The Westwood Recreation Center needs better community outreach before it goes to the dogs – literally.
The Westwood Parks Advisory Board introduced preliminary plans at its Oct. 7 meeting to build a dog park on one of the center’s playgrounds, but many Westwood residents did not learn about the proposal until a neighborhood meeting a week and a half later.
A dog park wouldn’t necessarily be bad for the center, which is located next to the Wilshire Federal Building on Veteran Avenue, but Westwood residents should be included in the planning process. At the very least, the park’s advisory board needs to be more transparent with its decisions by better publicizing its meetings and plans before finalizing concepts.
After all, this park is one of the last green spaces in all of Westwood.
Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks Facility Director Lizka Mendoza said the Westwood Parks Advisory Board’s meeting agendas are made available on the website 72 hours in advance for the public’s perusal. Additionally, people can call and ask to be added to an email database, which the department contacts to announce a meeting.
These outlets are insufficient, however, and rely on residents to actively seek out opportunities to participate instead of openly offering them. It’s not as if the board’s activities and meetings are regular either – meetings are sporadic and can be below the general public’s radar, according to Lisa Chapman, Westwood Neighborhood Council president.
Chapman is a member of the board’s email database and was informed about the meeting, but those who are not engaged members of the Westwood community aren’t likely to hear about the advisory board’s meetings. These public meetings are the only opportunities residents have to provide public comment on the plan, which is crucial, especially in these early stages of development.
A good first step for the advisory board would be to place its meeting announcements and agendas on a more prominent area of the park’s website. Right now, the agenda is buried at the very bottom of the page, which means people need to hunt around just to know the meeting’s discussion topics. Moving it further up would make it easier for visitors to find and educate themselves about proposed changes and initiatives.
Additionally, because the advisory board does not regularly schedule meetings, it should include public notices as part of its communication, so it can involve people who may not have signed up for its database email blasts.
Although the dog park does not present itself as controversial – not many could object to a dog park, after all – even the most innocuous agenda items can take a contentious turn. Chapman said the the neighborhood council had a heated discussion at its October meeting about both the money required to build it and the playground it would replace.
Residents and UCLA students alike care about what’s happening to their public spaces, so it’s crucial that the advisory board makes a stronger effort to include them in these discussions.
Without improving this kind of publicity, concerned members of the public in search of details will just feel like dogs chasing after their own tails.