LaBonge Breaks Ground for North Hollywood Park and Water Project

“All you need is water and relationships.”

So began Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge during a breaking-ground ceremony on Thursday afternoon for the Whitnall Gardens Project in North Hollywood.

The project will turn an unattractive area of land on Whitnall Highway, between Cahuenga Boulevard and Clybourn Avenue into a recreation area for the community with a walking path and garden. It will also be built for another purpose—to capture rainwater runoff in a catch basin and direct it into groundwater storage, rather than allowing it to flow into the ocean.

“I’ve been running so hard and so fast to get to this day, because this day goes back to the time when there was a question of city separation, and I said I don’t want the city to separate, I want the city to be together,” LaBonge said.

Alice Gong of the Los Angeles Department of Public Works Watershed Protection Division, who LaBonge dubbed as the “quarterback” of the project, said that it’s “beneficial for everyone” and a great collaboration between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city's Department of Public Works.

The project is projected to capture 87 acre-feet of water per year. (An acre-foot of water serves the average annual water needs of two families of four.)

Tom Erb, LADWP's director of water resources, said North Hollywood is the “prime area for infiltration” and the neighborhood can expect similar projects in the future.

“Our groundwater basin, which supplies up to 50 percent of the city’s water supply, is right beneath us,” Erb said.

Representatives from Toluca Lake also voiced their appreciation for the project.

“Many of our residents recreate in this area and use the dog park up the street,” said Andrew Westall, vice president of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council.

After community members and representatives from LADWP shared their remarks, LaBonge read a message which he said was passed on to him by a labrador retriever named Scotty, who enjoys the neighborhood’s dog park.

“Thank you very much for fixing more of Whitnall Highway," LaBonge read. "It’s very important that we have a place for people to walk and move in their bodies."

After the closing comments from the dog, LaBonge and community representatives picked up shovels and turned over a patch of soil. 

“It’s a good day today. I’m just pleased to be here,” LaBonge said.