RAMP BEAUTIFICATION PLANNED.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Birds of Paradise. Resplendent flora. Fan palms leaning toward the sun. Sound like the Huntington Library?

Try an ambitious plan by San Fernando Valley leaders to change the landscape at San Fernando Valley freeway ramps from dreary scrub brush to gardens striking enough to impress motorists.

The Valley Gateway Project, now in its planning stage, would spruce up freeway-ramp vegetation at private cost in an unusual partnership with the California Department of Transportation. The first garden - underwritten by Galpin Ford and possibly Anheuser-Busch - would be planted this February at Roscoe Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway (405).

``We want color, we want visual impact,'' said Bruce Ackerman, head of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, which has worked with Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, to spearhead the project.

``When you get on the freeway, we want a positive visual experience. What we want to see is a project that says, You're here. We want to create a sense of place . . . dramatic impact.''

The Gateway Project plan is simple, organizers say. Caltrans cannot afford to plant and maintain fancy landscaping along freeway on-ramps. Private businesses can, with Caltrans supplying the water.

Enter Galpin Ford of North Hills, whose owners have committed up to $100,000 to spruce up their side of the 405 Freeway, as well as pay for long-term maintenance of the garden.

If Anheuser-Busch commits to its side of the freeway - and if everyone can agree on plans submitted by Glendale landscape architect Lawrence Moss and Associates on Sept. 13 - the first Gateway Project will be born.

Then if the new portals are a success, organizers will seek other sponsors for ramps across the Valley. Caltrans would honor each sponsor with a freeway sign.

The San Fernando Valley - a Los Angeles business mecca and heavy contributer to the tax base - deserves roadways that better befit its image, said Galpin Ford owner Jane Boeckmann.

``It has been a little bit of an eyesore,'' she said of the on-ramp next to the business she and her husband, Bert, have owned since the 1950s. ``You have trash that accumulates - it doesn't look good, it needs a lot of help.''

A Gateway Project committee member, Boeckmann said she is excited about developing a ``real California look'' for Valley freeway ramps.

But it was Hertzberg who almost two years ago began pushing for more upscale gateways for the region. Designed for utility rather than beauty, its on-ramps needed a face lift.

``We gotta do something,'' he told Miriam Jaffe, his chief of staff. ``They aren't a good introduction to the Valley.''

If successful, the pilot project will cause more people to take notice as they steady their coffee cups for the freeway blast.

``When new people come to the Valley, they will say, 'Wow, these people really care a lot about their community,' '' Jaffe said.

CAPTION(S):

map

Map: Landscaping design project