Not everyone loves having a national park in the middle of the street. Echo Park resident (and dove rescuer) Chuck DeRosa wrote to me with the following:

What I'd like to know...is why the new Glendale Blvd street islands got constructed at all? As far as I can tell, the city constructed that island on Glendale Ave. for no purpose. The traffic pattern is almost exactly the same. I watched as they were doing the construction -- wondering if they were going to add another lane or do something to aid the congestion (which, is still awful by the way)-- then, when they finished, there was almost nothing different, except possibly a place to grow flowers and a left turn lane into the drugstore (hardly a necessary improvement). If that whole project was undertaken specifically as a way to grow plants in the middle of Glendale Blvd. I'll be appalled. Any idea of the original intent of the traffic project?

Well, these are some good points, with which I disagree.