Diamond Bar holds meet and greet for new park

Lennar Homes held its meet and greet with neighbors Saturday, Jan. 26, to help determine what will be included in a new, two-acre park.

The park is part of a proposed 200-house development on what was known as Site D, at Brea Canyon Road and Diamond Bar Boulevard.

The land was sold by Walnut Valley Unified School District for $40 million. The district hopes the escrow will close by July.

Meanwhile, the developer is moving to ready the property. That included a tour and a discussion with neighbors on what the new park will look like.

 

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Diamond Bar city attorney quits

Diamond Bar city attorney resigns after 17 years with city; City Council to meet Friday morning

DIAMOND BAR – Citing personal reasons, the city attorney for Diamond Bar has terminated his contract after 17 years, according to City Manager James DeStefano.

Michael Jenkins, a founding partner with Jenkins & Hogin, submitted his letter of resignation dated Jan. 16 to the City Council, which will meet at 7:30 a.m. Friday in a hastily-called special session at the Grand Conference Room at City Hall, 21810 Copley Drive.

The City Council will discuss the city attorney situation in closed session and is not expected to announce any action, DeStefano said.

Apparently, the decision took the City Council by surprise.

“It has been a good relationship,” said Councilwoman Carol Herrera. “We don’t know what the reasons are. We will discuss it tomorrow,” she said on Thursday.

DeStefano has advised the City Council he would like to begin a search for a new city attorney as soon as possible, he said during a phone interview Thursday.

“He (Jenkins) has terminated his service agreement with us,” DeStefano said, emphasizing that the city did not initiate the action. “The meeting is for the City Council to provide me with direction on what steps to take in providing them with a new legal firm.”

Jenkins gave the city until April 17 to find a new legal firm. Until then, associate John C. Cotti will serve in his place, DeStefano said. Jenkins also is city attorney for Hermosa Beach, Rolling Hills, West Hollywood and the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, according to his website.

 

Special Diamond Bar City Council mtg on Friday, 7:30 a.m.

I’m not exactly clear on what this is about, but I’ll give you what I know so far:

The Diamond Bar City Council will hold a special meeting at 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25, to discuss the contract for the city attorney.

On the official agenda, it says the City Council will meet in closed session “for the purpose of discussion of  … public employment city attorney.”

The current city attorney is Michael Jenkins.

The meeting will be held in the Grand Conference Room, at
City Hall, 21810 Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, Calif.

For more information, residents can call: City Clerk Tommye Cribbens at: 909-839-7010.
-steve scauzillo

626-544-0843

Moving the green movement into the cities

Steve Scauzillo: Moving the green movement to the cities

Posted:   01/19/2013 06:17:55 AM PST
Updated:   01/19/2013 07:18:54 PM PST

 

Grand Park, a new urban green space in the civic center area of Los Angeles on January. 12, 2013. (SGVN/Staff photo by Steve Scauzillo)

I hate to get all bourgeois on you, but the eye does not lie.

The last time I ventured into the civic center area of downtown Los Angeles was to spend the day with the protesters of Occupy L.A. for a story. Their pitched battle with banks and government began and ended on the south lawn of City Hall. The place was a dynamic confluence of ingenuity and civil disobedience. The squatters, the solar arrays, the organic cannabis and carrot plants, the smells are forever etched in my brain – one of the most incredible views of downtown I can ever recall.

But after they were unceremoniously removed by LAPD, the grounds looked like Charlie Sheen’s hotel room after an all-night party.

Last Saturday, as I walked the new landscaping at City Hall, the eye couldn’t escape the native plants, the decomposed granite pathways, the new trees and greenery. It looked darn good – like a great city’s landmark should.

But the most striking changes that registered with me and my wife, Karen, came as we walked the steps and terraces of the county’s new Grand Park, a 12-acre urban space stretching from iconic City Hall on the east to The Music Center on the west.

In Google map terms, it goes from Spring Street to Hope Street.

When your feet reach Hope Street, the views of the Art Deco City Hall are breathtaking. The other not-so-architecturally significant buildings seem to have been given a face-lift by the new park, revitalized by the plants, public art and the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain.

Olive trees and Japanese cherry trees are just a few of 140 species of plants that mix together in a way, well, in a way that Angelenos themselves do. The new park is a terraced landscape with a performance lawn for concerts and group yoga, an event lawn for music and book festivals, farmers’ markets and gourmet food trucks, and a fountain plaza that includes a Starbucks, an ATM and the modular Metro Red Line Civic Center station.

Still, the first thing that strikes the eye are not the plants or the fountain, but the magenta tables and chairs. The design choice by architecture and landscape architect Rios Clementi Hale Studios may be the icing on this tiered cake.

The lawn furniture are moveable, so you can arrange them in a circle for a group chat or drag one off to the side for some me time.

While the park does not pack the wallop of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park in Manhattan, it definitely has made an impact on downtown Los Angeles. It’s part of the transformation of downtown L.A. that’s been going on for a couple decades.

Green, urban spaces turn me on. They are shafts of light piercing an urban/suburban darkness. They can be the only lawn a family can spread out and have a picnic. They can be the only space a kid can run with his dog and be safe.

Grand Park is not just a park for attorneys, clerks and city and county employees to sip lattes in between court cases. It’s a tremendous green oasis in L.A. for all of us. Yes, check your Google maps. I’d bet many of us live closer to Grand Park than you’d think. And on weekends, the drive is traffic-free.

Or leave the car in the garage and take Metro’s Silverline from El Monte or the Orange Line from the San Fernando Valley. The Gold Line light-rail from Pasadena or Montebello works just fine as well. And you save on parking meters.

I like it better when there’s no planned activity at the park. But that’s me, always seeking solitude.

After wandering the Grand Park, we headed for a french dip sandwich at Cole’s on East Sixth Street.

The end of a perfect day.

The environmental movement needs to think more about greening up our cities. It’s where the people are at. And though a green space in the middle of buildings may not be a natural ecosystem, it is saving a species: our own.


Steve Scauzillo covers the environment and transportation. He’s the current recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing from The Wilderness Society. Follow him on Twitter @stevscaz/twitter.com or email him at steve.scauzillo@sgvn.com.

26 Remembered

St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Hacienda Heights will hold a candlelight vigil tonight, 7 p.m., to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The night of prayers and candle lighting takes place on the one-month anniversary of the senseless shooting in which a lone gunman killed 20 first-graders and six staff members inside the Newtown, Conn. school.

Monday night’s event, “26 Remembered,” is organized by Pastor Lowell Edward and will be held outside, on the grounds.

Cards will be provided to write encouragement notes.

The church is located at 15653 E. Newton St., in Hacienda Heights.

-steve scauzillo

Walnut to honor military reservists

Councilman Tom King has arranged for members of B Company, 1st Battalion of the California State Military Rerserve in Azusa to be honored at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the Walnut City Council meeting.

These volunteers drill out of the Azusa Armory and support National Guard Soldiers from all over the San Gabriel Valley and Southern California who are deploying overseas in Afghanistan.