Parks are some of the few widely accessible public spaces in Los Angeles,\r\nspaces in which communities are invested. The process of creating a park is complex,\r\nand involves many organizations working in partnership, from state\r\nand city agencies to national and local non-profits. It is entirely possible to\r\nre-imagine the urban landscape; communities with available land are now in an ideal\r\nposition to advocate for parks, as there is much public and media interest, and now most\r\nimportantly, funding.<\/p>
\r\n\r\nA map of parks in the LA area shows about 400 publicly accessible green spaces,\r\ninadequate to support the city's population, especially in economically\r\ndisadvantaged, densely populated neighborhoods. Patterns emerge in the distribution\r\nof parks across the city- the most park-poor neighborhoods are either the very\r\nwealthiest, or the very poorest. Well-heeled neighborhoods contain residences with\r\nlarge yards or other private green spaces, like golf courses or gated parks.\r\nEconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods usually contain too few parks for massive\r\nnumbers of people living without access to private space. State forests ring the\r\ncity, but without adequate public transportation to or information about these\r\nareas, they are rendered virtually invisible to urban communities.<\/p>
\r\n\r\nCurrent funding for parks comes from several sources. State, county, and city\r\nlegislation gives money to city agencies and non-profits to buy land, and to create,\r\nmodify, improve and maintain parks. Legislation includes Proposition 12 (Safe\r\nNeighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act) and\r\nProposition 13 (Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood\r\nProtection Bond Act). In addition, LA has gotten parkland from private owners who reduced tax liability by selling or donating land to a non-profit organization or to the city.<\/p>
\r\n\r\nThe passage of Propositions 12 and 13 last year, as well as the county's \"Los\r\nAngeles River Master Plan\", have channeled new funding and energy into greening the\r\ncity. The city's Department of Recreation and Parks has a recent\r\nmandate to create pocket parks, which it was somewhat reluctant to do previously\r\nsince these small green spaces are time-consuming to maintain. LA parks an\r\nelection-year issue: recent mayoral candidates included Antonio Villaraigosa, who\r\nco-authored Proposition 13 and received a lot of support for this action. On a local level, the recent acquisition of the Cornfields, a large property in Chinatown, has pushed the parks issue to the front pages of the LA Times and Weekly. Advocates for the creation of a state park at the former Taylor rail yard have thwarted the initial development of the site for industrial purposes.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>\n","contact":"lizemogel@hotmail.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Recently, public parkland has been in the news, what with the creation of the new cornfields park on the moribund LA River. Artist Lize Mogel, who makes maps for the LA Bus and transit shelters, reports on the the park politics of LA and the organizationsyou can contact to get more parks for your neighborhood.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2001\/08\/more_parkl.html","filesize":"5.4 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2001\/08\/9281.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}