six days a week since January, his communications director Conrado TerrazasCross said.
The rehabilitation project on the northside of the park follows a four- month, $1.5 million improvement project on the park's lakeside portion, which reopened Feb. 22 after closing on Oct. 15.
Ahead of the lakeside portion's closure, Cedillo's office said 290 people who were living in MacArthur Park were moved indoors. Another 36 unhoused people who were not living in the park were also moved indoors after they approached outreach workers in the park on Oct. 15 expressing the desire for shelter -- bringing the total to 326, Cedillo's office said.
On Jan. 12, MacArthur Park was included in a number of locations selected for enforcement of the city's anti-camping law to prohibit tents, sleeping and blocking of the public right-of-way.
The resolution introduced by Cedillo and approved by the City Council included both sides of the park: MacArthur Park Lake, at Wilshire Boulevard between Alvarado and Park View streets and the MacArthur Park Recreation Center at 2230 W. Sixth St.