It’s time to celebrate the sweet fruit of our labor: Groundbreaking of community pocket park tomorrow, Jan. 25th at 9am

You’re Invited to the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Boat People Garden this Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 9am at the site: 4555 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego.

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 24, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- It’s time to celebrate the sweet fruit of our labor

You’re Invited to the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Boat People Garden this Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 9am.

This community space is being built using the profits collected from the 2020, 2022, and the SD Lunar New Year Festival we just had over the weekend and financial support from many of our grantors and contributors.

The Boat People Garden will be the first in an ongoing series of Little Saigon Revitalization Initiatives to redefine and transform public sidewalks and city streets into public gathering areas and reshaping the sidewalk experience. Increase in walkability will put more “eyes on the street” and therefore will increase safety and community vibrancy. More importantly, city parks provide residents with contact to nature, improve public health, and enhance well-being.

The health and well-being of the people are the foundation toward a healthy and vibrant community.

Nothing great can be accomplished alone. You were there for us in 2020, supported us through the pandemic, and again over the weekend with an amazing turnout--and now, it's time to celebrate the sweet fruit of our labor. Let's celebrate this tremendous progress we've made together this Wednesday, January 25th at 9am - 4555 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92115. See you there!

Information about the Boat People Garden

Little Saigon San Diego is seeking to convert an unused private space and integrate with existing pedestrian pathways for an innovative mini park. The proposed location is approximately 15 feet by 75 feet under-utilized private property. The mini park will include public art benches, artistic movable seats, picnic style table, drought tolerant plants and landscaping, and pagoda decorated with lanterns.

The amenities of the park including approximately 6 benches, 4 moveable seats, 1 pagoda, and 1 moveable art fence will be designed and built by our neighborhood high school students lead by 3 Hoover Highschool directors/instructors and 1 community freelance artist. We envision a combination of public art and outdoor furniture into an innovative artistic amenity for the park that is not only candy to the eyes but also useful and practical for the everyone to use on a daily basis.

The mini park will also include a sculpture of an interactive boat, dedicated to the courage, determination, and willpower of the many Vietnamese refugees who did not yield to suppression and to honor those refugees who perished while still holding onto the dream of freedom. The design of this sculpture will be open to the public through a Boat Sculpture Design contest schedule to be in April – June 2023.

More importantly, the proposed location is known for being a prostitution hotspot and a haven for drug dealing and derelicts. By turning this underutilized area into open-gathering space, light up the area, and invite residents and visitors to gather, sit, relax, and socialize, this will add more “eyes on the streets” to help lessen criminal activities and create a safer environment for pedestrians, especially women, to walk and be able to enjoy the outdoors.

This is a 24-month project (July 2022 – June 2024), and it is estimated to cost a total between $139,500.00 - $199,500.00. Currently, we have secured $151,820.00 – 76% of the overall budget for the entire project from various sources such as San Diego Foundation, Price Philanthropies, California Arts Council, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s Office, and donations from various local businesses and individuals. The vary in the budget largely reflects on the quality of the amenities design program and the complexity and material to be used for boat sculpture.

For more information please contact us at contact@littlesaigonsandiego.org

Tram B Lam
Little Saigon San Diego
+1 619-362-6066
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