Grass Is Greener on the West Side

One parks worker calls it “apartheid in the Valley.”

This summer, a child wandering into Woodland Hills Recreation Center can choose from more than 25 different classes and activities ranging from ballet to painting to archery. A child walking into Van Nuys Recreation Center will be offered only a dozen or so choices.

The contrast is not unique to those two parks. Throughout the San Fernando Valley, there is a schism between recreation centers in affluent neighborhoods and those in lower-income areas. Of the 15 recreation centers designated by city officials as troubled, all but one are east of the San Diego Freeway, amid the Valley’s poorest neighborhoods.

“If you had that sort of inequity in public schools, somebody would sue,” said Jack Foley, a professor of leisure studies and recreation at Cal State Northridge. “But nobody watches public parks that closely.”

Foley has studied parks for more than a decade and formerly was a consultant for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. He insists the department perpetuates inequity through unfair policies.

The problem, he said, dates back to Proposition 13 when funding dwindled for public parks. The department responded by asking its directors to act like fund-raisers. Recreation centers were told they would have to earn some of their keep by holding jog-a-thons, soliciting donations from local businesses and collecting user fees.

The system works well at a place like Northridge Recreation Center. That park, located in an affluent neighborhood, charges a relatively expensive $75 a week for summer camp and collects as much as $250,000 a year from its many classes and activities.

More money coming into the center means more staff members can be hired, which means more classes can be offered, which means even more money.

But at Pacoima Recreation Center, located across from a housing project, many families can’t afford to pay for piano lessons or a children’s theater workshop. Pacoima charges only $20 a week for summer camp and makes no money from its low-cost baseball league. Neighborhood businesses can’t donate much. The park generates less than $10,000 a year.

Furthermore, parks receive tax money from each new residential and commercial development within 1 1/2 miles. Middle- and upper-class areas tend to have more construction.

As a result, Pacoima can’t afford to offer nearly as many classes and activities as Northridge.

Foley said: “They shouldn’t penalize children for having poor parents. Those kids have a basic right.”

The city has compensated for this imbalance by devoting Urban Impact funds to many parks in poor areas. In addition, regional supervisors funnel most of their discretionary funds to poorer parks.

Still, parks officials acknowledge that such measures don’t make up the entire difference and that some parks simply can’t compete in the revenue-producing game.

“Woodland Hills could run a spitting contest and charge $10 for each kid and there’d be a line to get into it,” said John Maghakian, the Valley’s principal recreation supervisor.

Foley suggests that well-to-do parks should share a percentage of their profits with their poorer cousins. Some park directors welcome the idea. “We need something thrown our way to help us out,” said Mike Wooden at Van Nuys Recreation Center. Others are against it.

“A lot of people feel that ‘Hey, we’ve raised this money in our community and we want to keep it in our community,’ ” said Jackie Tatum, the assistant general manager in charge of Valley parks.

Even some of the directors at poorer parks like Pacoima and Hubert Humphrey oppose revenue sharing.

“I don’t think one community should have to support another,” said Joe Dickson, the director at Pacoima.

Instead, the Department of Recreation and Parks has been trying to attract corporate donations. Directors are being urged to ask businesses like Coca-Cola or even the Los Angeles Lakers to sponsor a league and, perhaps, pay for improvements.

“It takes the creative director to present a proposal,” Tatum said. “That is what I’m encouraging my directors to do.”

Delano Park in Van Nuys is a success story in this campaign. Over the past 2 1/2 years, director Art Gomez has raised $12,000 from local businesses. That money pays for equipment and instructors. It keeps the cost down for youngsters who otherwise couldn’t afford to join the soccer league.

“You have to be an entrepreneur. You’ve got to do it within your own community,” Gomez said. “I’m not much of a salesman, but everyone I’ve approached has been generous.”

Foley agrees that emergency funds and business sponsorship can be partially effective, but he still believes the city should abandon its underlying policy that some communities get better parks because they can afford to pay more.

“The amount of police officers is roughly the same at each station, and libraries are placed evenly around the city. But parks are not offered equally,” the professor said. “They should develop a new formula for funding the parks that’s based on need.”

In Sun Valley, a religious-community group called VOICE has asked police and city officials to shore up the recreation center. The organization has complained that the park is rundown and doesn’t have enough classes and activities to meet the needs of the surrounding apartment dwellers.

“The people don’t have any place for their children to play. They don’t have any place for the elderly to take a walk,” said Sister Carmel Somers, an organizer with the group, which is made up of 17 religious congregations. “It absolutely angers me. We’re talking about a city’s response to the needs of its citizens.”

But the vitality of a park doesn’t always come down to politics and money, Dickson said. He muses that inequities are a part of life.

“We’re handicapped as far as money goes,” the Pacoima director said. “We overcome with love and affection and the kids are happy.”