I recently met a couple of the Echo Park residents behind the new blog/community organizers called Echo Park Life at the Echo Park Improvement Association pot luck last week. What started as a few neighbors concerned with the direction of development on the western side of Echo Park, it turned into a website revolved around getting residents organized and educated.
Residents in what is called the “Washington Heights Tract” around Sunset, Alvarado, Elsinore, Mohawk, and Waterloo are currently concentrating their concerns on two major developments taking place in their part of Echo Park: the El Camino restaurant taking over the old Ramona Theater, and the Sunset Flats residential complex at Sunset and Reservoir.
Sunset Flats is a 64-unit residential complex that, in its original proposed state, will be a five-story complex with no parking provided to its residents. Echo Park Life organizers are concerned with the parking problem, the potential eyesore, and the demolition of six turn-of-the-century homes, among other potential problems.
The El Camino restaurant in the old Ramona Theater (which we’ve written about before) will also be off-street parking for its 200-person seated establishment (with the exception of a rumored limited car valet option). Echo Park Life worry about the parking, the bar open until 2:00 am, and the wood-fired pizza oven burning below their bedroom windows.
Tomorrow night (Wednesday, August 7), the GEPENC Planning and Land Use Committee will meet to discuss, among other things, the Sunset Flats project (if any new information is available, it might be the developer submitting some new design plans that will reflect past concerns). Echo Park Life is calling for residents to join them at the meeting to “get involved and come to a meeting to learn about the community issues going on in Echo Park.”
Go to www.echoparklife.org if you are interested in joining the discussion, and follow them on Twitter.
On Saturday, August 7, Echo Park TAP ( Trash Abatement Project) and the 
REWIND: The Recycled Electronics Store
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is coming to Echo Park starting next week! With a $25.00 per week subscription (or every other week, your choice), CSA will drop off locally grown produce for you to pack up in your own bag (and don’t forget to bring your own bag!).
Walking around Echo Park Lake yesterday was an experience residents haven’t seen in quite a while on a Sunday: green grass occupied by picnickers, families, and a few necking lovebirds. The northern end of Echo Park Lake was really, really quiet with the exception of the occasional jingle from an ice cream cart bell. It seems that word got around after last week’s “crack-down” at Echo Park Lake, during which officers cited vendors for soliciting on public property. Even though just a few citations were issued, it certainly had an effect.
The 
