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Politics & Government

Council Advances $80M Rec Center, AIDS Monument

The City Council on Monday moved forward with upgrades to West Hollywood Park estimated to cost up to $80 million. The additions—an AIDS Memorial and a new five-story recreation center—are the second part of the park's major revamp.

Local athletes and business owners attended the council meeting to express support for the project, including a water polo player clad only in bikini-brief swim trunks.

According to Curbed Los Angeles:

The rec center will accommodate parking, meeting rooms, lockers rooms, a gymnasium, and two rooftop pools, one for recreation and another for lap swimming. Athletes, including members of the city's dodgeball league and the aforementioned water polo player, testified in support of the rec center (the politicians later passed a rule that public speakers must wear shirts and shoes [no word on pants]).

The AIDS Memorial will likely go up near the adjacent library's grand staircase, and could include an amphitheater. ... Also discussed, but not agreed on, was adding bathrooms to the nearby parking garage so clubgoers stop peeing in the stairwells.
Construction won't start for at least a year and finish in 2017 or '18, according to the city's contractor Heery International. The city will start accepting design proposals in the next few weeks.
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