Encino : Beilenson Requests $7.7 Million for Parks

In testimony to a congressional subcommittee this week, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) asked the government to fund $7.7-million worth of improvements to Lake Balboa Park and the Sepulveda Basin’s wildlife area, Beilenson’s office announced.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Beilenson said $4.2 million would pay for amenities such as restrooms, picnic tables, trees, trails and vegetation at Lake Balboa Park in Encino.

An additional $3.5 million would restore the natural habitat and establish a nature path along a 2-mile portion of the Los Angeles River that crosses the basin, he said.

“With funding that Congress has appropriated over the last decade, the Army Corps of Engineers has been able to turn underutilized federal land into one of Southern California’s most beautiful and popular parks,” Beilenson testified.

“Additional funding,” he said, “would go a long way toward meeting the outdoor recreation needs of the nearly 2 million people who reside in the San Fernando Valley.”