Posted: April 19th, 2006

Save the Date! Center’s 35th Anniversary Celebration June 15, 2006!
The Center for its 35th Anniversary is celebrating the greening of the Los Angeles River with healthy parks, schools, and communities.

Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick will receive our Public Servant Award. Mary Nichols, Director of the UCLA Institute for the Environment, president of the DWP Commission, and former California Resource Secretary, will receive our Alumni Award. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Commissioner Carol Jacques will receive our Community Leader award. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is the invited Keynote Speaker. Richard Montoya of Culture Clash is the Master of Ceremonies.

The celebration will take place Thursday, June 15, 2006, at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The reception is at 6:30 pm and dinner at 7:30 pm. To sponsor the event or for more information contact Peter Farnan at Blue Room Events, pete@blueroomevents.com, 310-491-1401. More to come!

Earth Day, Chicano Park, and the Urban Park Movement
April 22, 1970, is special day because it marks the birthday of both Earth Day and Chicano Park in San Diego, California, an early victory in the urban park movement. This year we are celebrating the greening of the Los Angeles River with healthy parks, schools, and communities through an Earth Caravan/Caravan de la Tierra in Los Angeles. The caravan stops will include El Río de Los Angeles State Historic Park along the L.A. River, Ford Park in Bell Gardens, and MacArthur Park in Pico Union, and end at the new Chiparaki Cultural Center at the Los Angeles State Historic Park at the Cornfield.

Groups in the caravan include Anahuak Youth Soccer Association, Asociacion de Fraternidades Guatemaltecas, Center for Law in the Public Interest, Chiparaki, Earth Day Network, Eco Maya, KIPP: LAPREP, Mujeres de la Tierra, William C. Velásquez, and Youth Empowered Scholastic Sport Services.

Chicano Park, like Los Angeles State Historic Park, El Río de Los Angeles State Park, Baldwin Hills Park, and Ascot Hills Park, reflect the struggles, hopes, and triumphs of communities coming together for equal justice, democracy, and livability for all. The history of Chicano Park is the future of the great new urban parks in the Heritage Parkscape linking recreational, public art, cultural, environmental, and educational sites in Los Angeles.

Chicano Park was founded on April 22, 1970, when the community of Barrio Logan joined activists to protest the construction of a Highway Patrol station on the present site of the 8 acre park. The community had already been degraded by the demolition of hundreds of homes to make way for Interstate 5, toxic industries and junkyards, and the lack of community facilities, good schools, jobs, and medical or social services.

Protesters took over the site and faced police and bulldozers for days while negotiations took place that resulted in the creation of the park. The park victory led to the creation of a Chicano Free Clinic, now known as the Logan Heights Family Health Center, and the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

Public art in the public park includes murals by Latino artists including Victor Ochoa, Mario Torero, Yolanda Lopez, José Montoya, Sal Barajas, Juanishi Orozco, Berenice Badillo, Carmen Linares, and many others portraying social, political and cultural issues. The park was designated an official historic site by the San Diego Historical Site Board in 1980, and its murals were officially recognized as public art by the San Diego Public Advisory Board in 1987. There is currently a movement to have the park listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Healthy Parks, Schools, and Communities: Green Access and Equity for the Los Angeles Region
The Center for Law in the Public Interest (the Center) supports a collective vision for a comprehensive and coherent web of parks, schools, beaches, forests, and transportation that promotes human health, a better environment, and economic vitality for all, and reflects the cultural diversity of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is park poor, and there are unfair park, school, and health disparities.  Children of color disproportionately live in communities of concentrated poverty without places to play and recreate in parks, school yards, and playing fields, with no cars or an adequate transit system to reach those places.  The human health implications of the lack of places to play and recreate are profound.  These children disproportionately suffer from obesity, diabetes, and other diseases related to inactivity.

City Controller Laura Chick recently published three audits providing a blueprint for reform of the Department of Recreation and Parks, highlighting the need for: a strategic plan to improve park services in every neighborhood, and alleviate inequities in parks and recreation; standards to measure equity and progress in achieving reform; a fair system of park financing and recreation fees; a community needs assessment now and every five years; improved public safety; and shared use of parks and schools to make optimal use of scarce land and public resources.

