BETTER PARKS. NO NEW TAXES.

WHY WE’RE VOTING YES ON MEASURE PRK

LA Forward endorses LA City Charter Amendment PRK.

Los Angeles loves our parks, but over the last decade we’ve seen them decline with funding cuts. Park facilities need almost $3 billion in repairs, and pools, recreation, and senior centers have cut hours.

The reason is chronic underfunding. LA City parks are funded two-thirds less than similar cities. Park funding hasn’t kept up with other City services. We’ve lost one-third of the full-time park staff needed to keep parks safe and clean.

Measure PRK is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our parks system for working families across Los Angeles – restoring clean beaches, safe playgrounds and facilities, expanding recreational and community programming that keeps kids and seniors connected, safe and active, and ensuring every Angeleno has a welcoming place to gather with family and friends, build community, and stay cool.

Measure PRK does this by increasing the parks guaranteed budget over 10 years, so our parks can give Angelenos the services they need.

Currently the City Charter requires that the parks department receive .0325% of the total assessed value of taxable properties in Los Angeles, which means $303 million for the park system. In ten years, that allocation would grow to approximately $493 million. If PRK passes, the allocation would double to $986 million by 2036.

Measure PRK would help fund a variety of critical services Angelenos rely on without raising taxes, including:

-Restoring public hours and programs at the City's 120+ recreation centers, senior centers, museums, and historic sites - making sure they can stay open 7 days a week

-Restoring services at public pools and beaches

-Repairing aging facilities and addressing a $3 billion backlog of deferred repairs

-Restoring groundskeeping and restroom cleaning at 500 parks citywide

-Rebuilding the Park Ranger Division for safety and fire prevention

-Staffing and resourcing cooling centers and evacuation centers for emergency management

-Planting trees and managing natural resources and ecologically sensitive areas

-Addressing gaps in park equity for underserved neighborhoods through new park acquisition and activating community school parks

-Improving safety and cleanliness

-Expanding youth & senior programming

-Maintaining playgrounds and sports fields

-Keeping trash & pollutants out of creeks, rivers, lakes, coastal waters and beaches

There are no new taxes as part of this measure and no new borrowing. That’s the reason the police union is opposed. They don’t like the idea of park funding taking a slightly larger amount of the city budget, even though the Police Department already gets more than half. Just another reason they’re terrible.

The lone nay vote City Council was Bob Blumenfield. Everyone else supported it and the measure is championed by City Parks Commissioners, the LA Neighborhood Land Trust, the Trust for Public Land, and is endorsed by the LA County Federation of Labor, LA County Democratic Party, LA League of Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters, LAANE, Sierra Club, both DSA-LA and the conservative “Thrive” group and dozens more.

LA Forward strongly recommends that you vote YES on PRK.