Vacant Lot 2 Parks

The economic downturn and housing market collapse has created a number of vacant lots in San Pedro. When I was younger these vacant lots were play yards. Now, owners put fences around the lots to avoid liabilities and to keep people from dumping on them. The lots with the fences actually look worse than the vacant lot because now you have an unkept vacant lot AND a cheap fence that usually has some tattered cloth on it.

We need to find a way to turn these vacant lots into public use areas. Neighborhood Councils would be a great local resource for leading the effort to convert vacant lots into public use parks. The Neighborhood Councils already have a link to the City and can work the legal issues associated with transforming a private vacant lot into a public use park. The owner of the property could let the public use the property until he/she is ready to sell or develop the property. In turn, the city could limit the owner's liability from injury if the property is maintained. The Neighborhood Council could help maintain the property in exchange for its use. This would take some effort. But it is being done in other cities and it is helping to increase the quality of life in those cities as well as the property values of the surrounding neighborhood.

Just a guy from Pedro