In 1930, the firm started by the sons of Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a network of parks, schools, rivers, beaches, forests, and transportation to promote the social, economic, and environmental vitality of the Los Angeles region and the health of its people.  According to the Olmsted Report in words that remain true today:

Continued prosperity will depend on providing needed parks, because, with the growth of a great metropolis here, the absence of parks will make living conditions less and less attractive, less and less wholesome. . . .  In so far, therefore, as the people fail to show the understanding, courage, and organizing ability necessary at this crisis, the growth of the Region will tend to strangle itself.

Implementing the Olmsted plan would have made Los Angeles one of the most beautiful and livable regions in the world.  Powerful private interests and civic leaders demonstrated a tragic lack of vision and judgment when they killed the Olmsted Report.  Politics, bureaucracy, and greed overwhelmed the public interest in a triumph of private power over public space and social justice.

We have the opportunity to restore a part of that vision and the lost beauty of Los Angeles (maps 101 and 104).  (Maps and Charts are available at www.clipi.org.)

Today, children of color living in poverty with no access to cars have the worst access to parks and recreation (map 201).  Many people live more than half a mile from the nearest park throughout the Los Angeles region (map 202).

Children of color disproportionately live in the state assembly districts with the highest levels of child obesity and the worst access to parks, and schools with five acres or more of playing fields.  The levels of obesity are intolerably high for all children throughout the region — ranging from 23% to 40% (map 601).  Fully 87% of the children in LAUSD public schools are not physically fit.

There are unfair disparities in access to parks and recreation by City Council District. Thus, for example, inner city District 10 (Wesson) has only .35 net acres of urban parks per thousand residents, compared to 15.86 net acres in District 12.  The disparities are even more dramatic if total acres of parks including forests and other large natural open spaces are included, as illustrated by the City Council maps (216 and 217), chart (217C), and graph (217N).  For example, there are .43 acres of total parks per thousand residents in inner city District 10, and 57.68 in District 11.

The shared use of parks and schools can alleviate the lack of places to play and recreate, while making optimal use of scarce land and public resources — as called for in the Controller’s audits, and in the Olmsted plan.  This is demonstrated by the map of parks and schools with five acres or more of playing fields (map 502).  Unfortunately, schools with five acres or more of playing fields tend to be located in communities that are disproportionately white and wealthy and have greater access to parks (maps 224, 225, and 502, chart 225C). 

The urban park movement, the greening of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers, and the Integrated Resources Water Management plans, offer the opportunity to revitalize urban communities with economic, environmental, and equitable development for all.

The lack of places to play and recreate in parks and schools is not just an issue for low-income communities of color, but indeed for all of Los Angeles, from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro, and from the Palisades to East L.A.  Los Angeles faces an historic opportunity to improve the quality of life enjoyed by all residents for generations to come by improving access to parks and recreation for all.

Urban parks, natural open space, and related human health issues are a critical component of any local, regional, and state infrastructure plan for livable, just communities.  The City must develop long term, sustainable funding to support parks and recreation.  One immediate step is for the Mayor and City Council to support significant and substantial funding for urban parks in any proposed state infrastructure bonds in 2006 and beyond (see accompanying story).

The Center is committed to systemic reform of recreation and parks through a democratic process that includes full and fair public information and public participation in deciding the future of the region for generations to come.  The Center is focusing on several avenues: implementing the Controller’s recommendations; shared use of new and existing parks and schools; keeping existing public lands open for all; promoting human health in parks and schools; and providing access to forests, beaches, parks, and open space through Transit to Trails for Southern California.

Urban Parks, Healthy Communities, and Infrastructure Bonds
The failure of the negotiations over infrastructure bonds in Sacramento is bad for urban parks, for revitalizing communities, and for the children of California, but the struggle is not over. We can and will continue to build diverse alliances to fight for urban park funds to be distributed fairly among all communities.

The Senate infrastructure package that was being negotiated as of March 15, 2006, included about $2 billion for urban park type projects, and $2 billion for wilderness park type projects. We urge the Governor and legislative leadership to put together a similar package for the November 2006 ballot.

