L.A. Approves a Fence That Will Lock MacArthur Park Every Night

The 8-foot metal fence goes up starting in November, and the gates will shut from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

MacArthur Park will be locked every night behind an 8-foot green metal fence, with police clearing out anyone sleeping there before the gates shut.

The Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved the plan on Thursday, Oct. 1. Crews are expected to start in November and keep building into spring 2027 while the park stays open, and after that the gates are set to close from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., The LA Local reported in a story published by LAist.

It took about a year to get here. The fence was first proposed in October 2025, and the dates since then run like this:

• October 2025: The fence is first proposed.
• Oct. 1, 2026: The parks commission approves final plans at a public meeting.
• Later in October: Recreation and Parks plans to come back to the community with another update.
• November: Construction begins, with the park open throughout.
• Spring 2027: Construction is expected to wrap, and the nightly closures follow.
• Three years in: The department reviews whether the fence stays.

Every night before closing, officers from LAPD's Rampart Division will walk the park. "For right now, we will do a full sweep of the park before the gates close on each side of the park," Capt. Ben Fernandes told commissioners, The LA Local reported. He added that the department has been "very good about keeping encampments out of the park." Officers will patrol during open hours alongside LAPD's Security Services Division, and first responders will carry keys so they can get in at any hour.

Recreation and Parks wants control of the grounds after dark, which is when the department says most of the damage and vandalism happens. From January 2025 through June 2026, MacArthur Park piled up work orders for lighting, plumbing and graffiti at a rate 230% above Lafayette Park's, the department said, a figure General Manager Jimmy Kim repeated to the commission on Thursday.

Lafayette Park is the yardstick the department keeps reaching for. From January through August 2026, MacArthur logged 136 robberies and aggravated assaults to Lafayette's 20. That's close to seven times as many, in a park about three and a half times the size: roughly 35 acres against 10. Arrests ran 694 to 36. Neither park had a homicide.

Officials said the fence isn't meant to be permanent, and they've set out what would bring it down. The target is for MacArthur to draw no more than about twice Lafayette's maintenance and repair requests. The three-year review will also weigh crime, a survey of park users and another community survey run through the council office.

The fence comes packaged with gentler plans, too. The department intends to reopen the tunnel that connects the park's north and south halves, and to put pedal boats back on the lake.

The neighborhood around the park has already seen police enforcement on its streets this year. Earlier in September, LAPD warned Westlake street vendors under L.A.'s anti-camping law, the Globe reported.

That leaves the people officers find asleep at closing time. Fernandes said the mayor's office would supply service providers for people dealing with addiction or homelessness, and anyone found during a sweep would be steered toward them: "we will be able to hopefully make them be involved in those services and hopefully get them housed."

Source: laist.com, retrieved October 3, 2026.