Alarcon Meeting to Address Center Plan

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon will host a community meeting this morning to discuss design options for the city’s first environmental awareness center.

Although plans have yet to be completed, the $6-million project will include a Los Angeles branch library with a wing devoted entirely as an environmental resource center.

Adjacent to the library, city officials plan to construct a hands-on environmental awareness and cultural history museum, exhibition hall, auditorium and retail stores selling ecologically friendly products, Alarcon said.

“The center will be created in an environmental theme, utilizing sustainable building principles, environmentally benign and/or recycled construction materials throughout and will feature special environmental programs,” Alarcon wrote in his outline of the project.

Today’s meeting will include representatives from the library department as well as other city agencies and community groups.

Participants will break into groups to study Alarcon’s outline for the project and develop sample designs. In the afternoon, the designs will be posted and participants will discuss the various ideas.

A consultant hired by the city will then prepare a report for the city design team based on the recommendations, Alarcon said.

“This has everything to do with getting the community involved in the design of the project,” he said. “We want them to look at my vision statement and come back to us with specifics and modifications.”

The center will be paid for through a variety of sources, including Proposition K funds, federal Community Development Block Grants and $1 million from the Lopez Canyon Community Amenities Trust Fund. It will be built on three adjacent parcels near Osborne Street and Hansen Dam Regional Park.

The all-day meeting, which will begin at 9:30 a.m., will be held at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center, 11075 Foothill Blvd.