WILLOWBROOK — After years of deterioration, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has allocated $4.5 million to address streetscape improvements near one of its most used rail line stations.

Located in an area heavily dependent on public transit, the Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks station is the second highest used station in the MTA system, with an average of 16,000 riders passing through it daily. Acting as a transfer point between the Green and Blue light-rail lines, residents ride westbound to Avalon, eastbound to Long Beach, northbound to Watts and southbound to Compton.

Overrun by crime and debris, the current site is widely considered to be an eyesore. And with restaurants and shopping centers a distance away, there are “16,000 people with change in their pocket that keep that change in their pocket because they go right to wherever they are going to go,” said Roland Wiley, managing partner at RAW International, an architectural partnership hired to consult on the project. “And the main reason is because there is nothing there. We are going to try to work to make something happen.”

Hired as a consultant, RAW International is collaborating with the MTA and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’ office to devise what it calls a “transit-oriented district plan.”

“I have long believed that this Blue Line [station] … to be short and frank, needs to be improved to a local quality that is similar to our stations elsewhere in Los Angeles County,” said Irving Taylor, MTA’s central area transportation planning manager. “I felt that way since a long time ago when the Blue Line was first developed, that it didn’t go far enough and unfortunately over the past couple of decades or so, we haven’t had the kind of focus out here that we could have.”

In the first of a number of community meetings that began Oct. 14, residents were asked to offer input on the design layout, which will be included in the $250,000 planning study funded by a grant given to MTA by the state Department of Transportation. After a brief Powerpoint presentation describing the area’s challenges and potential improvements, residents were able to then view a variety of metro station components — including residential housing, metro station artwork, landscape and lighting — from neighboring cities and states to gain an idea of what structure and concepts would best suit the project area.

Barriers include vacant lots, insufficient pedestrian linkages, green space, way-finding, safe guards at the train crossing, parking spaces, and streetscape as well as unkempt brush and vegetation, debris, and fencing.

In addition, “the station is not the safest environment, there are a lot of dark and dangerous places, spaces and so forth in that station,” said Taylor. “And frankly, it’s physically unattractive.”

Because the planning study is the first step, there is currently no formal layout or design plan; that is expected to be completed in February. It will look at functionality, streetscape improvements and potential designs as will it entail a list of proposals, recommendations and development standards. Those will then be translated into a formal plan, said Irving, that will need to be approved by the MTA board and adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Immediate upgrades secured under the $4.5 million grant will take place within a half-mile radius south of the Glenn Anderson (105) Freeway and will likely begin as early as next year. This may include improved lighting, way-finding, safe guards at the train crossing, street crossings and bus shelters, as well as debris clean-up, graffiti removal, shade trees, widened sidewalks, bike paths, bike racks, more parking, accessible entrances and gateways and more functional open space.

Separate but being considered on the list of proposals are opportunities for retail, sit down restaurants, pocket parks, pedestrian pathways, community gardens, nurseries, farmers markets, health food stores, mom-and-pop shops, residential housing, and community service centers. These entities would be in clear sight of the station, as to draw people in and spur the local economy.

The MTA is not infusing money into the latter, said Wiley, rather they are setting the guidelines — to be adopted by the county — for the types and placement of developments that can set up within the project area. Businesses that may be restricted under the plan are liquor stores, fast food restaurants, auto body shops, and car washes.

“At the heart of this transit-oriented district has to be economic development,” said Wiley. “This all means nothing if this community cannot benefit economically, if there cannot be local jobs created, quality local jobs, if there can’t be opportunities for local artists and craftsmen to integrate art and culture into this community. We have to sustain local businesses. The improvements that will be made cannot be made at the expense of the local small businesses, this has to create an environment that builds the local businesses and encourages new businesses.”

Opportunities for improvement to the station include solar powered lighting, wind turbines fueled by wind power, tunneling, transit identity and artwork.

Costs associated with physical improvements to the station itself have yet to be determined, so no funds have been secured to date, said Irving. But he did suggest that they will seek public and private resources so that the upgrades are complete around the same time as the opening of the renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, expected in 2012.

All of these elements, said Ridley-Thomas, are “very important pieces of what will make it attractive, what will make it friendly, cause it to integrate the environment in a significant way … and make this community healthier, provide access to transportation, as well as special opportunities that will add to residents quality of life.”

Resident Roselia Charles wants to see a community garden and farmers markets in the surrounding area as she would like to see open court-yards with low-maintenance plants and vegetation.

“I would love to see a vegetable garden, I have one at my home,” she said. “It’s more healthy.”

Andre Roberts wants to see artwork that is vivid and has character and color because it “changes the whole environment of that area itself and as it gives more light people appreciate it and want to take better care of it.”

Another resident requested that an image of Rosa Parks and script describing her legacy be visible on the site along with a station name tag.

The next meeting will take place either at the end of November or the first week of December, said officials. Residents can seek the schedule of meetings, which is expected be posted within the next two weeks, on the MTA's general Web site.