A Green Explosion

We think a little celebration is in order during these hot, sultry days for all the imaginative parkland deals suddenly coming together around Los Angeles. This week’s announcement that state officials will set aside 1,600 acres in lower Topanga Canyon as a hiking and wildlife corridor is only the latest in a string of park purchases that will profoundly expand recreational opportunities for local residents. That means more places to play soccer and basketball, to hike, to picnic, to watch the birds circle overhead or just to nap away the afternoon under a big, shady tree.

What’s surprising is that after so many years of inaction and so many squandered opportunities, the Los Angeles area could end up with some terrific new parks.

The list is worth reviewing:

In Baldwin Hills, a 1,200-acre state park is planned to stretch across the hillsides from Culver City to La Brea Avenue, serving residents in the region’s southern communities.

Downtown residents, long the city’s most deprived of recreational space, will see new facilities at the 50-acre Cornfield near Chinatown and at several smaller sites along the Los Angeles River, perhaps one day including 100 acres at the Taylor Yards industrial site.

The Audubon Society announced plans in April to build an urban nature center on part of the 282-acre Ernest Debs Regional Park in Northeast Los Angeles. In addition to creating the nature center, which will include an amphitheater, nature exhibits and a hummingbird garden, the group will refurbish existing park facilities including trails and vegetation and improve park access.

The Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park, dedicated last December, recreates a mountain-like setting on an 8.5-acre lot, an old Department of Water and Power storage yard in dense South-Central Los Angeles.

Farther out, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy helped engineer the purchase of more than 400 acres above Woodland Hills, connecting Topanga with the Valley. The state Coastal Conservancy recently acquired some 220 acres along the Santa Clara River.

What accounts for this burst of urban greening is a big infusion of fresh, green cash. Proposition 12, the mammoth $2.1-billion park bond that state voters approved in March 2000, made urban parks a priority. The Los Angeles area, with but one acre of open space per 1,000 residents--a 10th of the National Recreation and Park Assn. standard--still has a long way to go. But the Proposition 12 money, along with park bond funds that county voters have approved in recent years and other funding sources, is making a visible difference across the city.

In most cases, the land reclaimed would otherwise be lost to commercial or industrial development. The parks renovated with this bond money would otherwise sink further into disrepair. Instead, a great civic good is emerging. These are pleasant thoughts on a lazy summer Saturday.