County Makes Plans to Put Some Parks Out to Pasture : Budget: In the worst-case scenario, three local facilities would be abandoned. But officials and residents are scrambling for alternatives.

It’s an easy thing, physically speaking, to close a hospital, or a library, or even a police station.

But how do you “close” a park?

Residents near three South Bay parks may soon find out, as county officials wrestle with this year’s budget crunch. The current cost-cutting plan calls for the closure of Friendship Park in San Pedro, Bodger Park near Hawthorne and Del Aire Park just east of El Segundo, along with 18 other county parks in Los Angeles County.

If that happens, county parks department officials do not plan to fence off the parks, which would cost a lot of money and probably not be very effective anyway. Instead, the county will simply lay off or reassign the maintenance people who work at the parks and cart off all the park equipment that can be moved--picnic tables, benches, swing sets and so on. Then they’d shut off the electrical power, turn off the water, including the lawn sprinklers, tack up a bunch of “No Trespassing” signs and say goodby.

“All we could do would be to just abandon the parks,” says George Ichiyama, operations manager for the County Department of Parks and Recreation, South Region. “We really would have no alternative.”

Officials admit that parks left unattended could quickly turn into dusty, weed-choked, trash-filled urban wastelands that would become magnets for crime and other problems. But they add that there is no alternative if their budget is cut, as has been the case year after year.

“We’ve been trimming back every year since 1978,” said department spokeswoman Sheila Ortega, pointing out that during the past 15 years the department’s employee roster has dropped from 2,300 employees to 900. “We’re fat-free already. We’ve never closed a park before, and we’re making every possible effort not to. We hope it won’t come to that.”

Closing the three South Bay county parks would save the county about $150,000 in annual maintenance and utilities costs. Total annual savings from closing all of the county parks on the current “hit list” would be more than $2 million.

Ortega said that closing the parks is a worst-case scenario, and that parks officials are trying to find ways to cut costs and keep the parks open. One alternative might be to persuade cities adjacent to the parks, or perhaps school districts, to take them over. Already, Ortega said, two county parks have been transferred to the city of Los Angeles.

The 123-acre Friendship Park is adjacent to Bogdanovich Park, operated by the city of Los Angeles, and potentially could be transferred to the city. The 11-acre Bodger Park is on unincorporated county land adjacent to Hawthorne, and the seven-acre Del Aire Park is bordered on two sides by the city of El Segundo.

But the county has not yet initiated any negotiations with the various cities to transfer control of any of the three parks. And whether those cities would want the parks is not clear.

“I haven’t heard anything about it,” says Jim Fauk, El Segundo’s recreation superintendent. Fauk said that taking over Del Aire Park, if it were offered, would be a City Council decision. He added, though, that in his opinion El Segundo already has enough parks for its needs.

Hawthorne parks director Bob Klein said he has not heard of a proposal to transfer Bodger Park to his city. He added that while Bodger Park is “an ideal park,” he is not sure Hawthorne would have enough money to operate it.

“It would be very difficult for the city to undertake operation of Bodger Park unless some funding was found to accompany it,” Klein said.

Another alternative to closing parks, Ortega said, would involve local residents and park users “adopting” the parks and raising money to maintain them.

Residents and users of Friendship Park already have formed a group called “Friends of Friendship Park.” Representatives of the group appeared at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week armed with 400 petition signatures asking that the county keep the park open despite the $62,000 to $67,000 annual maintenance costs.

But even if the county does not come up with the money, members of the group say they will do whatever they can to keep the park open and maintained, even if they have to raise the money themselves.

“I think we could pull something together,” said Elisabeth Piatt, who hikes in the park every day and is one of the founders of the group. “There’s a great deal of interest in keeping that park open.”

Fund-raising possibilities, Piatt said, could include offering guided nature trail walks for a small fee, having garage sales, sponsoring events in the park--anything to raise money.

“It’s the only safe place I can take my grandchildren,” said Gertrude Kopczak, another member of the Friendship Park group. “There’s a lot of community activity in that park. I think they should keep it open.”