Grand Park Opens
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A public park built mostly with private money will open in LA tomorrow. It stretches from the County Courthouse and Hall of Administration on Grand Avenue all the way down the hill to the LA City Hall. It’s designed for a range of uses from family barbeques to musical concerts. But will it become a destination for the rest of Los Angeles? Also, a rebroadcast of To The Point on Penn State and the culture of college football.
Main Topic
GRAND PARK OPENS ()
Tomorrow, the Grand Park will open in downtown Los Angeles. It’s the first real park in that urban environment… four blocks of grassy terraces leading from Grand Avenue down to North Hill Street. On an official tour, KCRW’s Frances Anderton began at the top - on Grand Avenue between the County Courthouse and the Hall of Administration, just above the Arthur J. Will Fountain, which hasn’t been visible for years.
Guests:
- Gloria Molina: Los Angeles County Board Supervisor
- Mark Rios: Professor of Landscape Architecture at USC, @GrandPark_LA
- Thor Steingraber: Vice President of Programming, The Music Center
- Christopher Hawthorne: Architecture Critic, Los Angeles Times, @hawthorneLAT
Reporter's Notebook
Rage Against the Police near the Happiest Place on Earth ()
Continuing street protest over police shootings in Anaheim turned ugly last night with rocks thrown at officers and fires lit in weedy lots and trash cans. Genevieve Huizar, mother of Manuel Diaz, one of the men killed, pleaded for peace… Huizar says her son was shot in the back and then executed when he fell to his knees. The Anaheim police union says an officer fired in self-defense because Diaz was holding a “concealed object in his front waistband with both hands.”
Guests:
- Gustavo Arellano: OC Weekly, @GustavoArellano
Main Topic
Penn State, Football Culture and the NCAA ()
The NCAA crackdown on Penn State is so harsh that a return to competitive football could take a decade if it ever happens at all. But will it “restore the balance between athletics and academics” by changing “the culture of football?” Don’t bet on it.
The nationwide issue is impunity—driven by money—with TV revenues rising and coaches paid more than college presidents. What about athletes who don’t share the proceeds of bowl games and March Madness? Is “amateurism” a hoax? What would real reform look like?
Joe Paterno’s former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been convicted of multiple counts of child sex abuse. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh found a culture of excessive reverence for football and fear of bad publicity. With unusual suddenness, the NCAA has imposed a $60-million dollar fine, reduced numbers of scholarships, and a four-year ban on bowl games. And it stripped the late coach Joe Paterno of 111 wins. The penalties on Penn State are unprecedented for the NCAA—and the intent is to go well beyond football.
Guests:
- Ben Jones: Reporter for StateCollege.com, covering Penn State football and basketball and student
- Taylor Branch: Author and historian, @taylorbranch
- Buzz Bissinger: Sports Columnist, The Daily Beast
- Murray Sperber: University of California, Berkeley
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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