BIKE PATH THAT SNAKES THROUGH BURBANK AND NORTH HOLLYWOOD TELLS THE TALE OF TWO CITIES FIRST SECTION IS WELL-KEPT, SECOND LINED WITH WEEDS.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS

Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- It's a tale of one bike path, two cities and too many bureaucrats.

The four-mile Chandler Boulevard bike path is a source of pride for Burbank residents, who cycle past nicely trimmed shrubs and lawns along a white-picket-fenced neighborhood.

But when their three-mile journey through Burbank transitions into the city of Los Angeles, cyclists soon find themselves contending with discarded mattresses, TV sets and waist-high weeds.

The stark contrast gives the path a split personality that unnerves L.A. residents who've been clamoring for a permanent cleanup.

"To sit down and watch it deteriorate day by day is sad," said Earl Howard, a seven-year resident of the Chandler Park neighborhood.

While one department in Burbank is responsible for the path's construction and maintenance, accountability for the Los Angeles portion is essentially spread out over three departments.

With so many agencies involved in one project, communication can be an issue.

"There is a problem and we're trying to make sure there is a solution," said Kiara Harris, a spokeswoman for the Community Redevelopment Agency, which paid for the L.A. portion of the bike path and designed it.

Harris said the city's General Services Department won the bid to build the path, and the Department of Transportation will maintain it, but only after it is fully completed.

The path is open and about 95 percent of the work is done -- still not enough for the the Department of Transportation to take over maintenance.

Stopgap measure

As a stopgap measure Thursday, the city of Los Angeles installed new metal benches and trash cans along the path and gardeners planted small shrubs around a few of the trees bordering the Burbank city limit.

"We're trying, at the very least, to take this step to make sure the path is restored to the satisfaction of the CRA and the community," Harris said.

"We are not happy about the fact that this is taking longer than we expected and we share the community's concerns."

The roughly mile stretch of path through North Hollywood does have colorful murals on the walls of industrial warehouses. But now graffiti is being sprayed over the the commissioned work, enraging residents who say the city is not doing enough to clean it up.

Impatient residents have been doing their own cleaning on nights and weekends for months as they wait for the city to come up with a permanent solution.

Residents are especially upset because the Los Angeles stretch hasn't even been open a year and it has already fallen into disrepair.

Howard, an active member of the East North Hollywood Homeowners Association, said he has been reaching out to city officials since March, when weeds began to take over the recently completed landscape.

"To observe the Burbank side of the path and see how wonderful it looks compared to what we have puts a slight cloud on things," he said.

Jan Bartolo, deputy director of the parks and services division at the city of Burbank, said its portion of the path is diligently maintained by contracted gardeners and city staff who visit the path at least three times a week.

"They keep a close eye on our path," Bartolo said.

'Neighborhood pride'

The land for the path, in both Burbank and Los Angeles, is partially owned by Metro, which has had no say over the design and construction of it. The path is also built on land that used to house railroad tracks, making it a transportation corridor.

The city of Burbank opted to have parks and recreation handle the path's design and maintenance, keeping accountability under one roof.

Bruce Gilman, spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said the agency is not responsible for the maintenance until the completed project is turned over to it.

Some weed cleanup is scheduled for next week and permanent maintenance contracts have gone out to bid from the DOT.

Still, residents like Paul Kersh, who goes for daily walks and rides on the path with his 5-year-old son, said he wants the city to step up and solve the problem.

"It's about neighborhood pride," Kersh said. "It's turned into a blight because of the lack of maintenance.

"When there is a house that becomes a nuisance, you call the city to give them a warning," he added. "But what do you do when it's city property that's not being maintained?"

connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) NORTH HOLLYWOOD: Weeds line the path for a bicyclist Thursday. Graffiti has been appearing on warehouse walls.

(2 -- color) BURBANK: Gardeners and city workers care for the stretch along Chandler Boulevard at least three times per week.

(3 -- color) NORTH HOLLYWOOD Weeds are pulled as a bicyclist travels alongside Chandler Boulevard. Some nearby residents have been doing their own maintenance on nights and weekends.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Map:

Chandler bikeway

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist