Los Angeles; Residents OK Tax to Help Buy Parkland in the Santa Monicas; [HOME EDITION]

WENDY THERMOS. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Aug 22, 2002. pg. B.4

Abstract (Summary)

Each owner of a single-family home will pay $40 annually for 30 years. Businesses will pay about $120 per acre, and apartment owners will pay on a sliding scale. Votes were weighted, based on the amount of assessment to be paid, but that affected the outcome in both districts by less than 0.5% when compared to a ballot-by- ballot count. A simple majority vote was needed to approve the new tax districts.

The tax will funnel about $2 million annually to the park agency, which already owns at least 35,000 acres of open space in the Santa Monica Mountains. A list of dozens of possible acquisitions, many a few acres or less, has been drawn up, but the park agency board has not decided which ones will be purchased. About $5 of every $40 collected will go toward brush clearance.

(no caption); CREDIT: Los Angeles Times; A gleeful [Wendy-Sue Rosen] of Mandeville Canyon reacts to announcement Wednesday that park tax was approved in mail-in ballot.; PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los Angeles Times; [Jack Allen] said opponents had little time to organize after learning about the two proposed tax districts in May.; PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los Angeles Times

Full Text (689  words)

(Copyright (c) 2002 Los Angeles Times)

In a victory for parkland supporters, Los Angeles residents of the Santa Monica Mountains have voted overwhelmingly to tax themselves so that undeveloped land near their homes can be bought and preserved as wilderness.

"This is the last opportunity to turn open space that would be developed into open space for people and wildlife," Sherman Oaks resident Arnold Newman said after the results of a mail-in ballot were announced Wednesday. "And it will be done for the smallest ticket price imaginable: $40."

Opponents of the tax said they plan to file a lawsuit against the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, a regional park agency, that will challenge the formation of two adjacent tax districts stretching from Griffith Park to Topanga State Park.

Among those casting ballots, 77% of property owners east of the San Diego Freeway and 68% west of the freeway voted for the tax.

Park agency officials said the tax zone was divided in two so that the money collected in each district would be spent near the homes benefiting from newly purchased open space. About one-fifth of the 60,000 eligible property owners voted.

"You're taxing a lot of people for a benefit that's going to go to a few people," said Jack Allen, a former city attorney for Beverly Hills and chief critic of the parkland assessment. "If a property has a view protected by the open space, only the people adjacent will benefit."

Each owner of a single-family home will pay $40 annually for 30 years. Businesses will pay about $120 per acre, and apartment owners will pay on a sliding scale. Votes were weighted, based on the amount of assessment to be paid, but that affected the outcome in both districts by less than 0.5% when compared to a ballot-by- ballot count. A simple majority vote was needed to approve the new tax districts.

The four-member park agency board met Wednesday to announce the ballot results, tabulated by a Bay Area firm, and voted unanimously to form the two districts.

Board Chairman Jerry Daniel said he was ecstatic about the vote's wide margin in favor of the tax. "We want to keep our open spaces preserved for our children and grandchildren," he said.

Allen criticized the park agency's campaign for the tax districts, bounded largely by Ventura Boulevard on the north and Sunset Boulevard on the south.

"We got outspent by a long shot," he said, adding that opponents barely had time to organize after they learned about the proposed tax districts in May.

The tax will funnel about $2 million annually to the park agency, which already owns at least 35,000 acres of open space in the Santa Monica Mountains. A list of dozens of possible acquisitions, many a few acres or less, has been drawn up, but the park agency board has not decided which ones will be purchased. About $5 of every $40 collected will go toward brush clearance.

Rosemary Woodlock of Woodland Hills complained to the board Wednesday that voters were shortchanged because they had no way of knowing if purchases would benefit their neighborhoods. "This looks like one of the most foolish rushes to judgment I've seen in a long time," she said.

But Wendy-Sue Rosen of Mandeville Canyon said the board vote was "a great victory for the quality of life and for preserving what little open space we have left."

Daniel said the tax zone is a new approach by his agency to raise funds. It is primarily intended to benefit people living nearby, but anyone will be able to hike or picnic on new land that the agency acquires, he said.

Marin and Santa Clara counties also have used tax districts to preserve open space, park officials said.

[Illustration]

Caption: GRAPHIC: (no caption); CREDIT: Los Angeles Times; PHOTO: A gleeful Wendy-Sue Rosen of Mandeville Canyon reacts to announcement Wednesday that park tax was approved in mail-in ballot.; PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los Angeles Times; PHOTO: Jack Allen said opponents had little time to organize after learning about the two proposed tax districts in May.; PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN VANDER BRUG / Los Angeles Times

 

 

 

Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER

Indexing (document details)

Subjects:

Property taxes,  Parks & recreation areas,  Referendums

Locations:

Los Angeles California,  Santa Monica California

Author(s):

WENDY THERMOS

Document types:

Infographic

Section:

California; Metro Desk

Publication title:

Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Aug 22, 2002.  pg. B.4

Source type:

Newspaper

ISSN:

04583035

ProQuest document ID:

154657491

Text Word Count

689

Document URL:

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=154657491&sid=2&Fmt=3&cli entId=17855&RQT=309&VName=PQD