Baldwin Hills Park Funds in Jeopardy

Los Angeles County is on the verge of losing $3 million in state funds needed to expand Baldwin Hills State Recreation Area because of a struggle in the Legislature over how to spend the money.

Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), both of whom represent the Baldwin Hills area, said they will fight to keep the money this week when the Assembly and Senate try to resolve their differences over the proposed 1988-89 budget.

“The money was appropriated for acquisition of land in Baldwin Hills park, and it seems to me to be unfair to take it away now,” Moore said last week. “I am going to continue to fight. . . . I am getting that money.”

In his proposed budget, Gov. George Deukmejian has recommended against using the money at Baldwin Hills, and the Senate budget committee, over Watson’s objections, voted last week to divert most of it to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

But Moore was able to persuade the Assembly budget committee to designate the money for Baldwin Hills, meaning the fate of the expenditure will be determined this week when the two houses try to put together a compromise budget.

Sen. Jim Ellis (R-San Diego), a member of the budget subcommittee that recommended $2.75 million of the money go to Old Town, said the money is desperately needed there.

The money would be used to buy two small parcels virtually surrounded by the park, one of which is slated for a hotel development, state parks officials said. The property is currently being leased by two pottery-making companies.

“The land has been sold to some Japanese interests who want to build a high-rise hotel on the land,” Ellis said. “That is why it has become somewhat of an immediate concern. If the property owner wanted to leave the pottery people on the land, we probably wouldn’t have done anything.”

The $3 million was appropriated to Los Angeles County last year to buy 27 acres along La Cienega Boulevard next to the Baldwin Hills park. But the land was too expensive because of its prime location and its oil wells, state and county officials said. For $3 million, the officials said, they would have been able to afford just five acres.

Purchase Canceled

After the county and state parks departments agreed to abandon the purchase, the county requested that the money be used to buy a separate 40-acre parcel near West Los Angeles College that is west of La Cienega and isolated from the rest of the park. State parks officials balked, and the governor’s proposed 1988-89 budget calls for the money to revert to the state.

County officials insist that they are entitled to the money because it is part of $10 million they say was promised the park in 1984 when the state floated $370 million in bonds for park-related purposes.

Jim Park, head park planner for the county, said the county has received only $3.5 million of the $10 million, and with the 1984 fund nearly depleted, he predicted this year is the county’s last chance to get more of the money.

“If we don’t get at least the $3 million, we are treading water and not meeting the need down there,” Park said. “We can’t handle the crowds. We need more land so we can provide for public use.”

Baldwin Hills State Recreation Area, formerly a county regional park, has been overflowing with visitors ever since it opened in November, 1983. On busy weekends, county officials have to close the park to additional visitors because of overcrowding.

Visitors Turned Away

On Memorial Day, for example, the county started turning away visitors at 1 p.m. A park safety officer estimated that more than 65,000 people visited the park over the three-day weekend.

The park contains fishing lakes, hiking trails, picnic areas and an archery range. It offers magnificent views of the Los Angeles Basin, including the beach areas, the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Catalina Island and downtown Los Angeles.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn led the drive to create the recreation area from land around the site of Baldwin Hills Dam, which broke in the 1960s, and there is a bill in the Legislature that would rename the park after Hahn. The state has turned the park over to the county to maintain.

The 318-acre park has grown over the years, with the state and county adding parcels as money became available. State and county officials hope the park will eventually grow to 1,300 acres, which would include the vast area of Baldwin Hills now dotted with oil wells.

The state paid $8.3 million several years ago for a 78-acre parcel along a southern ridge of the park west of La Brea Avenue, near Stocker Street. Both the Senate and Assembly versions of the 1988-89 budget include $1 million to develop the ridge area with picnic tables and other public facilities. That money is not part of the dispute in the Legislature.

Great Demand for Park

“The demand is just so great for this park,” said Burke Roche, Hahn’s senior deputy, who last week testified before the Senate budget subcommittee that rejected the $3-million request. “The park is centered right in the middle of an area of 10 million people. Many of these people just can’t hop in their car and go to Mammoth, Arrowhead or Big Bear.”

The 40-acre parcel that the county wants to buy falls within the projected boundaries of the proposed 1,300-acre park, but it is not contiguous to the existing park.

Access to the 40-acre parcel would be from Stocker Street just south of West Los Angeles College. Eventually, as more land is obtained, the parcel would be connected to the rest of the park, county officials said.

But because of the parcel’s isolation, state parks officials have argued that the purchase is not a high priority and that the $3 million could be better spent elsewhere. A fact sheet prepared by the state Department of Parks and Recreation says “it could be many years” before the parcel would be integrated into the park.

“There are precious few dollars for acquisition,” Marilyn Olson, head of the department’s legislative office, said in an interview. “We feel the money should go for critical additions.”

Other Objections

Olson’s office has raised several other objections to the Baldwin Hills purchase, including concerns that the county might use the 40 acres for a golf course. Olson said the state would not consider a golf course a “high priority” use of state funds.

While there was talk at one time about a golf course, county officials said last week that they have no intention of building one on the property.

State officials have also argued against the $3-million allocation because of Proposition 70, a ballot initiative that would authorize the state to issue $776 million in bonds for wildlife, coastal and park purposes. The initiative, expected to win voter approval on Tuesday, designates $10 million for the Baldwin Hills park. State officials say that would give the county an alternative source of money to purchase the 40 acres.

Watson, Moore and county officials, however, are riled at suggestions that Proposition 70 funds should be used as a substitute for state money that they believe is owed to Baldwin Hills.

With the spiraling cost of land in Los Angeles, Watson said, the $10 million will buy only a fraction of the nearly 1,000 acres officials want to add to the park.

Insufficient for Needs

Roche, Hahn’s aide, said Proposition 70 falls far short of the park and recreation needs of Los Angeles County residents. With nearly 31% of the state’s population, the county is slated to receive only 17% of the bond money, he said.

He said the county needs the $10 million from Proposition 70, the $3 million from the 1984 bond act and a lot more money for Baldwin Hills.

Ellis said it is only fair that the $3 million intended for Baldwin Hills go back to the state, because it was allocated for a land purchase that fell through. He said he would return the $2.75 million designated for Old Town if negotiations to buy the two parcels there do not work out.