City Parks Need Help Now

By Sunday evening, the trash cans around Mar Vista Park often overflow. After the usual round of weekend birthday parties and family barbecues, the pickup basketball games, league softball play and the dozens of kids swinging and skateboarding, the wide bare spots in the outfield grass have grown even wider and the rusty old bleachers squeak and sway a bit more.

Even in the best of economic times, maintenance has been an on-again, off-again thing at many city parks. As one of the larger parks on the Westside, Mar Vista, with committed staff and dedicated neighbors, has fared better than many others. But the to-do list is long and expensive: The asphalt cracks and buckles, the park lacks play equipment for toddlers, the clubroom and kitchen are ancient and worn, and the restrooms have the chain-link charm of a prison camp. That’s on top of the plagues common to so many urban parks: graffiti, vandalism, beer bottles in the grass and homeless men hanging out in the parking lot.

Need one more explanation for the secessionist drumbeat in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of town? Look no further than our worn-out parks, where, because of a citywide hiring freeze, there is a shrinking pool of gardeners, electricians and janitors chasing a growing number of repair calls.

The city’s financial crunch is not as dire as that of the state, but the hiring freeze combined with early retirements and resignations has left 11% of citywide slots for maintenance workers unfilled. The state of Los Angeles’ parks affects residents’ quality of life, influencing how they feel about their neighborhoods and city leaders.

Judging by his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, Mayor James K. Hahn seems to understand that connection. He plans to add 53 new staff positions, upgrade seven more parks and open 43 new facilities, including skate parks, swimming pools, child-care centers and parks accessible to children with disabilities. Hahn also has lent his support to the Trust for Public Land’s newly announced Greenprinting Los Angeles initiative, designed to identify potential park sites in the poorer, denser parts of town.

The City Council is debating Hahn’s budget request. But the mayor and the Department of Recreation and Parks can’t wait for the new cash before acting to improve maintenance. If they delay, the increases will all go to repair damage wrought this year.

Hahn’s appointment of Manuel Mollinedo as the new department head is a promising step. Mollinedo was a manager in the parks department before he left to successfully lead the Los Angeles Zoo out of the doldrums. Mollinedo will take over July 1; to succeed he’ll need freedom to reorganize the parks department’s widely dispersed staff to become much more responsive.

In the meantime, Mollinedo should look to the network of park advisory boards created under his predecessor, Ellen Oppenheim, for help. These groups of involved neighbors already raise funds, plant trees and coach sports teams at their local parks in communities both prosperous and decidedly not. Many of them stand willing to do more in these pinched times. Mollinedo should make them feel welcome.