Grand Park to be named after trailblazer Gloria Molina

The Board voted to rename the park after the former LA County Supervisor

Grand Park, the rectangular green space squeezed between downtown Los Angeles city and county buildings, is getting a new name.

In honor of the county's first Latina elected to city and county government, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday, March 21, to rename the park “Gloria Molina Grand Park.”

Molina, 74, is battling terminal cancer and could not attend Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

Grand Park was the brain child of Supervisor

Molina and was a joint venture with the city and the county. It stretches from The Music Center to Los Angeles City Hall and has become a popular gathering place.

Molina was credited with convincing a developer in the mid-2000s to put up $50 million toward the park as part of approval of a development project on Grand Avenue.

In 2012, the $56 million, 12-acre park, located in the heart of the Civic Center, opened to the public. Nicknamed “A Park For Everyone” it features gardens with plants from around the world, a lawn for picnickers, yoga aficionados and others, a combination fountain and splash pad loved by children, plus a 1-acre lawn near LA City Hall for concerts. Through the years, the park played host to Fourth of July and New Year's Eve celebrations.

“Without Gloria Molina make no mistake, there would be no Grand Park,” said Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

The supervisors said it was appropriate to name the park after Molina because of her tenacious efforts to get it funded and oversee the transformation from an unremarkable, concrete space into the crown jewel of county and city parks.

“It was her insistence, tenacity and perseverance that kept that project going,” said Ron Martinez, Molina's husband. He said his wife of 37 years is resting at their home.

Molina is the first Latina to be elected to the State Legislature, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. She served on the Board for 23 years, from 1991 to 2014, and was known for rallying against a prison in East Los Angeles, bringing the Gold Line (now L Line) light-rail into East LA, and advocating for women reproductive rights, foster youth and maintaining county health services.

The renaming of the park after Molina was supported by L.A .Mayor Karen Bass. Also L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez introduced a motion to support the renaming of the park, as well as renaming park crosswalks after the former supervisor.

Before the vote, more than a dozen speakers voiced support, including former Molina staffers, friends and family members. Former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who served with Molina for 20 years, remembered Molina holding the developer's feet to the fire to fund the park.

“After the developer tried to defer (the $50 million allocation), she just kept saying `No.' Finally, they just gave up and the park was finished before the first shovel went into the ground for the related project,” Yaroslavsky said.

Although the two didn't always see eye to eye on county matters, Yaroslavsky said he respected the way his colleague conducted herself. “She was honest. She had integrity. You knew where she stood. And her agenda was always the people of the county.”

Molina was not only the first Latino but also the first woman to be elected to serve on the Board of Supervisors. Today, all five members of the Board are women.

“We all owe her a debt of gratitude for all the glass ceilings she has shattered,” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, the newest supervisor who beat Sen. Bob Hertzberg for the seat left open when Sheila Kuehl retired.

Roberta Martinez, author of “Latinos in Pasadena,” executive director of Latino Heritage and a Pasadena resident, said it also was the small things that Molina would do, such as encouraging others and nurturing her staff. She would often open her home to her staff for Christmas dinner, Barger recalled.

“Each time she moved forward, she kept in mind, as you rise, raise others,” Martinez said.

Molina