Park Bond Would Benefit Rural, Urban Projects

The $2.6-billion park and environmental bond measure on the March 5 ballot would provide funding for a broad array of rural and urban projects ranging from old-growth redwoods and salt marshes to urban parks and farmland preservation.

The most expensive bond measure of its kind in the nation’s history, according to the state’s Resources Department, its largess could extend from North Coast forests to the Sierra Nevada, desert canyons to suburban wildlife corridors.

It comes two years after voters approved $2.1 billion in conservation spending under Proposition 12. About 80% of those funds have been spent, but more is needed to clear a backlog of projects and to save stretches of wilderness before growth and development swallow them, said state Resources Secretary Mary Nichols.

Californians had approved park bonds about every three years until the late 1980s, after which no significant bonds were approved for 12 years, she said.

“For every one of these projects we did, there’s a half dozen waiting to be done,” Nichols added.

Proposition 40 proponents are optimistic about the measure’s chances. Among its supporters are the California Chamber of Commerce, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the AARP and the League of California Cities.

A survey last fall by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research center, found that two-thirds of voters supported Proposition 40. The survey was conducted two months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

“You would think now would not be an ideal time to ask California to spend more money on parks, but there is no drop-off in interest in environmental and park issues, even though we are in an economic downturn and America is focused on terrorism and security issues,” said Mark Baldassare, a senior fellow at the institute.

Supporters of Proposition 40 argue that voter support for the measure reflects the public’s belief that a fast-growing state must protect the resources that make it such an attractive place to live.

California is adding about half a million residents each year; that growth means more pollutants flushed to the ocean, more land gobbled up for houses and stores and more demand for parks and wilderness.

“We’re making a statement that we are a state that recognizes we’re going to continue to grow at a rapid pace and that this is a very attractive state to live in, but only as long as the quality of life continues to be good. It shows people are committed to a balanced approach to growth,” said Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek), the author of Proposition 40.

Some Conservatives Say Time Isn’t Right

But not everyone is jumping on the Proposition 40 bandwagon. Some conservative Republicans and taxpayer advocates say the measure requires too much spending at the wrong time.

“To go forward with additional bonds at this time is a little like getting a pay cut and going out and buying a new car,” said Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “We don’t’ see anything important enough to go into debt right now.”

State Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside), who wrote the ballot argument against the measure, is concerned that too much money is being spent too quickly on the environment. “The money is being squandered not on parks, but on pork,” he said.

Furthermore, Haynes said, environmentalists may be inclined to spend the money on what he described as “mischief.”

“The environmentalists’ approach is to protect all the rats, the flies and the weeds, that nobody ought to own land, build a house on it or use the water, that we should all live off of nuts and the trees and the land,” Haynes said.

But the Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhoods and Coastal Protection Act of 2002 is not aimed entirely at protecting nature. It provides $833 million for local and regional parks, in part to boost recreation opportunities for city-dwellers.

“Urban L.A. is the most park-poor city in the country. Proposition 40 provides resources for underserved communities that are park poor. It’s something that can begin to change the city’s landscape,” said Carlos Porras, executive director for Citizens for a Better Environment.

High on the list of urban park priorities are places such as Baldwin Hills in Los Angeles, where community leaders are attempting to transform oil rigs and industrial vestiges into a 1,200-acre park between Culver City and Inglewood.

Other projects under consideration in Los Angeles include the L.A. River parkway, restoration work at the Sepulveda Basin near Van Nuys and improvements at Hansen Dam. Those projects, however, must contend with a laundry list of others for funding, said Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills).

Rather than earmark many specific projects for funding, Proposition 40 would disperse money to communities based on population and through block grants to conservancies and government agencies.

Santa Monica Bay, Mountains Targeted

Nearly $1.28 billion is designated for environmental conservation programs, including forest acquisition, wetlands restoration and habitat protection. About a third of those funds would be divided among eight conservancies, with the state Coastal Conservancy receiving the lion’s share. Projects to clean beaches, reduce polluted runoff and repair degraded streams would be eligible to receive $300 million.

Among the places where the money might be put to use: Truckee Marsh near Lake Tahoe, one of the most significant remaining wetlands in the Sierra; oak woodlands in San Luis Obispo County; salt marshes in the San Francisco Bay; Coal Canyon near Chino Hills State Park, one of the most significant wildlife corridors in the state; the Santa Monica Mountains; palm oases in the Coachella Valley; Santa Monica Bay; and the San Joaquin River Parkway near Fresno.

Some of the money could be used to help the state pay its share of the CalFed program, a joint state-federal effort to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of the state and irrigation water to more than 7 million acres of farmland.

For campers and picnickers, an additional $225 million is designated for use in California state parks, with campgrounds, trails and interpretive centers receiving top priority. Maintenance of those facilities has lagged while visitor demand has soared, officials say.

An additional $268 million would be available to protect historical buildings and cultural resources, which are increasingly being lost as new buildings are added to growing communities. Conservationists say that some of the money could be used to build a visitor center and memorial at Manzanar, a former detention camp in the Eastern Sierra where 10,000 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II.

Communities from Napa to Ventura intent on protecting agricultural lands could tap into $75 million of Proposition 40 funds. The state Air Resources Board would receive $50 million to pay for programs to cut smog.