A New Wave of Funding Hits the State Beaches : Parks: From blues festivals to ‘company picnic specialists,’ the facilities are marketing themselves to lure visitors--and needed money.

As musicians packed their drums and guitars to leave Doheny State Beach recently, Mike Tope was a happy man. The blues festival he had organized had attracted more than 18,000 music fans in two days to the state beach.

But Doheny is not the Roxy or the House of Blues. And Tope is not in the entertainment business.

As a chief ranger for the state parks system in Orange County, Tope sports a Smokey Bear hat and drives a government sedan. No BMW here. No slicked-back hair pulled tight into a ponytail.

But the Oct. 1-2 festival was Tope’s idea under a new state Department of Parks and Beaches policy that allows its regional districts to produce and market revenue-generating events.

“It was something new for us since we’ve been trying to increase revenue,” Tope said of the festival. “We made about $40,000 from parking fees and other revenue sources. We’re going to try and put it back into the park to reseed lawns and prune the trees.”

In fact, improving beaches and stirring up business by creating links with corporations, church groups and schools to bring more visitors--and money--into the state parks system is part of a new effort to revive the parks.

As Southern California’s economy has lagged, people have fewer dollars to spend on leisure activities, said Jack Roggenbuck, the park system’s South Coast District superintendent in San Clemente. The area already has major attractions, including Disneyland, that give the parks fierce competition for the entertainment dollar.

With legislative budget cuts and dwindling park and beach attendance, Roggenbuck said he saw the writing on the wall.

“We got a wake-up call as a district,” Roggenbuck said. “And, we were forced to look at ourselves as to how we were doing business. . . . This is a department that’s trying to develop what the public wants.”

Five years ago, the state was complacent, added Doheny State Beach Ranger Doug Harding.

“We didn’t have to advertise and we could fill the parking lots with visitors, no problem. We also allowed alcohol then,” Harding said. “Well, the state raised the fees (for day use) and prohibited alcohol and we found ourselves with a problem.”

Roggenbuck said the operating budget for the South Coast District has remained at $8 million for two years. He added that recent years have frequently been marked by budget reductions.

Part of the new management philosophy calls for asking beach-users in questionnaires how they feel about state services.

Two years ago, an internal report found that California’s vast park system, once considered one of the finest in the world, was “falling apart.” Donald W. Murphy, then the parks director, ordered a massive reorganization that helped cut 226 jobs from his 2,100-person staff. Also, state officials favored a new commercialism that could bring in more revenue with public-private partnerships like the Doheny’s blues festival.

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Lawmakers and some state officials pushed for increased fees, but park users rebelled.

For example, after a daily parking fee increase from $4 to $6 in 1991, revenues at the Huntington State Beach lot dropped to $1.1 million from $1.74 million the year before. The figure continued to fall in 1993 to less than $1 million.

When the state reduced parking fees at Huntington and Bolsa Chica state beaches from $6 to $5 last spring, the results surprised Roggenbuck. They needed an attendance improvement of at least 20% to break even, he said; they got 25%.

“And, we went up to 3 million visitors at Huntington State alone,” Roggenbuck said, even though the area experienced one of the coldest Mays on record.

Tope credited the new user surveys with helping parks officials become more sensitive to the wishes of the public.

For example, when the state found that the top complaint among campers involved delays for overnight reservations, they listened. Part of the problem was that Mistix, the contractor for reservations service, had moved from California, Tope said. As a result of the complaints, the contractor returned.

Also in the works is a plan to enhance picnic sites to accommodate corporate-size events at many Orange County beaches. A “company picnic specialist” has been hired to help with party planning, including clowns, musicians, balloons, and enough private caterers to supply everything from steak to shrimp.

“We’re also seeking grant money to use parking lots during our off seasons for basketball, volleyball courts, street hockey, and possibly, in-line skating,” said Joe Milligan, a state lifeguard supervisor at the district’s Huntington Beach office.

Huntington State Beach has plans for construction of a least tern viewing platform at the Talbert Channel and Santa Ana River Jetty. At Bolsa Chica State Beach, improvements are planned for the campground area with water and electrical hookups for recreational vehicles, hot and cold showers, and an RV dump site, Milligan said.

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“We’re also looking into improvements such as landscaping, possibly putting in some tall trees for shade, and building a camp center,” Milligan said.

By improving facilities, the state hopes to keep beach users happy so they will return. In addition to the proposed improvements, Milligan said that he is considering organizing a beach volleyball tournament, like last year’s successful one.

“It brought people into the beach, generated parking revenue and, hopefully, these people will see our event and return,” Milligan said.

He said that state beaches have already begun partnerships with professional surfing associations and bodyboarding groups that encourage thousands of beach visitors.

Other changes that have occurred include extending overnight stays for RVs from one night to up to 14 at Bolsa Chica State Beach and selling a “user-friendly” annual day-use pass, Roggenbuck said.

Previously, the $75, full-year pass was issued only in January. If it was purchased in June, it was valid only for the rest of the year. But when customers buy a pass now, it will be good for 12 months from the date of purchase.

“We’re trying to address what the public wants to do,” Roggenbuck said. “We have to go out and collect that data with the surveys and we’re going to go out and market ourselves and try to bring people into the parks.”

The public has been fickle, he added. At one beach they want lower parking fees. At another, they’re concerned about clean restrooms. At another, it’s security.

“What was surprising to me,” Roggenbuck said, “is that we’re sitting here thinking we’re running all these park and beach units the same. Yet what the public was least satisfied with changed from park unit to park unit. It’s opened our eyes.”