AIRPORT CREWS CUT GARDEN DREAM SHORT.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Rusty Feuer's not asking for much. Just the chance to continue spending her own money to turn the eyesore eye·sore n. Something, such as a distressed building, that is unpleasant or offensive to view. eyesore Noun something very ugly Noun 1. on Roscoe Boulevard along the back fence of Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. into a pleasing sight for sore eyes. For the last five years, she's been getting up at 5 a.m. a few mornings a week and stopping by on weekends to pull weeds and replace them with colorful bougainvilleas, birds of paradise, jade plants Commonly known as jade plant or friendship tree, Crassula ovata is a succulent plant that sometimes has small pink or white flowers and is common as a houseplant worldwide. and canna canna [Lat.,=cane], any plant of the genus Canna, tropical and subtropical perennials, grown in temperate regions in parks and gardens for the large foliage and spikelike, usually red or yellow blossoms. lilies. The effort has set her back about $5,000. Rusty plants them, cares for them, and every few months airport maintenance crews come along with weedwackers and level them. ``It's so disheartening dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. ,'' she said Wednesday, looking at the headless carcasses of more plants. ``If they can't tell the difference between a weed and a flower, they're in the wrong business.'' Dennis O'Brien The name Dennis O'Brien or Denis O'Brien may refer to:
``We have a new gardener in that area, and we're trying to clean it up,'' he said Wednesday. ``We're planning to put in new fencing along our property on Roscoe. Maybe her bougainvillea bougainvillea or bougainvillaea (both: b  'gənvĭl`ēə) [for L. A. was climbing up the old fence and had to be cut down.'' Rusty's not buying it. ``They're not gardeners, they're weedwackers,'' she said. ``I guarantee you that if they had to drive by that eyesore on their way home every day, they wouldn't put up with it. ``The Budweiser plant and Galpin Motors have done a good job of landscaping in front of their properties, but the airport's stretch is just plain ugly.'' Councilman Greig Smith Greig Smith is a Los Angeles City Councilman, representing the 12th District, which includes Granada Hills, Northridge and other parts of the Western San Fernando Valley. Smith is also a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. says residents like Feuer should be encouraged by the city - not discouraged. ``Here's a woman giving her time and money to turn an eyesore into something beautiful,'' he said. ``The city shouldn't be standing in her way.'' Smith said he's enlisted Rusty's help in planting a community garden around a proposed hazardous material drop-off facility that will be built on vacant city land at the corner of Hayvenhurst Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard. ``There will be sheds for people to drop off their old paint cans, oil and other materials that should not be put in with their regular trash,'' he said. ``I want Rusty and her friends to surround it in colorful flowers and shrubbery.'' She'll be more than happy to help, Rusty says. Just keep the airport's weedwackers away. It isn't easy trying to turn an eyesore into something beautiful, especially at 5 a.m. ``I finally had to stop coming out here so early because it got to be dangerous,'' Rusty said Wednesday, standing on a sliver sliver in wool processing a continuous band of carded and combed wool which has not yet been twisted into yarn. of city land on Roscoe across the street from the airport. ``People were driving by yelling at me. Some of them would stop and actually threaten me, wanting to know what I was doing out there pulling weeds at 5 a.m. Was I crazy?'' No, just committed. This is where it all began five years ago on the day her mother died. Her mind was miles away as she drove by the airport and saw the broken tree on Roscoe Boulevard. ``I came back that night and tried to mend it for my mom. Pretty soon, I was trying to mend all the broken trees and plants on the street.'' Sure there are the wackos who yell at her or make fun of her for trying to turn a stretch of ugly city street into something nice, but there are also the people who stop to help and support her, Rusty says. ``I've had so many sweet people drop off plants, kneel down and plant with me, or just hand me money to buy more plants because they felt the same way. ``One woman rode up on her bike one day and handed me $100 while I was planting a tree,'' Rusty said. ``We talked for awhile a·while adv. For a short time. Usage Note: Awhile, an adverb, is never preceded by a preposition such as for, but the two-word form a while may be preceded by a preposition. , and as she was leaving I asked what her name was. She said Marjorie.'' That's when Rusty knew all the weedwackers in the world were not going to stop her from trying to beautify this ugly strip of land. ``My mother's name was Marjorie,'' she said. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Rusty Feuer, left, and Valerie Collins are trying to landscape a vacant lot near Van Nuys Airport, but crews keep cutting the plantings down. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer |
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