Picture shows Centennial Park and several other parks Robin Murez has revitalized in Venice.

Robin Murez, who has titillated us with her historical art pieces on Abbot Kinney and wowed us with revitalized corners of art, needs the help of Venice Residents to refurbish Centennial Park.

Background
Each year the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) selects projects presented to them as a means toward the betterment of Venice.

Murez ranked Number One by the VNC for “Our Centennial Park Rejuvenation” Project and was awarded $3700 of $5000 applied for to accomplish the task. Centennial Park is the median on Venice Boulevards at the Library, between Abbot Kinney and Ocean.
“We are merely trying to replace tall grasses and shrubs that have died due to neglect,” wrote Murez. “They were fully permitted in the Venice Boulevard Design Permit, D30879. This permit has been relied upon repeatedly through the years. It enables landscaping of Venice Boulevard to be a continuous design and as ‘Los Angeles’ Ceremonial Gateway to the Beach.’ It was developed with the community and it’s what the community wants.”

The Council office and the VNC fully support this plan and Murez has gathered 175 signatures of residents to boost the fact.

But …
“Department of Recreation & Parks (RAP) has not yet signed our authorization form,” according to Murez. “Without that form, the VNC cannot fund the project. RAP did not seem to realize that all we are doing is filling in plants on the Venice Boulevard Design- – a permit that describes the plants that are planted along the full length of Venice Boulevard, including Centennial Park. Neighbors want that to remain a continuous planting design; we are not trying to change the plan. We just want to rejuvenate it with the drought tolerant grasses that are intended for the site. So we should not need to file a new permit – which would take months – and would cause us to lose this funding.”

Need Emails
Ask that the RAP people sign the Authorization Form before 21 July and state that we should not need a new permit to do this “landscape rejuvenation” project.
Robert Oyakawa RAP Landscape Architect robert.oyakawa@lacity.org
Cathie Santo-Domingo RAP Planning Superintendant cathie.santodomingo@lacity.org

CC to: Debbie Dyner-Harris in Councilman Bonin’s Office debbie.dynerharris@lacity.org

“I am told that emails to the VNC board may help,” Murez said. $5000 was for plants only, not labor. Ask that they re-instate our budget to $5000 (assuming RAP provides the Authorization Form).
Board@VeniceNC.org
VNC President, Mike Newhouse: president@venicenc.org
VNC VP, Mark Salzburg: vp@venicenc.org

CC to:
Debbie Dyner-Harris in Councilman Bonin’s Office debbie.dynerharris@lacity.org