Trust for Public Land's New Urban Agenda: Parks For People - Los Angeles

Reed, TPR last interviewed you when you first became the Western Regional Director at the Trust for Public Land. Six years later, is TPL still motivated by the same vision, does it retain the same mission, and does it pursue the same goals here in the West?

Some things have changed. The Western Region of TPL is a little larger than it was six years ago: I began with California, Nevada, and Hawaii, and now we have added Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. Our vision remains the same on a macro level. We buy land that people feel is important. We build parks in underserved communities, where people are at or below the poverty line and do not have access to safe places to play. We use private funding to leverage public funds and accomplish our land acquisition and urban park mission.

California voters have approved a number of open space bond measures over the last six years, most notably Prop. 40 in 2002. How has TPL's agenda benefited?

California voters have approved $10 billion in statewide bond measures for parks, open space, and water enhancements during the last ten years, which undoubtedly has made California a better place to live. TPL has used some of these funds to acquire eleven miles, or one percent, of the California coast and has made it accessible and open to the public. I think that is an incredible accomplishment. In the Bay Area, TPL bought the 4,000-acre Cowell Ranch in Brentwood, and with a lot of help, turned it into a new state park that connects two other East Bay regional parks and Mount Diablo State Park to the Carquinez Straits. Now you can hike from San Francisco Bay all of the way up to the top of Mount Diablo, which is one of the defining features of the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the Sierra, we have consolidated key properties and important watersheds by purchasing land from Sierra Pacific Industries, which is the state's largest landowner, and conveyed them to State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service for public use and resource protection. In cities, we have done a ton of work buying land to create accessible parks and open space in communities near where people live. Last year, we partnered with the State of California to protect 483 acres of the Ballona Wetlands, the largest historic, restorable coastal wetland in Los Angeles County. And throughout our cities, we have purchased land, created accessible and safe parks, and built playgrounds near where people live, work, and play, from new state parks to inner-city pocket parks. The acquisition of the Cornfields in L.A. was one of these projects.

TPL has opened and staffed an office in Southern California. Share with our readers that office's priorities and projects.

We actually have two offices in Southern California: a large office in Los Angeles' Koreatown and one in Laguna Beach. Most of our work is San Diego is done out of our San Francisco office.

In San Diego, we have acquired more than 28,000 acres since 1984, principally around Volcan Mountain near the town of Julian. Our work in this area has connected Anza-Borrego State Park-the largest state park in California-to public land west of the San Felipe Valley, and anchors the San Dieguito River Park at its eastern end. We're also helping to complete the river park and Coast to Crest Trail that follows the San Dieguito River for 55 miles, from Volcan Mountain to the Pacific Ocean at Del Mar. Also in San Diego, we've been assisting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in creating the 44,000-acre San Diego National Wildlife Refuge and have acquired almost 10,000 acres from willing sellers.

In Orange County, we are buying land to increase the size of the Laguna Greenbelt and to connect the Cleveland National Forest to existing publicly owned land. Our hope is someday the public will be able to hike from Doheny Beach, Upper Newport Bay, Crystal Cove State Park, or a number of other coastal locations to the national forest via these recreation and habitat corridors. In Los Angeles, our big initiative is Parks for People–L.A., where TPL is pledging to build 25 parks and playgrounds in five years in the most underserved areas of the county. We have done a lot of work in Southern California, but there is still a lot more left to do.

Elaborate on TPL's Parks for People initiative, which I understand grew out of discussion with your state advisory council and executive board as you began to think about urban infill as a primary TPL objective.

Two-thirds of this county's kids do not have a place to play near where they live. We believe every child in America should have access to quality and safe recreation areas as a fundamental part of their development. It's about promoting health, strength, coordination, and fun.

We are really blessed to have a great group of members on our California Advisory Council who live in Southern California and who have been pushing us to do more work in inner cities. As a result, TPL used GIS-geographic information systems-to map and analyze income levels and amounts of open space, among other demographics, in L.A. communities. From that analysis, which was endorsed and embraced by the Mayor, we put out a "greenprint" that shows which communities are in need of more open space and more parks. We discovered that 1.5 million children in L.A. live more than a quarter-mile away from a park. These kids with no place to play are more likely to have higher levels of obesity, asthma, anxiety, and depression. We know we can do a better job to provide safe parks and playgrounds close to home.

Parks for People - L.A. will enable TPL to create, along with our local partners and friends, 25 new parks in the most underserved areas over the next five years. To do that we plan to raise $10 million locally-from private individuals, corporations, and foundations-with which we will leverage up to $40 million in public money. On December 7, Parks for People - L.A. Chairperson Steve Soboroff and TPL President Will Rogers will make a public announcement of TPL's commitment.

For 32 years, the Trust for Public Land has built a reputation for putting together transactions to keep or place open space in public use. Urban infill and now Parks for People forces you to expand upon your historic mission and staff expertise. How is the new and improved TPL doing?

Our first project, 32 years ago, was to create O'Melveny Park in Los Angeles, which has held up pretty well. In fact, TPL got its start by helping to create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area-one of the largest urban parks in the world, and one of the most visited. And our New York City program has protected and created more than 250 urban parks, playgrounds, and community gardens. So urban parks are not new to TPL; we've had a lot of experience doing this.

But you are right that in California we have been more active in land acquisition than urban renewal and park development. In the last couple of years, we have added staff to address those needs. We now have skilled landscape architects who specialize in urban park construction and contractor management. We also have a full-time community outreach coordinator in Los Angeles who works with diverse communities so that we understand what's right for the neighborhood and incorporate community input into the park design process. We have made the decision as an organization that urban parks are important to us; over the last four years, we have designed and built seven parks in Oakland and San Francisco, with four more in the final stages of design. I think we're doing very well - we've certainly made the commitment.

We have seen the blossoming of an effort to revitalize the Los Angeles River. Talk a little about what you've seen over these last six years at the river. What role do you believe that TPL has played and will play going forward?

For many years, the L.A. River has been a top priority, and we continue to have a number of important projects along the river. The river is blooming, and I feel privileged that TPL helped catalyze this renewal. The City Council's request for a design team to plan for parks and open space along the river and figure out how best to use this iconic feature is proof that the L.A. River is no longer a river in search of being discovered, but is finally being appreciated for what it is and can become. There are now a number of people and groups connected with the Los Angeles River, including the Friends of the L.A. River, advocating and supporting this transformation. I think that's terrific and, as a native Angeleno, I'm glad TPL played a role in getting the L.A. River the positive attention it deserves.

Lastly, those associated with TPL know that its Executive Board and State Advisory Council are totally nonpartisan. With the results of the recent national and state elections now in, how well TPL's priorities will fare going forward.

California voters have been very generous in voting for parks and water conservation measures at the state and local levels, and I think that's going to continue. We may see movement toward putting another statewide park bond measure on the ballot in 2006, which would be very timely and very important. We hope Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature will support and embrace a 2006 statewide bond measure.

On the federal level, it's probably too early to tell. The Bush administration has reduced the amount of money going to state and federal agencies for land conservation and recreation. I don't know if that trend is going to continue or not. We hope things will get better this next term. One of the great things happening is that there has been an increase of individual donations and funding to nonprofits that conserve land, which partially offsets the loss of federal money. We hope this trend will continue-we need people to continue to be generous. Whether it's a city park or a community garden, the coast, or our incredible mountains and wilderness areas, these places touch people and make their lives better. How do you put a price on that?