We are extremely concerned by the recent press release announcing the fence removal at Echo Park Lake. The Lake has become a safe and welcoming space for ALL community members since the fence and remodeling of our beloved park.

The park is accessible to all residents and has felt the safest in over a decade. Historically the park was not known as a family-friendly space outside of major events like the Lotus Festival.

While we empathize and deeply understand the human rights issues surrounding the fence, allowing the park to become an alternative housing site will be detrimental to the overall community access to the park. We can all agree that there is a great need for services and housing, but our parks are not designed nor intended to serve this purpose. Instead, we propose that funding be allocated to identify safe spaces for our unhoused neighbors to receive services. We challenge the Council Office to create housing opportunities in the Echo Park community to generate true transformational change that will make a huge impact in the lives of our unhoused neighbors. Removing the fence is a mere Band-Aid on a bursting pipe within our neighborhood and the larger region. We can all agree that facilitating and removing our unhoused neighbors was inhumane and should have been done differently. What is shameful is not providing clean, safe, and dignified spaces for our unhoused neighbors and creating even deeper division and resentment among the residents who enjoy the park daily.

Since the fence has been up, the park has thrived with youth and families filling the treasured green space. Birthday parties, quinceañeras, and picnics are back. Our señoras and many BIPOC friends of all income levels, from the working poor to the affluent, are again enjoying the park. Ducks, geese, and other waterfowl have returned. People are once again fishing, and the boats pack the Lake. The boat house restaurant has blossomed, and once again, we hear the sounds of laughter from children having fun in the playground.

We want to nurture these sights and sounds that make Echo Park Lake what it has been to this community for decades. We also want to ensure that our beloved annual Lotus Festival continues as a summer tradition.

While we understand and agree with the concern for the unhoused, the risk of removing the fence will take away a precious green space that is easily accessible to residents. We would like to ask you to reconsider your decision and keep the fence up. We also ask you to upgrade it and install a beautiful wrought iron fence that will be more inviting for the local residents and create more access points. Wrought iron fences grace many of our parks, including Robert Burns Park in Windsor Square, Leimert Park, Rio de Los Angeles Park in Cypress Park, and De Longpre Park in Hollywood. We welcome the same for Echo Park Lake. Our community deserves the best park that serves everyone.