Billboard lot before Amigos de los Rios greening project located along the 605 Fwy and the San Gabriel River Trail
Vacant lot before Amigos renovation for Alfred Madrid School Park
Alfred Madrid Middle School Exercise Park and Trail
For years, the Mountain View School District and the roughly 850 students attending Madrid Middle School in El Monte called the area just past their back steps “the Bones.” It was, literally, a dump – a no-mans land between the school and an old metal factory littered with abandoned sofas, TVs, mattresses and other household trash. It was not the kind of place that invited exploration, much less physical exercise or a game of tag.
From blight to bright, the reinvented Madrid Middle School is now the kind of place we all want our children to experience.
Community Youth Involvement
Community-based park design incorporates ideas from residents, city officials, and other stakeholders, building support and excitement for the project. Madrid Middle School’s PE teachers and eighth-grade students provided park amenity ideas; their goal – physical fitness; training stations are located throughout the park for circuit type exercises and walking trails to keep visitors moving while enjoying the green space.
Getting the park site ready – Students participated in removing invasive plants and with the help of the California Conservation Corps, and Los Angeles Conservation Corps removed 124 tons of trash and debris from the site. From the photographs, you can see the change the park brought to the area, once a trash-laden lot – now a beautiful safe place for children and families to play.
The Madrid Middle School Park and Exercise Trail were officially dedicated during a special celebration including state and local dignitaries, students, teachers, a marching band and the hard-working volunteers who helped transform the area into the beautiful setting it is today.
This site is a location of Regular Saturday Stewardship events. Hundreds of community college, high school, middle school students and their families, as well as local residents, veterans, and business owners, have participated in Emerald Necklace Stewardship events.
Learn more about billboard lots in Carren Jao’s article for KCET.org Departures.
Project Team: Amigos de los Rios, California Conservation Corps, Los Angeles County Conservation Corps
Park Funding: California Natural Resources, CALTRANS and California Community Foundation
Madrid Middle School Park Design Elements:
Park Wildlife – iNaturalist.org
Design Plan
The Emerald Necklace Map
To keep the parks and trails of the Emerald Necklace Park Network at their best and help out the municipalities overseeing the locations, Amigos de los Rios conducts weekly Park Restoration Events. This work is all lovingly done by volunteers. We welcome anyone that wants to help out their community, learn about nature and their environment, and get to know others with the same interests.
