Where Do We Need More Parks?

South Bay residents are invited to a public meeting Wednesday night to voice their sentiments about parks and open space on the waterfront as well as in the interior of the South Bay.

The South Bay Waterfront Project Open Space Community Meeting will be held  from 7 to 9 p.m. at Veterans Park Library, 309 Esplanade, Redondo Beach.

“This is an opportunity for the community to voice what their interest is in terms of open space, because we’re an unbiased group looking at this whole thing,” said Brian Baldauf of Studio 606, which is conducting the meeting.

Studio 606 is a consortium of faculty and graduate students in the department of landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.

Studio 606 is working in coordination with the California State Coastal Conservancy to identify opportunities for parks and open space throughout the South Bay. The Coastal Conservancy will then incorporate Studio 606’s findings into its Vision Plan with the goal of gathering regional and state momentum to do large projects, said Baldauf.

The South Bay does not meet the state’s minimum requirement for parks and open space, which is 3 acres per 1,000 people, and that includes the beaches.

“The South Bay is parks-poor,” Baldauf said, adding that Wednesday's meeting is “going to be kind of the classic community workshop where we’re just listening to what’s important to people.”

The geographic region Studio 606 is focusing on includes El Segundo on the north, Torrance to the south and Gardena to the east, Baldauf said.

The South Bay Parkland Conservancy, which has supported a waterfront regional park in Redondo Beach, is sponsoring the meeting.