The pedal boats will join the lotus as the next thing to disappear from the waters of Echo Park Lake. The boats will be in operation this weekend for the Echo Park Community Festival. But after that the pedal boats will be put out of business it's not certain when they will come back, said officials with the city's Recreation and Parks Department.
Department spokeswoman Jane Kolb said budget cuts forced the closure of all boating operations. There is no plans to resume service, she said.
A sign on the door of the Echo Park Boathouse reads the "The Paddle Boat Concession Will be Closed Until Further Notice" while another sign below reads
that the boats will return for this weekend in time for the Echo Park Community Festival (The Lotus Festival, which is normally held during the second weekend in July, was canceled by the city earlier this year in a cost-saving move).
Residents have boated on Echo Park Lake for more than a century since it was declared a public park in the early 1890s. The city has spent more than $500,000 in recent years repairing the docks of the Echo Park Lake Boathouse as well as installing a new red tile roof and other
improvements. In 2007, the Recreation & Parks officials closed the money-losing pedal boat operations in Echo Park and MacArthur Park. However, Echo Park residents were able to convince the city to get the pedal boats back on weekends.
Echo Park
photographer Martin Cox, who lives near the lake, was involved the previous effort to bring back the pedal boats. But Cox won't be launching another rescue effort since the city's budget and economic outlook is so bleak.
"I don't think there is enough sympathy to go around," Cox said. "It's sad. But at least I can go boating one more time."
