As the national park ranking of Los Angeles plunges year after year, access to green space is at the heart of the problem.
A 2024 Trust for Public Land report finds that among the country’s 100 most populous cities, LA ranks 88 for park access, equity, acreage, investment and amenities.
The city, which ranked 49 in 2020, owns and operates 559 park sites over 16,000 acres, including 92 miles of trails.
This drop owes mainly to plummeting funds and unequal park access, said Jon Christensen, adjunct assistant professor at UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, at a Friday, February 21 Ethnic Media Services briefing about the city’s response to its park problem.
Low-income neighborhoods have 73% less park space than high-income neighborhoods, while those of color have 66% than predominantly white neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Proposition K, a ballot measure approved by LA voters in 1996 to deliver $25 million a year in park and recreational funding from property taxes, expires in 2026.
In November 2022, the city council put a Proposition SP on the ballot — a measure that would have delivered about $227 million in park and recreational funding annually from parcel taxes — but it failed, largely because it had no specific, detailed plan for how the funds would be allocated.
In 2014, a similarly vague measure on the LA County level, failed; in response, the county conducted a Park Needs Assessment (PNA) to prioritize funds based on park need and access data; two years later, Measure A, a proposal based on this data, passed with voter approval.
Now, the city is conducting a landmark new PNA.
“I can say confidently that this really is a best in the field nationally,” said Christensen, a consultant on the project led by the landscape architecture firm OLIN. “I’ve studied PNAs and funding measures across the country, and this will be an example for other cities nationwide.”
After a news outreach period that launched last week, the city will collect and compile data citywide — including heat island severity, tree canopy cover, pollution burden, unemployment, housing burden, population density, safety, nearest-park distance and amenities like sport courts — into a PNA draft that will be published online by September and finalized by the end of the year.
Throughout this year, Olin will also host over 82 community engagement events citywide, ranging in multiple languages “from traditional meetings, community-based organizations, statistically valid survey-taking, tribal outreach, all kinds,” explained Christensen. “For a funding measure supported by voters, we really want a community-driven plan.”
“In contrast to the conversation that we’re seeing at the federal level now, where these two phrases — equity and climate resiliency — are being struck from many agendas,” he continued, “Los Angeles is continuing to prioritize our investments where they’re most needed.”
Surveys, community meeting details and PNA updates are also available in 11 languages online.
“Not every neighborhood is the same or needs the same thing, so we’ll be working closely with council districts and neighborhood councils this year to understand these unique needs … including what areas of the city need to be prioritized for new or expanded parks,” said Jessica Henson, a landscape architect and planner at OLIN leading the project.
The city has not yet determined the ballot initiative method for these park updates, but OLIN is considering a city council-proposed measure, a citizen-proposed petition campaign and funding plans through philanthropic foundations partnered with local parks.
“We’re going to be looking at the lived reality of the local geographies of Angelenos,” Henson added — “how they’re part of our day-to-day living, and change our quality of life significantly.”
A 2023 peer-reviewed UCLA study found that bringing green space in LA County to median levels could add up to 908,800 years of collective life expectancy to residents in under-resourced communities.
“Parks are not a luxury, but essential infrastructure protecting public health, by providing opportunities for physical activity, time in nature, social connections and rest while filtering air, removing pollution, buffering noise, cooling temperature, even replenishing ground water,” said Francisco Romero, program manager at the Prevention Institute.
“With the recent devastating fires and previously with the COVID-19 pandemic, parks were some of the first places that were open for people to get out, relieve some of the stress of being sheltered in place or get resources through food, vaccine, air purifier and mutual aid distribution,” he continued. “Parks are our lifeline, and this PNA is like a diagnosis to see how we can generationally invest in ourselves best.”
“We need to look into park access because they’re more than just recreational spaces. They anchor the community as gathering and even emergency spaces,” said Jimmy Kim, general manager of the LA Department of Recreation and Parks.
“During the local fires, we activated our parks for shelter services for displaced people. During the Northridge earthquake, everybody went into parks,” he continued. “We’re really planning for the future.”
The city’s parks and recreation department currently faces a $2.1 million backlog in deferred maintenance.
Multi-benefit projects are key to expanding parks in the face of this deficit, said Roxy Rivas, deputy director of capital projects and planning for environmental justice community organization Pacoima Beautiful (PB), in the east San Fernando Valley.
One such project PB built was Bradley Alley and Plaza, the first planned shared street in the City of LA, designed to slow traffic and let residents relax, walk and bike.
“It used to be a through street that we permanently closed off to vehicles, and it’s now being used by the community. I just came this morning and a local residents’ group, HACLA, was holding a food distribution event,” said Rivas. “Quinceaneras are thrown here. Everybody loves this space.”
PB has also been visiting and studying stormwater capture projects in recreational parks throughout LA County, like Adventure Park in Whittier and Alondra Park in Lawndale.
“This concept of multi-benefit projects would let us combine different funding streams to not only build them, but to operate and maintain them,” explained Rivas. “Especially here in the San Fernando Valley, we have far fewer parks per capita … The community is telling us that amenities like restrooms and courts are either not up to par, or are completely closed down.”
“We know there’s a need,” she added. “This PNA is going to be a crucial tool to put a number to these stories and identify where our money can go.”
Read more about the PNA in a related story here.
