THE BIRDS in the old Civic Center Park are gone now (OC Tribune photo).
The axiom, “You can’t please everyone” is one of great timeless truths of all eras. But you won’t have a chance at being pleased if you don’t let others know what you want.
At a recent Garden Grove City Council meeting a citizen got up to speak, expressing reservations about the Civic Center Revitalization Project that will build a new police facility, an attached parking structure and a “new park” to replace the Civic Center Park, well-known for its ponds and ducks.
This citizen made some valid points except for one thing: it’s already under way. Construction has started. The ducks have been driven off, except for a few relentless feathered optimists hanging around on the margins.
So there are two points I’d like to make. First, concerned citizens may want to keep up with the local news, including information posted on city websites, in the water bill mailer and – dearest to my heart – news from responsible sources such as news websites and newspapers.
(Selfish plug: Not only is The Orange County Tribune the best source of local news – in both a daily website and a twice-weekly e-newspaper – but it’s free!)
Second point is that it’s not too late to influence the final step in the process: the “new” park to be built nearby. Preliminary drawings are .. well … underwhelming. Three members of the city council have already spoken in favor of adding a water element and – frankly – I have yet to hear a comment about the park plans from the general public that carried much enthusiasm.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking for a design by committee. That would a disaster. But “first drafts” almost always improve with revision, in books as well as architecture. And ideas about those revisions can come from you.
If you have suggestions – polite ones, mind you – contact your city council members at https://ggcity.org/city-council . Click on your council member (or mayor’s) picture and it directs you to the e-mail for each of them.
I can’t guarantee that this will bring back the ducks or get us an Eiffel Tower, but at least you can say, “I did my part.”
Categories: Opinion
Thanks for your article. My family as well as many others loved the duck pond. That is where our family photos were taken. It set our city aside from others. We used to go sit& watch weddings & prom pictures being take. All ages enjoyed the duck pond. I hope they bring it back but to be honest I don’t feel the city listens to us, even though we pay everyone’s salary.
Good day!
It’s kind of a bummer that the city won’t bring back the pawn. I live down the street occasionally I used to like to go down there and feed the ducks some actual duck food from the feed supply store that I used to go to.
With all the millions of dollars that they came up with to build this new facility I don’t understand why couldn’t they just remodel the old one. I find it amazing that they could come up with the money to build this building but then yet they can’t come up with the money to resurface all the residential streets in the city.
I think every year they should took a certain section of the city and start digging up the residential streets in certain areas and then repave them. A lot of these streets are past the slurry seal stage and all the streets have to be re-dug up and repaved again. They’re supposed to stay on top of slurry ceiling residential streets over the years but they never have. None of the streets in our neighborhood have been touched for at least 30 years.
So I find it amazing how they can come up with money for something they want to do, but they can’t come up with money to maintain the residential streets that need to be maintained. To me I think it’s a waste of money. They could have worked with what buildings they have and remodeled them it would have been a lot cheaper. But something like streets that people use on a daily basis is not important to them. Just my opinion. Also our Street gutters in the neighborhood don’t even drain properly because of shifting over the years of the ground and the water doesn’t flow properly down the gutter in front of my father’s house when it rains.