Statewide environmental groups have also put together a $5.388 billion water bond for the November 2006 ballot that would provide funds that can be used for urban parks, including about $490 million directly for urban park type projects, and another $600 million that can include urban park projects including the greening of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers. The California Department of Parks and Recreation must prioritize a fair share of its $400 million for urban parks. Another $800 million for flood control purposes can be used for urban park projects. The Sepulveda basin in Los Angeles, for example, is a park and flood control basin.

People of color were instrumental in passing Prop 40 in 2002, which included funding for urban parks. They will make a difference again in November 2006. Prop 40 passed with the support of 77% of Black voters, 74% of Latino voters, 60% of Asian voters, and 56% of non-Hispanic White voters. Seventy-five percent of voters with an annual family income below $20,000, and 61% with a high school diploma or less, supported Prop 40 – the highest among any income or education levels. Traditional environmentalists need to work with diverse communities to pass resource bonds for the good of all the people.

Regions and cities around the state reflect the need for urban parks, including Oakland and the Bay Area, and Fresno. The Los Angeles region, for example, is park poor, and there are unfair disparities in access to parks and recreation. Children of color living in poverty with no access to cars have the worst access to parks and places to play in parks and schools (see accompanying story).  Children of color disproportionately live in the state assembly districts with the highest levels of child obesity and the worst access to parks and recreation (map 601). This is the first generation in the history of the country in which children will have a lower life expectancy than their parents if present trends in obesity and other diseases related to inactivity continue.

There are unfair disparities in access to parks and recreation by Assembly District and Senate District. Thus, for example, Speaker Fabian Nuñez’s District 46 has only .51 net acres of urban parks per thousand residents, compared to 283 net acres in Assembly District 37. Senator Kevin Murray’s District 26 has only 1.18 net acres of urban parks per thousand residents, compared to 160 in Senate District 17. The disparities are even more dramatic if total acres of parks including forests and other large natural open spaces are included, as illustrated by the charts and graphs for State Assembly District and State Senate District. For example, Speaker Nuñez’s District 46 has only .51 total acres of parks per thousand residents, compared to 3,348.72 in District 37 (217A and 220A).

According to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 64% of Californians believe that poorer communities have less than their fair share of well-maintained parks and recreational facilities. [Mark Baldasare, Public Policy Institute of California Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Environment vi (June 2002)].

State and local school bond funds can be used for the shared use of schools and parks. Schools must be built with playing fields open after school and on weekends. The same children need schools and parks for places to play and engage in physical activity to improve their health and reduce obesity and diabetes.  The same taxpayers pay for schools and parks.

California faces an historic opportunity to improve the quality of life enjoyed by our residents for generations to come. Strategic infrastructure investments will enhance the economic competitiveness of the state, increase social equity, and improve the environment. Infrastructure plans should be guided by statewide interests, but tailored by region to meet particular needs and priorities.

Infrastructure is not just concrete, steel, and transportation.  Urban parks, open space and related human health issues are a critical component of any state, regional, and local infrastructure plan for livable, just communities. Urban parks promote the core values at stake in building public infrastructure: providing children the simple joys of playing in the park; improving health and recreation; equal access to public resources; democratic participation in deciding the future of the community; economic vitality for all with increased property values, local jobs, small business contracts, and affordable housing; spiritual values in protecting people and the earth; the environmental benefits of clean air, water, and ground; and sustainable regional planning.

The Center will continue to fight (1) for significant funding for urban parks resulting from any resource or infrastructure bonds as part of a comprehensive plan to promote economic, environmental, and equitable development for all, and (2) to make sure that underserved communities receive their fair share of public benefits.

Stewardship Excellence Award

The Center is receiving the 2006 Stewardship Excellence Award for providing “a model for the city and the nation’s urban park movement” from the Cultural Landscape Foundation on May 19, 2006. The award will be presented at a luncheon at the Plaza of the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, CA, from 11:30 am to 2 pm. Contact Charles Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 202.483.0553, info@tclf.org.

End of Winter 2006 Center Newsletter