Community Effort Pays Off at Newly Built Park : Beautification: Once a littered lot, the Ventura Avenue Green Plaza has quickly brought pride and stability to neighborhood, organizers say.

A metamorphosis was unveiled Sunday on Ventura Avenue, the result of a community effort to transform a once-vacant lot littered with broken beer bottles and used drug needles into a swath of green, threaded with walking paths and lined with flower boxes.

More than 100 people, including community organizers, city leaders and political candidates, gathered for the opening of the Ventura Avenue Green Plaza at 572 Ventura Ave., nestled between the Ventura Avenue Senior-Adult Center and the award-winning mural covering the south wall of Avenue Liquors.

While young boys practiced their own version of soccer by kicking a ball against the mural’s mosaic of color, former Ventura mayors John McWherter and Jim Monahan used a large pair of yellow scissors to cut a symbolic red ribbon, opening the plaza.

Len Evans, a local artist who led the effort to build the plaza, said the park has already made a difference in the neighborhood.

“There were all sorts of things going on, people drinking and hanging out, passing out and doing drugs,” Evans said. Now, he emphasized, people take pride in their community.

“The market over there [was] painted. I see people outside sweeping,” he said. “The fact is, we’re the only organized community in the city. We’re just beginning to tap into that power.”

Community members of all ages, from senior citizens with walkers to babies in strollers, came to the park for the plaza’s first official day of activities.

“It makes a lot of difference with the center and the park next door,” said Keith Duffield, who has lived in the area for 14 years. “I enjoy it myself. I’m here almost every day.”

The storefront-size lot now features an orderly display of paths framed by low ridges built from broken pieces of concrete, planters with cacti and other plants in full bloom, and recently mowed grass.

The plaza’s opening was part of the community’s celebration of “Make a Difference” day, a national event honoring community beautification and improvement efforts. Activities in the plaza and community center next door included music, dancing, a barbecue and honoring individuals and groups that have contributed to the Avenue.

While organizers say the park was designed as a place to relax, some formal activities have been planned. On Wednesday, a celebration for El Dia de los Muertos, the Latino celebration honoring the dead, is scheduled, featuring face painting, music and a performance by Oxnard’s Teatro Inlakech.

Efforts to develop the lot into a park began several months ago. The city leased the parcel of land from its owner for $1 annually, said Maxine Culp, co-chair of the Westside Community Council’s Soul Committee, which organized the “Make a Difference” day activities.

Originally the city planned to level the ground and create a path crossing the land diagonally, but instead decided to allow Evans and other community members to design their own neighborhood.

“I wanted to show that we could make something beautiful without spending a lot of money,” said Evans, adding that the park cost less than $700 to build, and used mostly recycled materials. For example, the ledges were constructed from pieces of concrete culled from the city’s renovation of downtown sidewalks.

Beginning in July, Evans worked on the park every Saturday, along with helpers Bill Harrison, Tony Aquilar and other volunteers.

Despite the history of the plaza, Culp said she was not concerned about problems with graffiti or other types of vandalism. She said that the mural, with messages about poverty, drugs and homelessness, has not been defaced.

“Nobody has destroyed anything,” she said. “I don’t think there will be a problem because this is a community project done by people on the Avenue.”