Commentary : Taking Sides on Irvine Park Bond : Yes: Residents will enjoy increased amenities as well as a boost in property values.

A yes vote on Proposition Parks means Irvine intends to finish the job begun in 1974 with our first park bond. That investment 16 years ago provided the parks and facilities we currently enjoy, which have helped assure Irvine a national reputation as a great place to live.

Voting yes on Proposition Parks provides our seniors their long-awaited senior center and day-care center and assures our youth and adult sports teams more playing fields--some lighted. A gymnasium, serving both daytime Irvine High students and evening community groups, will be built. Woodbridge, Northwood and Westpark will each receive a major community park.

A family/human services center, a child-care facility, 13 miles of new bike trails, a model farm (Irvine’s agricultural heritage museum), landscaping Northwood Railway and the Edison easements as well as improvements to all existing park facilities are among the projects that would benefit Irvine residents.

We must finish the job begun in 1974. Our 105,000 population will double in the next 20 years, and current parks and facilities won’t be adequate. Already our senior facilities are inadequate and our sports fields, fine arts facility and swimming complex are overscheduled.

Beginning in January, 1989, hundreds of residents petitioned the city for more than $100 million in recreational facilities and projects. During an eight-month hearing process at City Hall and in the neighborhoods, the residents outlined their needs. The council cut these requests to the $57.5 million bond before you March 6.

The council’s criteria for project inclusion were: need and diversity. Each geographical section and various recreational interests in the city should derive benefit. The wide range of opportunities provided are those we will be touting to our guests and visitors, to prospective business partners and new businesses, and to prospective home buyers.

This park bond is a worthwhile investment when you consider the 27 projects being funded. You, individually, will gain from the recreational opportunities offered and the increased value of your home. Businesses will benefit from the dynamic growth that comes from people moving into a growing and desired community.

Mello-Roos Community Facilities bonds allow for construction, maintenance and operation funding. Given staff-projected city expenditures and revenues, there are insufficient funds available in the general fund to provide, maintain and operate these new recreational projects. To provide outstanding recreational facilities, then allow them to fall into disrepair because of inadequate maintenance funding, is the height of fiscal irresponsibility.

In that situation, future City Councils would be forced to return to the voters every few years for additional taxes. A more honest approach is to provide for future infrastructure in a comprehensive, “total funding” package. You won’t be nickeled and dimed and dollared to death in coming years with repeated tax increases because we failed to be fiscally responsible. And you won’t dread driving past a browned-out park area or see facilities closed because of a lack of foresight on government’s part in planning for operation and maintenance costs.

Those old sayings that “nothing worth having is free” and “you get what you pay for” apply to Irvine’s Proposition Parks.

The dollars currently available in the city’s coffers are restricted to specific uses such as capital improvements (roads, lights), economic uncertainties and rehabilitation reserves or are already designated for other purposes. In summary, Irvine is solvent because we have prudently planned balanced budgets.

Irvine voters should keep the park bond numbers in perspective. In 20 years the total investment is less than $3,000 for your family. Our homes appreciate far more than that in one year, partly because of the very amenities this park bond provides. You, your family, friends and visitors can use and enjoy these projects as long as you’re here--for less than a can of soda a day!

Indeed, had the 1974 park bond voters been scared off by total costs aggregation, we wouldn’t have the desirable Irvine community we know today.

The March election was scheduled for two reasons: to ensure that residents vote on the park bond unhampered by the politics of the City Council/mayoral races in June and to save money. The election costs are less than the additional inflationary costs of these projects in three months’ time.

Let’s finish the job begun in 1974. Let’s continue the progress and provision of those amenities that we enjoy and that add to our investment in our homes and community. Join with the unanimous approval of the Board of Education and the City Council in voting yes on Proposition Parks.