The city is planning to re-engineer the pedestrian shoulder along the eastern edge of Silver Lake Reservoir to make it safer for the hundreds of runners, bikers and dog-walkers who circle the lake at dawn and dusk.
The plan involves ripping out 23 old trees in order to shove the retaining wall away from traffic on Silver Lake Boulevard, replace them with new plantings, build a proper running path with curb and generally increase the distance between cars and bodies ...
I'm new to the neighborhood, so I missed seeing similar work done to the west side of the lake along West Silver Lake Boulevard, but I'm told it was pretty gnarly over there.
Councilman Eric Garcetti gives the details for the current redesign phase in this letter to his constituents, and you can see the specific tree-replacement plan (along with more specifics on how the new fence, curb and landscaping will be shaped) in this plan.
For those of us whose eyes cross when reading tinytiny print in .PDF, the doomed trees are marked with yellow tape in real life.
I'm no knee-jerk tree-hugger. Most of the ones marked for death look to be no older than the reservoir itself and sometimes - hey - you gotta move some trees.
But while the net effect will be a safer morning bike ride, I wonder whether putting foot- and wheel-traffic closer to the water's edge will increase the opportunity for vandalism, casual pollution or (gasp) terrorist acts.
Right now, you have to actually step out of your car to huck cigarette butts, beer cans or bottles - empty or full of ... whatever - over the fence and into the reservoir that I'm told serves thousands in South L.A.
But then, I'm just another American who watched too many movies as a child. The path could definitely stand some improvement.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 06:05 PM
