Parks promised to poor California areas unbuilt years later

In this Friday, July 29, 2016 photo, Charisse Bremond, president of South Los Angeles community program Brotherhood Crusade, a community service and development organization, points to a derelict factory where the Slauson-Wall Park was to be built in Los Angeles. A decade after California voters were promised $400 million worth of parks in some of the state’s poorest neighborhoods, fewer than half of the 126 parks that received the money have been built. As lawmakers push to add another $1 billion to the program, an Associated Press review of state data finds people are still waiting for 68 of the original parks. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) In this Friday, July 29, 2016 photo, Charisse Bremond, president of South Los Angeles community program Brotherhood Crusade, a community service and development organization, points to a derelict factory where the Slauson-Wall Park was to be built in Los Angeles. A decade after California voters were promised $400 million worth of parks in some of the state’s poorest neighborhoods, fewer than half of the 126 parks that received the money have been built. As lawmakers push to add another $1 billion to the program, an Associated Press review of state data finds people are still waiting for 68 of the original parks. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

By Associated Press August 9, 2016 5 min read

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A decade after California voters were promised $400 million worth of parks in some of the state’s poorest neighborhoods, an Associated Press review finds fewer than half of the 126 projects that received the money have been built, as Democratic lawmakers push to add another $1 billion to the program.

State officials say the long wait is the result of strong oversight, but people waiting for the parks see only empty lots.

In the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Florence, Jennifer Schott won’t let her kids play outdoors, nor is she willing to make the eight-minute walk through gang territory to the nearest park.

No one told Schott, who directs a mental health facility in the high-crime neighborhood, that the state has shelled out $5 million for the city parks department to replace vacant industrial buildings with 4 acres of grass, basketball courts and a community garden. Six years after the project was approved, the structures haven’t been touched.

“I would hope that they would start construction on it soon,” Schott said. “If they have a grant, let’s do it.”