A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES :...

The slanting autumn sun of Southern California shines equitably every morning on two parks.

At first glance, the 11-acre respite known as Ross Snyder Recreation Center in South Los Angeles appears to be a beckoning oasis. A closer look reveals disrepair--tennis court nets missing, grass worn bare. The scars of the yet-to-be rebuilt community center torched in 1989 dispel any remaining illusion. The park’s other aging structures beg for renewal.

Across town, the six-acre Woodland Hills Recreation Center nestles in the West Valley hills just beyond the gleaming Warner Center. The early-morning light touches the metal of the new batting cage. The park’s lawns are green, the 4,500-square-foot community center is clean and the mature oaks and eucalyptus are majestic shade-givers.

Welcome to “recreation apartheid,” the result of an economic system that ensures state-of-the-art services for the well-to-do and leaves dead parks for the have-nots.

Ross Snyder park, near the Blue Line tracks at 41st Street, has the recreational basics--lighted ball diamonds, tennis courts, open space, picnic areas and a swimming pool (empty and graffiti-scarred). The city’s archaic funding formula, which relates staff merely to park size, provides for two recreation directors, $19,760 for part-time recreation specialists and $2,500 in supplies annually. Fees and charges generated $8,636 more.

Crime, unemployment and a myriad of social problems are not factored into the funding formula.

Recreation director Manuel Droz, who has been working without an assistant since the 1989 fire, begs, borrows and squeezes every nickel to offer modest recreation services to hundreds of poor families, many headed by single parents. Droz and 17 teen-age volunteers run year-round sports serving 300 youths and a camp program attracting 50 campers at a time at $5 per week.

Little League, the American Youth Soccer Organization, swimming and track clubs, all rites of passage for suburban youth, do not exist in South Los Angeles. Most federal grants, foundations and charitable organizations do not support parks in poor communities. Movie theaters, malls and other commercial recreation services are absent here as well.

The Woodland Hills park, under the leadership of Senior Director Ed Bates and Director Tracie Field, has a strong support staff and generates $500,000 in annual fees and donations. It offers state-of-the-art recreation services. The park is active with young athletes, dancers and artisans. Hundreds of men and women play on softball teams and enroll in leisure skill classes. Camp Sharwood, the park’s acclaimed year-round day camp, is considered a bargain at $200 a child for two weeks. The baseball boosters raised funds for a batting cage and 250 volunteers, mostly men, help Bates and Field run one of the best youth sports programs in the San Fernando Valley. Dodgers Jay Johnston, Ron Cey, Tommy Lasorda and Hall of Famer Ernie Banks were the speakers for the last four sports banquets.

Unrealistic criteria for park resource allocation have allowed Ross Snyder to stand in disrepair--understaffed, underprogrammed and underused.

But there are viable solutions--for almost no extra money.

The city Parks Department collected $23 million last year from such things as zoo and golf course fees and permits. A portion of this account could be designated for facility and program enhancement in depressed areas without going to the City Council for more tax revenues.

A number of at-risk parks were helped by a city-sponsored urban impact program that was abandoned a few years ago for lack of funds. Let’s revive it on a smaller scale. Similarly, a set portion of recreation user fees, which amounted to an estimated $10 million last year, could be set aside for center directors in needy areas to fund innovative programs. One way to do this would be for parks in coastal and valley areas, where most of the park fees were collected, to designate surplus funds to support needy “sister parks.”

Finally, why not build corporate sponsorships for L.A.’s parks? Troubled communities require the sustained commitment of private funds as they gradually develop their own revenue bases.

The L.A. Clippers are improving inner-city basketball courts. Other professional teams, who reap the benefits of inner-city athletes, need to help. The Southern California Tennis Assn. inner-city junior tennis program and the Amateur Athletic Foundation sports clubs are models for youth sports organizations. They should be encouraged to expand beyond their suburban base.

In the spirit of one L.A., let’s start evening the odds for the kids at Ross Snyder park.