Artist and activist Ari Kletzky is transforming the traffic islands of Los Angeles into National Parks. Lets discuss the ultimate use of public spaces.

Source: Los Angeles Times
By Lynell George

Traffic islands are small public spaces that many of us may take for granted as we zoom through the massive sprawl that is Los Angeles. They're meant to keep order on the busier avenues, providing a barrier for opposing rivers of autos, and a sanctuary for pedestrians caught between. Other than concrete, there isn't much to these slightly elevated banks. However, Ari Kletzky wants us to discuss the possibility of thinking about the overlooked median in another way. 'The Islands of LA Nat'l Park' is the project that he has set up to kickstart the conversations.

"IT COULD very well be a mirage: A trick of the glaring morning sun or something misread in the pre-caffeinated early morning haze.

But no. Upon closer inspection, that brown-and-white sign, hanging just beneath the red slash of the "No Left/U-Turn" symbol on a sparsely landscaped traffic island, proclaims exactly what you first thought: "The Islands of LA Nat'l Park."

The territory it demarcates along a busy stretch of Glendale Boulevard as it eases into Echo Park seems, at first, unremarkable: some California native brush; flattened and faded Diet Coke cans; Energizer batteries. Nearby, vibrant goldenrod poppies push up from the dirt. And sure, depending on the time of day, you'll find a few regular "campers" -- a couple of reliably resolute panhandlers: one with a dog, another alone and with his own sign whose message has become garbled, streaked and bloated from rain."

The amount of public space in a city like Los Angeles is quite minimal. Perhaps there should be more offerings of public space for the actual public. Why not transition them into 'Territories of art'?

"WE SPEED by them -- our traffic island archipelagoes -- rendering them a blur; or have become so inured to them along our well-worn paths that we tend to stare beyond them. Trapped on them as pedestrians, we find them an annoying interruption between intention and goal, departure and destination. But traffic islands, Kletzky suggests, are "inquisitive places." They are the pause in the city's long, rambling monologue to itself. And although the city has held its own "Adopt a Median" program through the Board of Public Works, Office of Community Beautification, that allows citizens to plant, beautify or tend a particular median, Kletzky sees islands as something even larger -- as "territories of art," places to create community, promote intellectual discussions in public and explore the use and availability of public space.

The big questions he poses -- what is public? who owns public space? who should create public space? -- are being explored on his blog, islandsofla.com, and in public gatherings -- talks, events, happenings from Santa Monica to Pasadena. In these discussions with curious Angelenos, says Kletzky, "We're looking at it not from the urban planning architecture angle, but how do you use public space to create community?"

In times past, Kletzky points out "public spaces were limited, not everybody had access. This goes back to the Acropolis, maybe further," he says, citing an essay written by an urban planning professor named Margaret Crawford that had a particular resonance to him. "[In the past] those excluded -- minorities, women, the poor -- went elsewhere: their homes, yard, etc." But there is something very democratic about the traffic island. "We can take hold of these public spaces," he says. "It's a chance to make the city seem more accessible.""

The cities around Los Angeles aren't jumping on the National Parks idea. Urban beautification has always been an issue, unless the city or Department of Public Works is in control of the beautification. Recently, Kletzky learned how temporary these projects can be.

"HOW PUBLIC is the public space Kletzky has his eye on? He got one answer recently at an event in Santa Monica near Highways Performance Space and Gallery, where he hosted half a dozen or so writers, urban planners, students and artists to discuss the islands project and mount a public art piece that reflected the discussion. They built paper mailboxes and quotes hung from trees that went up on a busy island on Olympic Boulevard. Only a few hours later, the display was gone, as if it had never existed. (Subsequently, the City of Santa Monica cited Highways, which was fined $150 for the removal of six signs "unlawfully posted on a public right of way.")

"In some ways they are saying: 'You don't own the city.' But I think it compels the participants to deal with the issue of temporariness. This is about the disposable moment. I know the limitations of the traffic island," he says."



Read the full article in Los Angeles Times
View the gallery
Visit The Islands Of LA website