Mayor Villaraigosa will be stopping by Echo Park tomorrow (Weds) morning to accept an award – a national planning award that names Echo Park a “Great Neighborhood.”

According to Christopher Koontz a of L.A.’s city planning department, the American Planning Association’s award is part of:

…a national recognition program that celebrates places of exemplary character, quality, and planning. Places are selected annually and represent the gold standard for a true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for tomorrow.

Beautiful. Take a passel of one-of-a-kind oddballs and one-of-a-kind immigrants, assorted others, a lot of artists, a bike shop, fauna from around the globe, and you get a model community. Cluck, cluck. Love it.

Of course, the choice of Echo Park Lake as a site for celebrating the award is subtly unfortunate. The waterfowl are dying all of a sudden. (More on this to come) Dead coots and dead ducks. And, of course, dead lotus. Just don’t look too closely at the water.

Here’s more from the email that Christopher Koontz sent to Christine Peters, who forwarded it to the neighborhood list.

Dear Echo Park Community Stakeholders and Organizations,this e-mail is to let you know that the City of Los Angeles has been awarded a Great Neighborhood designation for Echo Park , as part of the American Planning Association’s Great Places Program. It is a national recognition program that celebrates places of exemplary character, quality, and planning. Places are selected annually and represent the gold standard for a true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for tomorrow.

Each year, APA designates 10 places in three categories: Street, Neighborhoods, and Public Spaces. As part of the commendation, APA presents certificates to local representatives, publishes an article in Planning Magazine featuring all the designees, and launches a press campaign raising the visibility of our nation’s Great Places.

This year Echo Park has been selected as one of our nation’s Great Neighborhoods, as a place where diverse communities come together, enjoy public amenities, walk, drive, and bike through our streets, stairs, and parks, and most of all, where residents continue to exemplify true civic engagement to create a better community.