Pershing Square “Redesign” Moves Forward, Slowly and Without Funding

On Monday, embattled Councilman Jose Huizar appeared in Pershing Square with representatives of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks and French architecture firm Agence Ter to announce the first progress update in two years on his much-touted “radically flat” park redesign.

The short answer: it’s not happening. And that’s good news for the thousands of Angelenos who are certain that the best redesign for L.A.’s oldest public park is an updated return to John Parkinson’s beloved 1910 design. 

Since the FBI seized Jose Huizar’s City Hall files in November 2018, the one-time fundraising powerhouse has lost his Midas touch. Lacking the hundreds of thousands of developer dollars required to keep his Pershing Square Renew non-profit operating, much less the millions needed to actually pay for Agence Ter’s scheme, Huizar’s grand vision has been supplanted by the more modest aims of the Department of Recreation and Parks. 

A relatively small sum in developer Quimby fees has been diverted to the Pershing Square project, to cover the multi-year cost of removing and adapting architectural elements of the Legoretta + Olin design, improving the elevators, and planting trees. In a decade, if $85 Million can be found, Agence Ter’s design is to be completed. 

Don’t hold your breath.

It’s not Agence Ter’s fault that they participated in a political design competition that ignored wide-spread public sentiment favoring restoration of John Parkinson’s classic park. And their winning design has some attractive elements. 

But with Jose Huizar no longer making major land use decisions from his 4th floor City Hall office—R.I.P. Parker Center and Sixth Street Bridge—and unlikely to ascend to any higher office, there’s no compelling reason for the Angelenos of 2030 to finish what he started. 

The right design, Pershing Square’s classic look, is ready, willing and able to serve the people of 2030 and beyond. 

We launched our petition seven years ago, before Jose Huizar’s political design competition was announced. We even got him to lie, on video, that the community would have an opportunity to vote for the Parkinson design. We will continue to advocate for the restoration of John Parkinson’s classic park design, and for the respectful treatment of the park’s historic sculptures. 

We don’t know what’s coming next for Los Angeles or for Pershing Square, but we do know that the failure of the top-down Pershing Square Renew scheme is a win for transparency and public accountability. So stay tuned and we’ll see YOU in Pershing Square!