No Picnic for Erwin

VALLEY GLEN —  Marcia Anderson proudly wore a white T-shirt that read “Where the Heck is Valley Glen?”

The 51-year-old Valley Glen woman and about 200 other residents attending a picnic Sunday at Erwin Street Park hoped to answer that question.

Residents of the mostly middle-class community of 22,000 people realize that their neighborhood is little-known to most Angelenos.

The picnic, sponsored by the Valley Glen Neighborhood Assn., served as a gathering point for residents who want to change the name of the local park to Valley Glen Community Park.

Some officials, including City Councilman Mike Feuer and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, attended the event to show their support.

“Erwin, it’s just the name of a street,” said Carlos Ferreyra, association president. “Valley Glen gives the community a sense of cohesiveness.

“It’s all natural progress,” Ferreyra said. “The area has been growing and the time came to acquire our own identity.”

The neighbors are waiting to hear from the city, but expect a park name change soon, Ferreyra said.

“We want to put Valley Glen on the map,” Anderson said. “If we name the park after it, it would give us a sense of belonging.”

Valley Glen was part of Van Nuys until two years ago, when residents decided to establish a separate community. After brainstorming for months, the residents decided on Valley Glen, Ferreyra said.

Arguing that they wanted to create an identity not associated with crime, in the 1990s a group of residents organized to change the name of their area of Van Nuys and collected the needed signatures, he said.

Other Van Nuys neighborhoods have won permission from the city to rename their areas in an effort to increase property values and detach themselves from a negative image, community residents said.

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Segments of Van Nuys have become Lake View Terrace, Sherman Oaks and Lake Balboa.

“It’s not the name I would have chosen,” Ferreyra said. “But it’s great to be our own group.”

A diverse collection of Anglos, Armenians, Latinos and other ethnic groups live in the area that includes about 4,000 homes and 16,000 apartments west of North Hollywood and east of Van Nuys.

“Ever since we became our own community, residents have shown more community pride,” said Marc Thurston, 51.

Residents meet at least twice a month and find problems and solutions in the community.

A group of volunteers gathers during the week to clean up graffiti, plant trees, pick up stray dogs and get rid of other eyesores.

“We want people to feel better about where they live,” Thurston said. “It does not do any good to stay home and gripe about community problems.”