After tax defeat, L.A. County approves new study of recreation needs

Three months after Los Angeles County voters narrowly defeated a parcel tax for parks, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously authorized a $3.5-million survey of recreation facilities and needs throughout the county.

Officials said the Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment is necessary before they consider putting another parks tax measure on the ballot, perhaps as soon as next year.

The assessment, to be developed with help from residents of the 88 cities in the county and its unincorporated communities, also is meant to guide officials as they decide how to spend the approximately $140 million remaining from earlier parks tax measures.

Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas, who both opposed the failed Proposition P measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, said the assessment will address a weakness of the previous proposal, which fell a few percentage points short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

“The final product will not only identify geographic areas with the highest need for parks and open space but will identify, prioritize and outline costs for specific park and/or open space projects,” Antonovich and Ridley-Thomas said in their motion calling for the study.

Proposition P would have assessed a $23 annual tax on each parcel of property in the county and generated an estimated $54 million annually for 30 years.

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