Resources - LAtino Urban Forum Community Building through Open Space! By James Rojas Latinos bring new perspectives and uses for open spaces in their communities. Public life is an integral for Latinos as it is in Latin America. However American cities are not designed like cities in Latin America. Latinos in the US are retrofitting urban spaces to meet their civic/public needs. In many Latino communities streets are used as “plazas” and other open areas to create places for interactions. Many Latinos live in dense communities where open space is very important and parks are not easily accessible. Latinos are creating open spaces on their own. Some useful guitar blogs I've found...www.acousticguitarvideolessons.net/ www.beginnersguitarlesson.org/ www.onlinebluesguitarlessons.org/ www.onlineadvancedguitarlessons.com/ These small urban interventions are important to Latinos because they create a need public space for community building. These public spaces vary in uses, size and innovations and offer a way to understand how community member come together. These spaces provide a place where community members can come together publicly and in a positive way. It also shows the increasing role Latinos are having in shaping their communities. From waiting to for work, farming, jogging or creating a sexual identity these new public spaces celebrate the everyday to unique. However they bring together community members in a positive proactive way. While Latinos my not be at the voting polls they are making political statements on their use of public space. The Latino Urban Forum has been in the forefront of organizing stakeholders around open space issues. The map on the other side illustrates a few innovated open space and gathering places. Many of these places reflect the diversity of needs and uses within the Latino Community. 1. Projecto Jardin is a medicine community garden in East Los Angeles. The garden is located in a very urban neighborhood and leased from White Memorial Medical Center. Most community gardens are separate plots but this garden is shared by everyone. The hemorroides tratamiento garden also serves as an open air classroom for a nearby school. The celebration has it' roots in both native American and Hispanic cultures and is celebrated each year on the Spring Equinox. http://www.hemorroidestratamientoycura.com/
3. Evergreen Cemetery Jogging Path is located in Boyle Heights. On a daily basis hundreds of residents jog or walk around the 1.5 mile sidewalk. The elderly use the jogging path in the morning, younger folks use it in late afternoons and mothers walk pushing baby strollers with their friends in the evening. Vendors strategically station themselves around the jogging path. The jogging path is a living urban space, promoting social interaction, creating neighborhood goodwill, encouraging good health and revitalizing an innovative use for the cemetery. This jogging path is a great source of community pride and serves as a multi-functional open recreational space, public right of way, and urban green space. 4. South Central Farmers is 14 acre community garden located on Alameda and 41st street. Some 350 urban farmers spade the soil at a garden created 11 years ago and has become a place of community pride. This is more than just a garden but a green plaza where farmers from all over Los Angeles come and plant crops. 5. The Wall Las Memorias Project is the nation’s first publicly funded AIDS monument and is located in historic Lincoln Park, also home to Parque de Mexico and Plaza de la Raza. Addressing the cultural silence and denial of the impact of AIDS in the Latino community, the AIDS memorial memorializes over 4,000 individuals who passed away to the epidemic. The monument itself consists of two name panels, an archway, six murals by local artists, and a medicinal garden set in a landscaped area of the park.
| |||||||
|
