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CALIFORNIA Parks promised to poor neighborhoods unbuilt years later Parks pledged to poor neighborhoods unbuilt years later Comment By ALISON NOON Associated Press MailTribune.com By ALISON NOON Associated Press Posted Aug. 9, 2016 at 6:04 PM By ALISON NOON Associated Press Posted Aug. 9, 2016 at 6:04 PM » Social News SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A decade after California voters approved spending $400 million to build parks in some of the state's poorest neighborhoods, an Associated Press review found fewer than half the 126 projects have been built. Now Democratic lawmakers are looking 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." Diana Bulnes, a department spokeswoman, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the park or five others for which the city of Los Angeles has received funding. One has been completed, according to state data. Community organizer Charisse Bremond Weaver said the park has been stalled amid bureaucratic hoops that became more problematic after Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated Los Angeles' redevelopment agency and hundreds of others when California was climbing out of the recession. About 54 percent of voters approved Proposition 84 in 2006, allowing California to sell $5.4 billion in bonds and distribute the money to water, parks and conservation projects. The initiative promised $400 million to create parks in neighborhoods without them or to expand overused parks in low-income neighborhoods. Based on guidelines that prioritized the neediest communities, the state parks department chose 126 parks and recreation center projects and awarded them $396 million from a pool of 900 applicants that requested $3 billion, data provided by the state show. At least 59 projects have been built, according to data from the California Natural Resources Agency, which updated the parks' progress in July following AP inquiries, and interviews conducted by the AP with local and other officials overseeing the projects. The unbuilt parks account for about $230 million, or more than half, of the money given out from the 2006 initiative. Parks pledged to disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles County account for one-third of all the projects and one-third of those that are incomplete, the data show. The rest are scattered across the state. By ALISON NOON Associated Press MailTribune.com By ALISON NOON Associated Press Posted Aug. 9, 2016 at 6:04 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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