Tag Archives: park maintenance

A Bond Measure to Fund Parks?

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Grand Park in Downtown

Following up on my recent posts about funding for parks in the City of LA, I wanted to offer an update on a recent action by the LA City Council. Because of the budget crisis that the City is currently facing, the Council is looking for ways to generate more revenue. Last week they approved a report from the Budget & Finance Committee which asks City departments to report back on a number of possible options, including a bond measure to raise funds for both the LA Fire Department and the Department of Recreation & Parks (RAP). They’re also looking at increasing the base funding formula for RAP in the City Charter. (It’s actually worth reading the whole report. Some of the options are interesting. Some are bound to be controversial.)

Park advocate Ron Bitzer, who serves as a volunteer on the City Park Advisory Board in North Hollywood, also sees a possible opportunity emerging as the City tries to rebuild after the recent fires. Bitzer has written an open letter to Steve Soboroff, who was selected to lead the recovery effort, where he argues that planning for more parks, and creating funding streams, should be part of the process.

Open Letter to Steve Soboroff

In general, I think we should be making sure that open space, green space, and the urban forest are integrated into all of LA’s planning efforts. In recent years both our local and State government have worked to fast-track project approvals, in large part arguing that we just need to build housing as fast as possible. Unfortunately, this has led to the removal of more trees and the loss of more permeable surface area, which will make LA even hotter and drier. Instead of just rushing to build as much as possible, we should be planning to build healthy, sustainable communities.

How Can We Make Sure the City of LA’s Parks Have the Funding They Need?

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People enjoying the afternoon in one of LA’s parks.

In a recent post I talked about why the LA City Department of Recreation & Parks (RAP) is having such a hard time maintaining the parks in our communities. Mostly, it comes down to money. RAP doesn’t have the funds to hire enough staff or pay for upgrades, in large part because of what LA City Hall calls the “full cost recovery program”, and the City Council’s ongoing inability to create a balanced budget.

One solution to RAP’s problems would be a ballot measure, which has been done before. In 1996, voters approved Proposition K, the LA for Kids Program, which was designed to provide $25 million per year for 30 years. This money has been spent on capital improvements to parks, recreation, and community facilities. However, Prop K will expire in a few years, and this will leave RAP even more impoverished than it is now. But if we’re going to do another ballot measure, we need to do it right.

I’d like to introduce you to Ron Bitzer, who serves as a volunteer on the City Park Advisory Board in North Hollywood. Ron has been fighting for LA’s parks for years, and would like to see all Angelenos have access to clean, well-maintained areas for recreation and relaxation. In this article he offers a detailed breakdown of the challenges RAP is facing. He also talks about how we could create a funding stream to address these challenges.

Proposition K Dollars: A Model for Public Financing of Construction in LA?

UPDATE:
RAP is in the process of preparing a Park Needs Assessment, and this will be discussed at a meeting of the Facility Repair & Maintenance Commission Task Force on Thursday, February 6, at 10:00 am. The meeting will be held at the Chevy Chase Recreation Center, 4165 E. Chevy Chase Drive. The Task Force will only take public comment from those who show up in person. Click on the link below for the agenda.

RAP Facility Repair & Maintenance Commission Task Force

If you can’t make the meeting on February 6, see page 5 of the agenda for a tentative list of future meetings under the heading Public Engagement (Phase 1).

We can provide funding for LA’s parks, but the process must include real public engagement and meaningful oversight. Our parks belong to the people. Let’s make sure the people have a voice in planning for their future.

Why Can’t the City of LA Maintain Its Parks?

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Pershing Square Park in Downtown.

The LA Department of Recreation & Parks (RAP) has been underfunded and understaffed for years. While LA politicians talk a lot about the importance of green space and open space, when it comes to actual funding, LA’s parks seem to be a very low priority. Some of the city’s parks are well-maintained, but these tend to be in more affluent areas, where residents have access to additional funding resources. Many of LA’s parks are in bad shape because RAP doesn’t have the money or the staff to give them proper care.

One of the biggest problems for RAP is that it’s one of only two LA City departments that’s subject to the “full cost recovery program”, something that City Hall imposed when it was dealing with the 2008 financial crisis. This means that RAP has to reimburse the City for the cost of the water and power it uses, in addition to the cost of employee benefits. (The only other department required to do this is the LA Public Library, and they were able to mitigate the loss of funding through a ballot measure.) This means that RAP is paying tens of millions of dollars every year to cover these costs, which is a huge chunk of its budget. To give you an idea of what a drain this is, here’s an excerpt from a memo sent by RAP General Manager Jimmy Kim regarding the Department’s 2023-24 budget….

CHALLENGES:
RAP is required to continue to use $98M (28.92% of the total operating budget) to pay reimbursements to the City’s General Fund for employee benefits ($64.7M), the Department of Water and Power (DWP) for utilities ($30.4M), and the Bureau of Sanitation for refuse costs ($2.9M). These increases diminish RAP’s ability to meet and increase vital maintenance and recreational programming needs. Since the inception of these Department contributions in FY ‘08-09, approximately $969M has been diverted away from RAP’s core operations.

So if you’re wondering why the playground in your local park is looking so worn out, or why the restrooms aren’t properly maintained, or why the pool has been closed for so long, there’s a good chance it’s because RAP doesn’t have the money to take care of these things. A 2018 Parks Condition Assessment Report recommended that 20 recreation centers be replaced because they were in poor condition, needing major retrofits and renovation. The same report recommended that 12 pool and bathhouse facilities be replaced because many of them were over 60 years old and had surpassed their expected service life. But more than six years later, much of that work has still not been done because of insufficient funds.

The people of LA need clean, well-maintained parks. It’s possible to provide the funding to accomplish that, but any effort along those lines needs to be open and transparent, with strong public engagement and careful oversight. I’ll be writing a follow-up to this post where I’ll talk more about how we can make that happen.