CONSTRUCTION SET TO BEGIN FOR 41-ACRE SUN VALLEY PARK.Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer SUN VALLEY -- For years, neighbors wrinkled their noses at the stinking stinking having an intrinsic fetid smell. stinking elder sambucuspubens. stinking hellebore helleborusfoetidus. stinking iris irisfoetidissima. dump, where cackling cack·le v. cack·led, cack·ling, cack·les v.intr. 1. To make the shrill cry characteristic of a hen after laying an egg. 2. To laugh or talk in a shrill manner. v.tr. sea gulls swirled overhead. Three decades after the last trash truck rolled into the Sheldon-Arleta landfill, a 41-acre recreational park will be built on top of its dirt-covered garbage. City officials broke ground Thursday on the $35 million Cesar Chavez Noun 1. Cesar Chavez - United States labor leader who organized farm workers (born 1927) Cesar Estrada Chavez, Chavez Recreation Complex set to become an oasis of ball fields and bike paths by 2011. "This is our baby, the community's baby," said Councilman Tony Cardenas Tony Cardenas served in the California State Assembly. In the Assembly, he had the powerful position of chair of the Budget Committee. He is now a Los Angeles City Councilman, representing the 6th district, which includes parts of the San Fernando Valley. during a windblown ceremony of top officials from the city's water, recreation, engineering, environmental and sanitation departments Noun 1. sanitation department - the department of local government responsible for collecting and disposing of garbage euphemism - an inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh . "I'm committed to bringing the people of Sun Valley a place of rest and recreation. If you're 80 years old or 8 months old, you will enjoy this park." When the Sheldon-Arleta dump filled up in 1974, it was covered with dirt and a system for landfill gas treatment was installed. Located near the intersection of the 170 and 5 freeways, the dump site has rattled the nerves of neighbors who worry about methane leaks. Now that the dump has had a chance to settle, city engineers are replacing its outdated gas collection system with five miles of new pipe. Phase I of the recreation center, set for completion by 2008, also will include 100 new or refurbished gas wells and a new flaring station. "This satisfies the needs of the entire community," said Al Piantanida of Arleta, a community activist who once dumped car batteries at the old landfill. "Phase I is the biggest part of the deal." Money permitting, the park will include soccer fields, baseball and softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' fields, basketball courts, a community center and paths for walking or jogging jogging Aerobic exercise involving running at an easy pace. Jogging (1967) by Bill Bowerman and W.E. Harris boosted jogging's popularity for fitness, weight loss, and stress relief. . Of its projected $35 million cost, two-thirds has been raised by voter-initiated Proposition O watershed funds and other sources. The Department of Water & Power, which contributed $5 million, expects to capture 45,000 acre-feet for groundwater reclamation. Residents and officials hailed the park -- to be built near two high schools -- as a future recreational hub for the northeast San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . A victim of industrial blight blight, general term for any sudden and severe plant disease or for the agent that causes it. The term is now applied chiefly to diseases caused by bacteria (e.g., bean blights and fire blight of fruit trees), viruses (e.g., soybean bud blight), fungi (e.g. , Sun Valley was declared the city's first Environmental Justice Improvement Area. Tree coverage is estimated at 13 percent, among the lowest rate in the city. "This is a wonderful day for the community," said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager for the Department of Recreation and Parks. "I was born in Pacoima ... and I couldn't be prouder to be part of taking a landfill and turning it into a park. "We need parks to build communities, to be the cultural heritage of our future -- and what better way than to name it after Cesar Chavez." D.J. Gay, one of a dozen Polytechnic High School students to attend the ceremony, said the park will provide a badly needed place to play ball. "I think this is a great achievement, something the community needs, a place to get away," said Gay, 18, of Sun Valley and a Poly varsity basketball point guard. "This provides more freedom for people." dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3730 CAPTION(S): photo, map Photo: Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. City Councilman Tony Cardenas stands on a 41-acre plot of land Thursday for a groundbreaking ceremony that will turn the former dump into a recreation center for northeast San Fernando Valley residents. John McCoy/Staff Photographer Map: Cesar Chavez Recreation Complex Daily News |
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