In West Hollywood, the 17th most densely populated city in the United States, a certain stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard stands out for its emptiness.
That’s the stretch in front of L.A. Metro’s Division 7 Bus Maintenance and Operations Facility, located at 8800 Santa Monica Blvd. just east of San Vicente.
The City of West Hollywood is soliciting ideas about how to make the best use of the space in front of the Metro facility on the south side of Santa Monica.
“If you’ve ever walked down the street along a blank wall and thought to yourself: ‘This could be a beautiful mural!’ or if you’ve waited for the bus and pondered: ‘this would be a great spot for a ping-pong match!’ then this ‘Meanwhile at Metro’ meeting is a chance for creative thinkers and out-of-the-box dreamers to help bring such ideas to life!” the city says in an announcement of its solicitation.
If you have ideas, or want to hear what others think, show up on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., a short walk south of Santa Monica
There city staff members and consultants from Gehl Studios will lead a discussion of ideas for temporary installations for the space. Those attending will be invited to walk to the site and there will be a wrap-up session in the Metro lot. The meeting is free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Joanna Hankamer, principal planner, Capital and Special Projects, at (323) 848-6395 or at jhankamer@weho.org.
Turn it into a light rail station. How does Weho not have light rail yet??
Robert, should we shy away from building any public space (with seating and such), just because of the homeless? Our new park upgrade, for example? Does not seem like the right move to me.
I think power washing the brick wall around the sheriff’s department would be a great start to sprucing up that area. Simple way to make a big difference.
Let’s see, if you put in benches to make it more park like the homeless people will move in and form an encampment so that’s out. Building a short wall would do the same and a tall wall would look, well terrible. The existing green space plan is nice. It’s a quiet respite and walk in an otherwise noisy and cluttered thoroughfare so, I say improve the green space but leave it as a green space…
Yes, simple and uncluttered by the Arts Commission’s idea of art……..busywork, distractions.
Just good landscaping and lighting. Keep it simple and classy.
(And when does the new median landscaping get done?)
Actually, I think this is one of the prettier parts of the stretch of SM Blvd and it feels a little like a small park and breathing space. So no…we dont need more clutter. The space in front of the police department could use some sprucing up, grass or some kind of plants. But leave it alone until the entire place MTA facility is torn down and redeveloped which it eventually will be.
Affordable housing with a healthy mix of commercial space on street level. It can all co-exist with the MTA facilities, and even with the awful architecture known as the LASD station next door.
What day and time is meeting
Oops! Just updated the story. It’s Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon