We are a few steps closer to having a "Central Park" in Hollywood. This, from the Chamber of Commerce website (www.hollywoodchamber.net);
On Tuesday morning, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce hosted a capacity-crowd pre-bidders conference for a study that will look at the feasibility of constructing Hollywood Freeway Central Park atop the 101 Freeway in a park-poor section of Hollywood. Prospective bidders from some of the top engineering and design firms across the United States came to ask questions and listen to comments by the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who are working in concert to make the park project a reality. For a project that will provide upwards of 24 acres of new park space in Hollywood, engineers, planners, and landscape architects are buzzing about the golden opportunity to make the most famous city in the world a better place to live, work and play.
For more information about the Hollywood Freeway Central Park, visit the website at www.hollywoodfreewaycentralpark.org.
Keep reading for conceptual drawings and notice the prominence of the Hollywood Church.
For those of you unfamiliar with the neighborhood, you can locate the church just to the left of center in the picture above (click on the picture to enlarge).
Now, imagine how this changes the ministry of the church - potentially. What would we need to do differently to be in relationship with this wonderful development? I am 100% in support of this concept and I think there is enough political will in the community to make it happen. Believe it or not, there are some naysayers, but all in all, I think it has overwhelming support.
What an awesome opportunity!
Posted by: David Hamstra | May 16, 2007 at 10:02 AM
Yeah, man! My imagination just goes crazy when I think about this. Coupled with our congregation's dreams about our property, this is just a gift from God. The conversation alone is priceless!
Posted by: Ryan Bell | May 16, 2007 at 10:13 AM
That's fantastic. And if L.A.'s finally getting adequate rail transit, things are really looking up. So the cars would go underground?
Posted by: Tompaul | May 16, 2007 at 10:10 PM
Yeah, the beauty of it is, the cars already go underground. The freeway is some 30-40 feet below the grade of Hollywood Blvd. That entire stretch of the 101 is below grade, so all that needs to be done is to put a cap over the freeway, a little terra firma, and we're good to go!
Posted by: Ryan Bell | May 17, 2007 at 06:30 AM
Now if we could just make that wall separating us from our new Central Park neighbor a little more porous and inviting...
...makes our "Break Down the Walls" Block Party/Media Event sound really intriguing and more compelling....
Mission of modern-day, contemporary Hollywood Nehemiahs: Break down the walls! (Nah!--that's HERESY!)
Posted by: Bill | May 18, 2007 at 11:25 PM
when i see the pic and hear that the conversations continue in the city, i get so excited. it really feeds into our desire as a congregation to be a part of our city and be a part of what God is doing in it. Green is good, meeting together and forming relationships is good, and being next to a place like that has so many implications for who we can be in the future. i get goosebumps!
Posted by: Kirsten | May 19, 2007 at 06:51 PM