From brownfield to cornfield: forgotten brownfield revived into community art project.

Project:

Los Angeles State Historic Park (cornfield site)

Problem:

The brownfield was an eyesore in Los Angeles when California State Parks (CSP) acquired it in 2001. The 32-acre site was once home to the Southern Pacific River Station railroad yard during the West Coast migration of the late 19th century. Once the boon ended, the site had fallen onto hard times and was "just sort of an open field with weeds," says Scan Woods, CSP liaison for the project and an urban park planner.

Solution:

While CSP worked with a citizen advisory committee to decide on the permanent park, the property lay dormant for more than a decade. That is, until the Annenberg Foundation partnered with artist Lauren Bon to devise a public art project on the land. "Not a Cornfield" celebrates the plot's history and the surrounding community. "It's a way to turn this brownfield into this greenfield; really kind of creating a sense of place and getting people excited about the park," says Woods.

Cost:

$3 million from the Foundation, which brought in 1,500 truckloads of earth and corn seeds.

Lead Time:

Four years.

Partnerships:

Annenberg Foundation, Lauren Bon, and the Cornfield Advisory Committee, which is comprised of 60 community groups from the Los Angeles area.

Community impact:

"What's great about the art project, it has this whole public access component--they've built an open space turf area for people to play, they've got picnic areas, they've got a one-mile track around the park and they've been staging these community and cultural events on a weekly basis. It's all been ... things that we didn't have funding for, so it really sort of activated the site," Woods says. The project also contributed positively to the community by hiring help from the nearby federal housing project, and will continue to benefit the community when the corn is harvested next year and is converted into recyclable packaging material. "They're developing stewardship in ways we couldn't, not that we don't want to, but we don't have the resources."