Supervisors Revive Ambitious Park Funding Plan, Aim for June Ballot : Public works: Unlike measure defeated in 1990, this one would require simple majority. Howard Jarvis group voices opposition.

By RICHARD SIMON

Jan. 29, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Rebounding from the defeat of a similar proposal in 1990, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday took the first step toward asking property owners to fund $520 million in improvements to beaches, parks, the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Zoo and Santa Monica Bay.

Supervisors, without dissent, voted to set a March 3 hearing on a proposed June ballot measure to levy a $12.52-a-year assessment on the average single-family home.

The proposal is similar to Proposition B, a November, 1990, park bond that received 57% support but lost because it required two-thirds voter approval. The measure now being considered would require only a simple majority for passage.

The proposed park assessment--similar to a flood-control assessment approved by county voters in 1979--would vary according the size of property and type of use. It would apply to business and residential parcels--2.2 million in all--to fund a variety of city and county projects.

For example, the 20-year program would provide $25 million for refurbishment of the Hollywood Bowl; $5 million for acquisition and development of bicycling, hiking and horseback riding trails; $5 million for planting trees for “urban beautification”; $6 million for graffiti removal from public buildings, and $4 million for cleanup of Santa Monica Bay. Funds would be provided to improve inner-city parks and recreation facilities.

Although the projects are to be funded over a 20-year period, most would be under way within several years, said Esther Feldman, the prime mover behind the proposed measure and director of special projects for the Malibu-based Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Opposing the proposal is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which calls it a blatant end-run around Proposition 13’s requirement of two-thirds approval for tax increases.

Citing the similarities between the measure and the ill-fated 1990 park bond, Joel Fox, president of the Jarvis group, said in a letter to the supervisors, “Supporters of the new measure think they have discovered a way to pass the bond with a simple majority vote. This is a flagrant disrespect for the law and the voters of Los Angeles County.”

Feldman said the new measure would create an assessment district and is legally “not a tax.”

After Proposition B’s defeat, supporters of the park measure successfully lobbied for state legislation that eliminated some of the costly and lengthy bureaucratic steps required to set up a countywide park assessment district.

Before the legislation, local agencies could approve such districts without a vote of the public. Now, Feldman noted, approval of a majority of the voters is required.

Although Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, limits property taxes, state law allows local agencies to form assessment districts for specific services, such as fire prevention and schools.

“We talk about the need for more jails,” said Feldman, “yet we’re not providing some of what I consider the basic rights of childhood--a safe playground to play in, where a family can go for a picnic and not worry about gunfire.”

Revenues would be split among the county’s 88 cities, its county-run beaches and parks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

The measure would set aside a one-time allocation of $75 million for cities, to be divided on a per-parcel basis. The city of Los Angeles, with about a third of the county’s parcels, would receive $25 million, while tiny Hidden Hills, with 0.03% of the parcels, would draw $22,500.

Supporters of the ballot measure range from Westside environmentalists to law enforcement officials, who believe the park assessment promises relief for inner-city parks overrun by gangs and drug dealers.

Highlights of Proposed Measure

A proposed ballot measure would ask Los Angeles County voters to approve creation of a park assessment district that would raise $520 million for improvements to beaches, parks, the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Santa Monica Bay. If passed June 2, it would increase tax bills by $12.52 a year on the average single-family home. Here’s a look at some of the ways in which the money would be distributed: COUNTYWIDE REGIONAL PROJECTS

* Hollywood Bowl: $25.5 million

* Griffith Park Observatory: $8.2 million

* Los Angeles Zoo: $5 million

* Santa Monica Bay: $4 million

* Senior citizen centers: $9.4 million

* Handicapped access improvements: $1.5 million

* Tree planting: $5 million

* Beaches and Harbors: acquire, develop and restore land: $31 million

* Parks and Recreation: acquire, develop and restore land: $5 million

* River corridors and trails: acquire, develop and restore: $12.8 million

* Highland-Camrose Bungalows: renovate and develop: $5 million

* Mountain and canyons: acquire land: $40 million