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Last Updated 2/7/07

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Outdoor Classroom, Nature Park Along Compton Creek Unveiled

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

The first of many planned enhancements along the city’s creek was dedicated last week amid scores of those who saw the project to fruition.

With its amphitheatre-like seating, prime location behind Compton High School and proximity to the bike path, Compton Creek and equestrian trail, the new outdoor educational and rest area is something the entire community — not just students — can enjoy.

Joseph Edmiston, executive director of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), said the Compton Creek Outdoor Classroom was completed more quickly than any other such undertaking in the MRCA’s history.

“This project, from conception to dedication, has been the fastest, most expeditious project we’ve ever done,” said Edmiston to a round of applause. “It was a complex, complicated project that perhaps anywhere else would take years to do. It happened here in Compton.”

The outdoor classroom/ rest stop/nature park features stone and cement amphitheatre-style seating, a host of native plants, boulders, a bike rack and artistic gates designed by steel artist Brett Goldstone.

According to landscape architect Elizabeth Jordan, effort was put in to using plants that would grow along the creek normally if the area were still undeveloped. Focus was also put into the visual aesthetics of the plants; many are flowering varieties including salvias and California lilacs. Several sycamore saplings complete the array of native foliage.

“I was totally speechless,” said Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux of the first time she saw the completed park. “Isn’t it beautiful? — It’s just beautiful.”

Arceneaux has championed the revitalization of the city’s waterway since 1993 when she was elected to the City Council. Prior to that, the park had largely been ignored, its banks unkempt and heavily blighted with illegally dumped materials and graffiti.

Just three years after Arceneaux took office, the Compton Creek Task Force was created to be the leading force behind cleaning up and revitalizing the natural resource.

According to MRCA officials, this is just one of many future parks to be built long the creek’s banks. Because the creek runs diagonally through the center of Compton, it creates a unique opportunity to serve as a focal point for an open space corridor.

Additional school-oriented projects are also in the works, as a number of the district’s schools sit adjacent to the creek, as well.

Compton Unified School District (CUSD) Board of Trustees Vice President Marjorie Shipp was the point person on the school district’s side in seeing the project through.

“I cannot tell you how proud I am and excited that our students are going to have a classroom to come close to nature and learn,” said Shipp, who has been a member of the task force since its inception.

The project is the first joint-use project between the Compton Unified School District (CUSD) and MRCA. Such projects not only enhance the creekside but also increase the benefits of land already owned by public entities.

As part of their agreement, MRCA designed and constructed the project and CUSD will be responsible for its upkeep.

The approximate cost of $135,000 was covered by a Proposition A, L.A. County Regional Parks and Open Space Rivers and Streams competitive grant secured through the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The MRCA is a public agency of the state and is a joint powers agency Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.