City Panel to Explore Land Trust to Build Parks

A Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday agreed to explore the possibility of setting up an urban land trust to develop more parks in the city’s most populated areas.

The trust, which will be modeled after similar programs in Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia, would serve as a liaison between the community and City Hall in an effort to transform vacant lots and neglected buildings into a network of green oases.

“The time has come to look at land-use planning differently,” community activist Misty Sanford told the council’s Arts, Health and Humanities Committee. “We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.”

Under the plan approved Tuesday by the committee, a coalition of city and community leaders will meet in the coming weeks to figure out how to set up the land trust, which would be funded partly with grants from private companies. The council would then take up the matter, possibly this summer.

“Our goal should be one day that everyone has some sort of park within walking distance from where they live, where every kid can go and play,” said Councilman Eric Garcetti, who will oversee efforts to set up the trust. “The land trust is a way of making sure that every last acre we can get gets greened.”

Sanford, a policy analyst with Environmental Defense, said a study conducted by her group found that the five poorest City Council districts have 17% of the city’s park resources, whereas the five wealthiest have 50%.

“That leaves the low-income communities and communities of color in the densely populated urban core of Los Angeles with an average of 0.445 acres of park space per 1,000 residents, less than 5% of the national standards,” Sanford said.

Garcetti, who represents parts of Hollywood and sits on the Arts, Health and Humanities Committee, said his goal is to increase the number of parks in Los Angeles by 50% over the next 10 years.

“The urban land trust is long overdue in this city,” Garcetti said. “If we can do this, this will be one of the biggest things we accomplish in our time here.”

At Garcetti’s direction, the working group will report back with its findings in 60 days.