Pete German and Teresa Taylor arrived early on Saturday, Feb. 3, for the long-awaited celebration of Wilmington’s new 9-acre piece of the waterfront in their hometown.
Sitting in two of the brand-new swings overlooking the harbor, both agreed they’d be back — and often.
“I really like this,” Taylor said, taking in what many said said was a breathtaking curtain-raising for what was promised to Wilmington so long ago.
Cedric Carpenter and his dad, Willie Carpenter, of Carson, were likewise impressed, taking in the surroundings that they called calm and peaceful.
An estimated 700 people turned out to listen to speeches, dance to some live music and generally bask in a promise fulfilled.
The new $77 million open space — featuring open play areas, full water views and walkways, a pier that juts out over the water with swings, a trampoline and other amenities — is located next to the Banning’s Landing Community Center at the foot of Avalon Boulevard. The center, which opened in the mid-1990s, marked what was the first achievement for community members who began pressing the Port of Los Angeles for some community payback in exchange for the many industry impacts Wilmington had endured.
It was, said Cecilia Moreno, what “some of us have been waiting for for a very long time.”
Moreno, now director of the port’s Community Relations director, was among Wilmington residents who for decades had fought for this moment.
It was, Moreno said, “what we always wanted and always deserved.”
The words she heard the most throughout the afternoon? “Beautiful, peaceful — and just ‘wow,’” she said.
Many of the folks who began the fight so long ago — including Bill and Gertrude Schwab who led the push to get Banning’s Landing — are no longer alive, Moreno noted. But many who still are were there to bask in the victory.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spoke, along with state Sen. Steven Bradford, county Supervisor Janice Hahn, L.A. City…
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