The Redondo Beach City Council and local assemblyman David Hadley are working towards a statewide ballot which would grant Redondo Beach as much as $13 million for the purchase of parks.
Assembly Bill 2444 would benefit cities across California. But a provision within the bill would specifically benefit Redondo Beach, allocating funds for the purchase of land zoned for public utility use to be converted into open space or parkland. Such funds could enable Redondo to purchase part of the AES property currently on the market.
“The legislature and I believe that the state can play a role in creating open space,” said Hadley. “We have a history of putting ballot measures before the voters on whether we want to put funds toward parks and open space. For me, the South Bay has more often been a payer of those kinds of taxes than a beneficiary of that kind of space. If we can make sure that the taxpayers, the people who fund open space are also benefiting from it directly in the south bay, I think that’s a win for the state and a win for the South Bay.”
The proposed law, called the California Parks, Water, Climate, and Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access For All Act, has passed the state assembly and is now in the Senate. Should it pass in the Senate, it would then have to be signed by the governor, and then a bond measure for an unspecified amount of park funding would be placed on the statewide ballot in November.
The South Bay was designated as “park poor” in a study completed a decade ago by the Green Visions Plan. The study measured the amount of park acreage per 1,000 people in various subregions in southern California. While the National Recreation and Parks Association standard is six to 10 acres per 1,000 residents, the South Bay contains 4.1 acres per 1,000 residents while East LA has 3.4 and Metro LA has 4.9. By comparison, 9.1 acres of park acres per 1,000 residents.
“Parks increase property values, and are good for the health of the community. Studies have shown that areas that are park poor have higher incidences of type two diabetes, and higher rates of obesity,” said District 2 Councilman Bill Brand. “You’ll find that the most successful cities in the world have beautiful parks.”
Brand has long been adamant about creating more parks in Redondo Beach. This year, the Council, led by District 3 Councilman Christian Horvath and District 5 Councilwoman Laura Emdee, created an Open Space Acquisition Fund, which put aside city monies for parkland use.
The fund currently has $300,000 saved to buy private land and transform it into public open space.
While AB 2444 may give the city money to buy a part of the AES site, it isn’t the only site in Redondo that the council is keen on building parks on.
“Ideally, what I would love to see us to is for to buy those old decrepit properties that are getting torn down and putting mega mansions on,” Councilwoman Laura Emdee said. “What I would rather see us do is to buy those properties and turn them into parkettes.”
The idea of adding more parkettes, or smaller parks is emphatically supported by North Redondo councilmembers, due to the fact that the area is more densely populated and not as close to the beach.
“I would like to see Districts 3, 4 and 5 get some more attention, because they’re the more densely affected areas,” District 3 Councilman Christian Horvath said. “As we save money with the Open Space Acquisition Fund, I would like to see if are there any properties that we could potentially buy and make public land. Having more parkettes is a way to bring each block together.”
According to Brand, the goal is for everyone in the city to be about a five to 10 minute walking distance from a park. But he would rather Redondo have large parks, instead of scattered parkettes.
“We need a big park,” Brand said. “It can have a mix of uses, have some restored wetland, have some ballfields, have some open space where you can have some live music once in awhile. When I think of park, I think of a big park with a variety of uses, a place where everyone can recreate.”
Larger improvements for existing parks, such as adding play equipment or fixing infrastructure, are paid for by the Capital Improvements Fund, while regular upkeep is already built into budget.
“We’ve put a lot of funds toward existing parks,” Brand said. “If we simply spend of the money we have toward fixing existing parks and don’t look for ways to create new parks, we will remain park poor.”
Not everyone agrees that Redondo Beach is park poor. Some residents argue that the findings on the South Bay in the study an anomaly since the area is “on average, a middle-class community with a median household income higher than the other three subregions,” according to the study. The other subregions, East LA, South LA, and metro LA, “are predominantly Latino, low-income, and have higher poverty rates,” the study said. Such regions are likely to take priority for park funding, local park opponents argue.
Resident Laura Zahn said Redondo’s park alleged park scarcity is overblown.
“I don’t know why they don’t think that there’s enough parks; I think there are adequate parks and I think the parks are well serviced,” said Zahn. “I think they have to obviously have that maintenance fund for not only the equipment and the hard surface, but they also have to use it for the vegetation.”
But broad support exists for the creation of more parkland in Redondo. The city has conducted surveys that indicated residents desire more parks and open space.
“It’d be heaven,” said resident Joni Pearl. “…Because I have children. When we go down to the park we walk, but if it was right on our block, it would be a bigger bonus.”
“The idea is that we need to do something. If we don’t start saving, we’re never going to be able to do it,” said Horvath. “This [issue] was important to me when I was campaigning and it’s important to me now. We have a really good quality of life here, but moving forward this is a way to continue to improve it.” ER
