There is method behind the madness of the L.A. Parks Foundation replacing those old benches at the bluffs with new ones. New dedication placards are being fixed to the new benches -- and they do not match the dedication plaques that remain in the original concrete foundations.
So the bench site previously dedicated to the memory of Henry Adam Samulon now serves double duty as a memorial to Andrea Loeb Smith. The bench site previously dedicated to the memory of David Robbins now is also a memorial for Ed and Donna Betts.
According to the Parks Foundation's Donate-A-Bench web page,
Donations start at $2,500 for a new bench to be placed in a city park or recreation center of your choice. A personalized plaque can be purchased for placement on an existing city park bench for $1,000.
I wonder whether the loved ones of Ms. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Betts understood, when they donated money for the 'personalized plaque' 'on an existing city park bench', that that existing bench would also have an existing dedication to someone else's memory. And I wonder whether the Samulons and the Robbinses were informed that the bench sites they endowed many years ago will now be shared.
Only one of the new benches -- that sitting on the foundation with the Fino Calamaro plaque -- does not (yet) have a bench plaque honoring a different person. Maybe the Calamaro family coughed up extra money to keep the Parks Foundation from re-dedicating their bench in someone else's memory.
If the Parks Foundation wants to take multiple bites at the apple going forward, fine. But to me it seems wrong to water down a memorial that was established under a different understanding.
