It looks legit. A small brown sign, with white lettering. But the brown is a shade too dark to be true-blue fed. On the traffic island at Berkeley and Glendale southbound, just below the no u-turn, no left-turn sign, a group named Islands of L.A. declares the strip of no-man's-land a national park. How now? Echo Park National Park right in the midst of all that traffic.

So, stop crying that Chicken Corner could have been a park? (I'm reserving a few tears for that, sorry.) This calls for neighborhood support: the Citizen's Committee to Appreciate Echo Park National Park. I have to admit, the island has been looking almost spiffy recently. New drought-tolerant plantings. New sand. Could Islands be responsible? In any case, it's a nice comment on the shrinking of public space. Libertarianism at its best.

Here's what Islands of L.A. has to say for itself, for starters:

As a symbol of the treasure of everyday urbanism in our unique democracy & to protect the natural spirit of inquisitive dialogues in this land of freedom for future generations, the traffic islands in Los Angeles have been declared National Parks. These spaces have been designated for artists and other individuals such as humanitarians and micro-entrepreneurs as places of everyday communication where private residents can come together and interchange about matters of life.