Parks Are for All the People

The notion that all county recreational facilities are for all the people in the county is basic to Orange County life. To the south, Salt Creek Beach Park is alive on Sundays with picnics prepared in homes of different nationalities from across the region. To the north, a day on the water at Sunset Marina Park--with its marina and landing--draws people from inland.

The parks may be used primarily by people living nearby, but they aren’t only for them. Would anybody suggest that the county shouldn’t fund Salt Creek if the surfers and residents of the host city, Dana Point, turned out to be the primary users? Or that because Seal Beach might have the shortest haul to the marina, the sheriff and harbor patrol shouldn’t cover the area?

To hear Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad tell it, geography is everything when it comes to the RV parking, horse stables and golf facilities being funded by the county at the closed El Toro Marine base.

Coad, from North County, is unhappy with continuing the subsidy that supervisors approved last August to keep those programs operating, citing heavy South County usage. It’s also no secret that she is unhappy with South County for its opposition to an airport at El Toro. She has threatened to vote against renewal because a study she requested shows the programs are being used only by residents from South County.

“North County pays while South County plays,” she said. Coad’s 4th Supervisorial District covers Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma, Orange and Placentia, nowhere near El Toro.

Well, it’s also true that the Orange County Zoo is in Orange and is owned, staffed and operated by the county. How many people from Lake Forest avail themselves regularly of that facility? If it’s only a handful, should the county stop paying? If the philosophy Coad applied to El Toro were extended, only those living in the vicinity of any county park would use it or pay for it. Every supervisorial district would become a jurisdiction unto itself, coveting its own regional recreational assets.

For the record, the county’s official position is more expansive. “Thanks to a wealth of natural resources and visionary land management, millions of people have and will continue to have year-round access to over 30,000 acres of spectacular land and water where they can experience a number of activities and attractions,” says the county’s web site.

Instead of playing politics, Coad should click on to her county page and adopt a more generous view.