Abano has worked at the L.A. Zoo for nearly 10 years helping run the bond and capital improvement program. She also works for Los Angeles’ Recreational and Cultural Facilities Program, also known as Proposition K, which generates $25 million each year from annual property assessment taxes to be put towards various improvement and restoration projects relating to parks, recreation and open spaces around L.A.

One such project is the redevelopment of Beeman Park, for which Abano was the project manager. Although Proposition K has been around since 1997, during which time 123 projects have been completed, Beeman Park only began receiving funds in 2013. Before Beeman Park, nine other projects were completed in Studio City.

Abano is hopeful, yet slightly uneasy, about this $3 million project, called the Studio City Gym Project, which is only in the pre-design phase. “I understand the inconvenience of having construction in your backyard. I just got done with my neighbor building a house right next to my house,” Abano says. She says she wants to see the community happy with a new modern gym, but wants it to be as painless as possible by getting it done in a short time frame. Right now, construction is planned to begin September 2017 and last until March 2019.

But Abano says she is aware of the potential resistance to come. “Every project we have, there are people who are for it or against it,” she says. “What’s really important to me is listening. I like to listen to the people.” Abano says listening can be difficult when sometimes the loudest people actually represent the minority. “That is the trick. To really find out what everybody really wants, because sometimes you can get distracted by the loud few.”

-Cameron Quong, Staff Reporter/Video Producer