Have you noticed the medians along Victory between Goodland and Whitsett Avenues? And on Whitsett between Victory and Kittridge Street? They are much improved thanks to efforts of the Greater Valley Glen Neighborhood Council (GVGC). The Council adopted the medians several years ago and Valley Glen Neighborhood Association (VGNA) planted trees there. A few years ago, dissatisfied with the level of care the median trees were receiving, GVGC Board Member, Joanne D’Antonio, arranged for the Board to engage a consultant, Diana Nicole of It Takes a Garden, to assess what would be needed to spruce up the medians.
Joanne ran with the recommendations—working with the City and the Council she arranged a contract and financing for an environmental gardening service, Stay Green, to mulch and maintain the medians.
Joanne also worked on a project on the Victory north medians. Referred to as the “Green Street Project”, it’s a stormwater infrastructure that captures and infiltrates stormwater runoff using dry wells and pre-treatment systems (rain gardens). She worked with their landscape designer to retain the existing trees and plant three additional large trees—a valley oak and two deodar cedars—the maximum number of trees allowed due to distance requirements between trunks and curb setbacks. Joanne requested the inclusion of a permeable decomposed granite path to capture stormwater. (She points out that this is not meant to be a walking path!) The project also includes native grasses and plants, and a solar sprinkler irrigation system! Going forward, the LA Sanitation Department will provide maintenance for the project and the GVGC will maintain the trees.
Also of note, Streets LA installed new curb cuts for ADA access at the Victory medians as part of Bureau of Engineering’s Sidewalk Repair Project and did some repaving. Future plans of the GVGC Parks and Community Improvements Committee include adding seven coast live oak saplings from City Plants to the Victory south medians and an effort to get the street adjacent to the Whitsett median repaved.
Thank you, Joanne—through your diligence we have medians that we can be proud of. And thanks to the GVGC for continuing to support this beautification effort.
Thank you to the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association for this article originally published in the Valley Glen Voice.
Photos: Jonathan George & Wendy L. Moore