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Pocket Park Demonstration Garden WATCH THIS SPACE FOR TIME AND DATE OF COMMUNITY PLANT-IN!!! ARE YOU A STONE MASON WITH TIME AND EXPERTISE TO SHARE? There's a whole lot of digging going on inside the construction fence at the southwest corner of Woodbury and Marengo. At last, our Pocket Park is taking shape! Dirt, deep holes, and dry wells are all you see there (as of April 16), but soon low concrete block walls, oak trees, and plants will appear. The community is invited to come help make a California sublime landscape rise from the leftover triangle of land formed when Marengo was realigned in 1965. We will be calling on volunteers in the next few weeks, check this website and the sign on our construction site for times and dates. More than two years have passed since a group of community activists and organizations came together on a proposal for Metropolitan Water District's City Makeover Program. The idea sprouted in Altadena's Watershed Committee - why not add beauty and shade using native and other drought tolerant trees and plants on the barren public right of way? Members immediately realized this project was too big for one ad hoc committee, and the Altadena Foothills Conservancy, a registered non-profit, stepped up to the plate as lead applicant for the $20,000 Met Makeover grant. Immediate neighbors of the triangle were contacted and all expressed enthusiasm; many offered to help. A host of broad community support also materialized as our proposal came together: Supervisor Michael Antonovich offered $15,000 to pay for plant materials and help with construction; Altadena Heritage, through efforts of its then-chairman Mark Goldschmidt, did a beautiful pro bono design that transformed the site into a demonstration mini-watershed woodland where rainfall percolates to feed the underground aquifer without any run off. City of Pasadena pledged to install a water hook-up gratis, Mountain View Cemetery offered to cover water costs and to help with the labor in digging holes for dry wells and installing irrigation; LA County and local water companies Lincoln Avenue and Rubio Canyon promised free boulders and rocks; the Osterling family offered oak trees. Foothill Municipal Water District pitched in $1000, and J. Harold Mitchell and Rain Bird donated irrigation supplies and provided other materials at cost. Arroyo Seco Foundation's part in the project will be to educate the community: learn how to create your own water wise garden ‹ and dramatically reduce the 50 percent or more of total water consumed by landscaping in suburban settings. Save money as you help save the planet! Well, we won the grant (yeah!), but the hard work hadn't yet begun: getting plans approved and through Los Angeles County Regional Planning took more than a year and a half and was accomplished through the heroic efforts of AFC's project manager Rick Caron and a few others. Finally dirt is being moved, and the pocket park's infrastructure being completed; Michelle Markman has joined Caron as project manager in the construction phase. Because of the public works-level specifications to which the County has held the park (this baby will withstand a 500 year storm without a drop of runoff and while its retaining walls may be low, they are being built to the highest standards) construction is more expensive than anticipated. Altadena Foothills Conservancy and the Watershed Committee seek volunteers to help us plant the first phase of natives and drought tolerants , including oak trees, in the next few weeks. The park will be irrigated the first few years until oak trees and plants are established. We are also looking for volunteer labor and expertise to complete our low concrete block retaining walls by cladding them with arroyo stone. This will occur after the first planting, but before the next rainy season when the more colorful annual natives will go in the ground. Come join neighbors and friends in making our community beautiful ‹ and learn how to create your own California water wise garden. The Watershed Committee and AFC plan many community outreach and educational programs centered on the park, but we need help. Join the (two year) struggle to create this small neighborhood demonstration of a California sublime landscape! Contact info@altadenawatershed.org to volunteer.

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