Cooperation, Collaboration and Civic Engagement

We live in risky times. A time when the need to prepare for responding to natural disasters like major earthquakes or low probability but high impact events such as terror attacks are greater than ever. We all know that this response must be organized at the community level, but paradoxically our community level organizations are atrophying. Civic engagement is at record lows. We no longer socialize with our neighbors or even know their names. How can we bridge this divide? How can we rectify this problem?

Friends Of Historic Fire Station 62 (FOHFS62) has proposed a solution: Historic Fire Station 62 will be preserved and converted into a multipurpose Community Center for all of Mar Vista and the surrounding community.

This will be a place where the young, the old, and those in between can come for enrichment, assistance, interaction, education, and recreation. There will be after-school classes and tutoring alongside senior citizens activities; weekend and evening programming for the community; and a place for teens, young adults, and groups like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to meet and interact. It will have a kitchen that creates opportunities for everything from cooking classes to lunch programs for homebound elderly community members; and space for exercise and recreational activities, art exhibitions, theatre and music programs, and a place to document the history of Mar Vista.

Additionally. a goal of such a center will be to enable Mar Vista residents to prepare for a major earthquake or other disaster and its aftermath. It would do this by raising community awareness, publicizing residential and commercial guidelines, training residents in Community Emergency Response (CERT), developing neighborhood leadership and strong social networks, and serving as a storage location for emergency supplies and equipment among other things.

Our vision also includes providing forums for learning about green technologies and sustainability, encouraging the interaction of differing segments of our community, and creating a place where grassroots democracy can flourish by providing space for our local governance such as the Mar Vista Community Council, and other community organizations.

The Community Center will maintain the spirit and structure of the original Fire Station 62. The renovation will maintain its historical character while preparing it for use by our entire community.

As a community center, Historic Fire Station 62’s use would be limited only by the imaginations of the citizens of Mar Vista.