November 6, 2012 – The first phase of Willow Springs Park, located on the westside of Orange Avenue between Willow and Spring streets, opened November 1 with a free jazz concert. The aerial view of the first phase is pictured below in a photograph provided by the City of Long Beach. At right, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe (left), his field deputy, Connie Sziebl, and Stephen Elicker, who designed a 7,850-square-foot landscape map made of decomposed granite and tumbled glass that spotlights prominent points of interest within 50 miles, appear at a ceremony unveiling the new park. Knabe secured $250,000 from the Los Angeles County Park and Open Space District needed for the first phase. The park eventually will consist of 47 acres. “I am always delighted to announce new parks, and Willow Springs Park will ultimately be Long Beach’s largest amount of new park space developed in 60 years,” Mayor Bob Foster said in a statement. The park is in the 7th District headed up by Councilman James Johnson, who pushed the project forward. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)