LOCAL ELECTIONS / PROPOSITION A : Seeking Funds for Parks and Gang Programs

Any street-savvy city dweller knows that there are certain parks in Los Angeles County where muggings are waiting to happen. Their overgrown lawns are populated by the skeletons of picnic benches, graffiti-covered trees and bathrooms that smell like open sewers.

Every year, more parks across the county fall into this state of disrepair, thanks partly to an ever-worsening fiscal crisis in local government. Hoping to remedy the situation, the Board of Supervisors placed Proposition A on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The countywide property “benefit assessment”--opponents call it a tax--would raise $48 million a year to renovate and maintain more than 100 parks from Long Beach to Lancaster. It would also fund inner-city recreation programs meant to keep young people away from gangs.

Proposition A has the support of a wide variety of groups, ranging from senior citizens associations and youth soccer leagues to bird lovers and police chiefs. In all, 26 police chiefs have endorsed the measure, including Los Angeles’ Willie L. Williams. Sheriff Sherman Block also favors the measure.

“Prop. A is about investing in our kids and in our future,” said Esther Feldman of the Yes on A/Citizens for Safe Neighborhood Parks group. “It’s about the quality of life in all our neighborhoods and communities.

If approved by voters, Proposition A would create the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District. The district would have the power to levy an assessment--a fee paid by property owners for a specific government service such as fire protection or sewer maintenance--on all commercial and residential property.

According to county officials, the average assessment on a medium-size single-family home could not exceed $12.52 per year. Supporters note that most homeowners would pay $1 per month.

The only organized opposition to Proposition A comes from a handful of anti-tax groups.

Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said that even though the assessments of Proposition A are relatively small, his group opposes it because it is one of several tax-like measures on the state, county and city ballots.

“If you add up all of these small drops of tax water, you have a flood,” Fox said. The taxpayer group is also fighting Los Angeles City Proposition N (a police funding measure) and state Proposition 167. “You’ve got to pick and choose. You can’t have them all.”

Fox argues further that any taxes or assessments will only add to the region’s economic woes. “I want to keep the economy in good shape,” Fox said. “We don’t want to chase more jobs out of the state. We don’t want to discourage business.”

Proposition A supporters dismiss such arguments. They say the measure has been endorsed by several large corporations and business groups--including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Central City Assn. and the Atlantic Richfield Co. Peter V. Ueberroth also supports Proposition A.

What is more, supporters argue, any urban planner or real estate agent will tell you that a well-kept, safe park raises property values. By contrast, parks that are falling apart seem to breed crime and gang activity, hurting a neighborhood’s economic development.

“A lot of our parks throughout Los Angeles are old,” Feldman said. “It’s just like a home; if you don’t take care of it and it falls apart, it’s very costly to repair.”

Because Proposition A is a property assessment, it requires a simple majority to pass. A similar county parks measure that would have issued bonds was defeated in 1990 because it required a two-thirds vote and received 57%.

In all, Proposition A supporters say, the measure would generate $540 million for parks over the next several years. Much of the money would be distributed to the county’s 88 cities. More than $100 million would be earmarked for park and recreation projects in inner-city areas.

The measure would also fund extensive park renovations and new projects in the county’s suburban communities, including equestrian trails and wildlife habitat reserves from the San Gabriel Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains and the Antelope Valley. Beaches and costal parks would receive $34.6 million.

Ellsworth H. Kendig, president of the Audubon Society’s Los Angeles chapter, says he supports Proposition A because it would help make the city a better place to live.

“It’s all pluses. . . . I don’t see any minuses,” he said. “It’s a plus for the environment. It gives us a little bit more oxygen to breathe. The quality of life in this city is the most important thing of all. I’m willing to pay my share.”