Concern Grows Over Erosion of County Parks : Recreation: Maintenance, security and activities for residents have been reduced. Frustrated officials consider user fees, special assessments and fund-raisers.

Los Angeles County’s park and recreation system has long been a jewel in the firmament of county government.

Carefully acquired since the end of World War II, the 68,000 acres of hiking and riding trails, golf courses, gardens, lakes, pools, tennis courts and other open spaces have proved a haven for nearly every segment of Los Angeles County’s diverse population.

But concern is growing among park lovers that budget cutbacks and other constraints are slowly eroding what is the nation’s largest urban park operation.

Conditions at county parks were given scrutiny recently after a spate of attacks on lifeguards at a county-owned public swimming pool in South-Central Los Angeles. The violence raised concern about security, and exposed a well of community frustration at recently imposed pool fees that have caused a dive in attendance at pools throughout the county.

Park advocates now express concern that the county’s budget problems are beginning to limit access to the residents that the parks were designed to serve and that a general deterioration of the parks will result in a lower quality of life for the county’s urban dwellers.

“There was a time this park system was looked on as among the top five in the nation; it was a system that worked efficiently and served thousands,” said Douglas Washington, a member for 13 years of the county’s Parks and Recreation Commission and vice president of the nonprofit People for Parks. “We’re very concerned with the erosion. County government doesn’t seem to have the answer right now.”

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The county’s parks have changed in ways both obvious and subtle as a result of declining resources over the last two decades. In the last two years, the operating budget for the Parks and Recreation Department has decreased about 40%, standing today at about $60 million.

To contend with shrinking budgets, fees gradually have been attached to a range of activities that residents once enjoyed for free, and the parks and recreation work force, once 2,200 strong, has dwindled to about 800 since 1978.

Much of the department’s maintenance work has been contracted out to private firms. Lawns, gardens and sports fields that once were tended daily now are cared for only a few days a week. Maintenance crews are hard-pressed to keep up with graffiti that blights park pavements and fences.

Last year, the county was forced to relinquish control of nine community parks to cities or other jurisdictions because it could not afford to operate them. Two more such deals are in the works this year and the trend is likely to continue.

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Less noticeable but perhaps of more importance is the loss of permanent park attendants. Part coach, baby-sitter, mentor, counselor and gardening adviser, park attendants were--and in some cases still are--looked on almost as family members by neighborhood youths and their parents.

“I’m a Los Angeles native and I remember when you used to go to a county park and there was always a recreation specialist there to loan toys and games to neighborhood kids,” said Tony Yakimowich, who heads the budget division of the parks department.

These days, Yakimowich said, there are 74 recreation specialists countywide to cover about 120 parks and pools.

“Typically, one rec specialist may supervise three to four parks, spending a few hours a day here, a few hours there,” Yakimowich said. “It doesn’t provide adequate coverage, but it’s the best we can do.”

The problems and the hopes of county parks are reflected at Loma Alta Park, an oasis of green nestled in the brown hillsides of Altadena. There, residents can enjoy tennis, softball and volleyball, picnicking, hiking, swimming and tending community gardens.

Recreation supervisor Penny Daniels has been able to forge a close relationship with neighborhood youths. But Daniels is troubled by the changes in park services. She had to cancel the popular after-school teen dance programs because budget cutbacks have reduced the number of park police available to patrol the events.

She has seen an increase in the numbers of young people who, with fewer youth activities to occupy their time, come to the park just to hang out.

“If there are no activities or programs at parks, that’s the only thing to do and the local gangs will welcome them in,” she said.

Markus Carter is a 68-year-old retired businessman who has coached baseball teams at county parks, including Loma Alta, for nearly 30 years. He is proud of his efforts, but is frustrated these days because he cannot get the county to lay brick dust on the popular T-ball field.

“There’s no budget for it,” said Carter, surveying the dusty brown lot. “We need new bases. There are seven lights that are out now, but we can’t get anybody out to do anything.”

Yakimowich ran down a list of programs that used to be: physical fitness programs for senior citizens; a rehabilitation unit that specialized in developing activities for disabled residents; music education classes; a sports division that organized competitive team activities and the Community and Recreation Safety after-school program, which specialized in gang intervention with the schools, law enforcement agencies and business community.

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The county does still offer many recreation programs, but at a price. Entrance fees at recreation areas and regional parks range from $3 to $6 per vehicle; lawn bowling at Arcadia Park costs $10 a month; admission to one of the county’s four arboretums, $5 for an adult. Golf fees range from as little as $1 to $21 for weekend or holiday play at an 18-hole course.

In the last year, fees were imposed for the first time on visits to county nature centers ($3 per vehicle), hiking trails ($6 per person daily, $23 per year) and pools ($1 for kids, $2 for adults.)

An outcry over the pool fees led Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke to organize a fund-raising drive to eliminate the fees in her district, which includes some of the county’s lowest-income communities. Burke said she hopes to raise enough money to eliminate the pool fees countywide.

Parks officials say they have pushed user fees about as far as possible.

“I think we are beginning to disenfranchise people if we go any further,” Parks and Recreation Director Rod Cooper said. “We were raising golf fees at a pretty good rate and experienced a 10% drop in usage. We avoided increasing the fees this year to allow play to get back to normal.”

As a result of last week’s budget deliberations, Parks and Recreation will be able to maintain current levels of service for now. But following the trend of other county departments, park officials are looking for ways to generate revenue and become more self-sufficient.

Some ideas include renting out county facilities for organized bingo, small concerts and outdoor theater, and concession and advertising agreements that would allow companies to put their logos on basketball backboards and the like.

Park officials are also hoping to gain approval from the Board of Supervisors for a new park tax, which would assess a $24 fee on all homeowners who live in unincorporated areas of the county. The tax would raise about $9 million annually to keep the department afloat. Last year, voters approved Proposition A, which created a $540-million countywide assessment aimed at improving parks and beaches.

Park advocates say the county will have to depend increasingly on private help if it is to keep its parks and recreation heritage intact.

“In the future we are going to have to have a partnership on a massive scale in L.A. County between the public and private sector,” said Washington of the Parks and Recreation Commission. “This is something people should be concerned about. Nobody would argue that food, clothing and shelter are essential to life, but recreation is right behind.”