Conservationist Sees New Frontier for Parks With Prop. A

Esther Feldman opened the Los Angeles office of the Trust for Public Land in 1994 to bring more parks to one of the most park-poor regions in the country.

The conservation group has acquired more than 700,000 acres nationally for preservation since its creation 24 years ago. And Feldman was the author of the 1992 ballot measure in Los Angeles County, Proposition A, that raised $540 million for parks and recreation.

A surfer who lives atop a ridge above Malibu, Feldman, 35, is pushing a new Proposition A on the Nov. 5 ballot. It would sell bonds to provide $319 million for parks, recreation and projects involving Santa Monica Bay, the Los Angeles Zoo, Hollywood Bowl, museums and arboretums. It is opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

Feldman began her career as a volunteer with the Planning and Conservation League, researching how to establish green belts around every city in California. She came to the Trust for Public Land from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. She spoke last week with Jane Spiller.

*

Question: What role can the Trust for Public Land play in the future of Los Angeles?

*

Answer: We have a mission to preserve land for people to use. Trust for Public Land works as glue, or a catalyst--an intermediary between private land owners, community groups and public leaders. We can move a lot faster than government, which is important when you’re trying to buy land. As a nonprofit, we can buy land at a discount, convey tax benefits to the seller, and resell the land to a public agency at a margin that covers operating costs.

Most of what I do involves trying to create new opportunities for parks and community and recreational space around the county.

*

Q: What are the challenges for you here in Los Angeles?

*

A: Los Angeles is a tremendous opportunity. There are 8 million people in the county and with the growth problems, it’s tremendously challenging.

I grew up in parks--within walking distance of Golden Gate Park [in San Francisco]. Most people don’t know it was sand dunes. It was created from nothing by [John] McLaren, a Scotsman who came over from the old country and created four square miles of park. I know that you can take nothing and make something really beautiful happen.

It’s one of the things, with the exception of Griffith Park, that really didn’t happen in L.A. People didn’t perceive the need. Even Griffith Park, when the Griffith family offered the park to the city in 1890s, the City Council deliberated for 12 years, saying they didn’t want it, it was too far away, nobody will ever come. You laugh now, it’s ludicrous, but imagine if there was a Golden Gate Park here.

There was actually some perspective in New York, with Central Park, and in Boston, and in Baltimore, but it didn’t happen here so we’re playing catch up. That’s the driving force behind the work I do.

I think there’s a r-i-g-h-t of childhood--and a r-i-t-e of childhood--and that we’re failing [to provide] in a lot of places in Los Angeles. And the only way we’re going to make up for that is to really take a good hard look and say, “OK, what do we need to do? How do we pay for it?” That’s my passionate pitch and that’s what gets me up in the morning.

*

Q: What will happen with the $319 million if Proposition A is passed by voters?

*

A: Communities chose what they wanted the money spent on. Trust for Public Land held meetings with almost every city in the county and were deluged with requests. A citizens advisory committee of 35 civic, business, recreation, conservation, senior and youth leaders established criteria and reviewed projects--140 approved projects were written into the measure. There is a focus in the measure on at-risk youth.