Los Angeles plans to ring MacArthur Park with an 8-foot fence this fall at a cost of $2.3 million. The project has support from the mayor and police but faces pushback from preservationists, outreach workers and the park's advisory board president.

The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners earmarked the money after granting conceptual approval in October 2025, the LA Local reported. The initial design calls for green wrought-iron fencing around both halves of the Westlake park, split by Wilshire Boulevard, with gates at eight existing entrances. LAPD would lock the gates nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and Recreation and Parks crews would reopen them each morning.

The fence still needs a final vote from the five-member commission. No date for that vote has been scheduled.

Recreation and Parks General Manager Jimmy Kim told residents at a June community meeting that the barrier was not meant to stay forever. He said the fence was intended to come down once the community and neighborhood stabilize. The department has not explained what conditions would trigger removal.

Competing visions

LAPD and city leaders see the fence as the next step in a crackdown on drug activity. Beginning in May, LAPD and the Drug Enforcement Administration ran sweeps of the park under "Operation Free MacArthur Park." Rampart Division Capt. Benedict Fernandes said in July that the operation disrupted the open-air drug market but pushed users into surrounding neighborhoods.

Fernandes said temporary fencing along Alvarado Street and orange bollards already installed near the park helped curb drug activity. He described the displacement: "It went south, it went east, it went north, it went west."

Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the Westlake neighborhood, have both expressed support for the fence, KTLA reported. Hernandez has also allocated millions for clean teams and homeless outreach services in the area.

Outreach workers see a different reality

Robbie Hall, an outreach ambassador with the nonprofit Five Keys, has worked at MacArthur Park nearly every day for about four years, carrying naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. She stopped counting reversals after reaching the forties. On a September morning, she recalled finding a 14-year-old girl overdosing in a park bathroom.

Hall said the enforcement sweeps have not reduced overdoses. "Since they did that big bust? No, it got worse," she said, adding that people wait for police to leave before returning.

Doubts about "temporary"

Marco Pacheco, president of the MacArthur Park Park Advisory Board, does not believe the city will take the fence down. He said spending millions on a fence only to remove it does not make sense.

Richard Barron, who served 22 years on the Cultural Heritage Commission before departing in July, echoed that doubt. The commission unanimously opposed the project the same month, calling it an enclosure of a park that has been Historic-Cultural Monument No. 100 for more than five decades. In an Aug. 17 letter, the commission asked Recreation and Parks to return with a revised design and to seek review from the Cultural Affairs Commission, MyNewsLA reported.

The department has not responded to that letter, according to Barron. It also skipped a scheduled update at the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council's July meeting and did not respond to requests for comment from the Los Angeles Times.

Vendors caught in the middle

Michelle Garcia, a vendor around MacArthur Park since 2015, offered conditional support for the fence. On Sept. 2, she joined other vendors at a press conference to protest what they described as police harassment and citations pushing them away from the park.

The fence's final design remains unconfirmed. Sources differ on the height: Recreation and Parks has described it as about 8 feet, while the Cultural Heritage Commission's Aug. 17 letter cited sections reaching 11 feet. No rendering has been publicly released, and the project does not require City Council approval.