County to Receive $5-Million Share for Park Projects

State officials announced Friday the allocation of $388 million to parks in cities, counties and other agencies from Crescent City to San Diego--the largest infusion of cash to local parks in California history.

In Ventura County, officials plan to use the county’s $5-million share of the statewide bond money for upgrades at the area’s 22 parks, trails and campsites.

“It’s very important because the parks can’t wait,” said Tom Womack, assistant director for the county’s General Services Agency. “The parks have been in trouble for a long time.”

The county’s cash-strapped parks agency has been struggling for years to develop new revenue sources to help pay for maintenance and renovation of its recreational areas.

Womack said the bulk of the county’s money will go toward repair of blacktop surfaces, bathroom plumbing fixtures and campsites at county beaches and in the foothills.

Across the region, county parks administrators expressed excitement about the coming cash infusion.

“This is the biggest portion of the local park fund,” said Steve Capps, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation. “Now that these agencies know what they’ll be getting, they can start spending it.”

In neighboring Los Angeles County, which stands to gain $39 million, portions of the money may go for everything from resurfacing old basketball courts to renovating playgrounds to creating a string of parks along the Los Angeles River.

Because the amount given to each area was based on the concentration of people there, it will effectively target the urban core, where open space is scarce.

The $388 million is just part of a $2.1-billion bond measure passed by voters last year. The initiative also divvies up funds for specific projects, conservancies, nonprofit groups and state parks.

“It’s a recognition that the environment is not just out there somewhere, but here in the cities,” said former state Sen. Tom Hayden, who worked to get the bond measure passed. “It’s recognition that the poor need parks.”

Local governments will next decide how to spend the money.

For the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, the money still represents only a fraction of what the agency needs to repair and maintain its ailing system of 130 facilities. Even after getting $240 million from two county bond measures during the 1990s, the agency has “$300 million in unmet needs,” said parks director Rodney Cooper.

He will make his recommendations for specific projects to the county Board of Supervisors, which will decide where to direct the funds.

The state officials--including the director of state parks, Rusty Areias; state Resources Secretary Mary Nichols; state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) and mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa--said they held Friday’s news conference at Jesse Owens Community Regional Park in South Los Angeles because it provided a prime example of a county park in need of repairs.

The soccer and baseball fields at the 21-acre park are skinned and could use new sod. The tennis courts are chipped and cracked and the restrooms “need a lot of work,” said Shawn McAdory, recreations officer of the park. “One has to be torn down and completely rebuilt.”

“We need this money,” he said.

Said Areias: “This is the day that cities, counties and eligible park districts have been waiting for since the passage of the bond act on March 7, 2000.”

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Times staff writer Timothy Hughes contributed to this story.