Friday, June 8, 2001

         Parks Are for All the People
 

              The notion that all county recreational facilities are for all the people in the
         county is basic to Orange County life. To the south, Salt Creek Beach Park is alive
         on Sundays with picnics prepared in homes of different nationalities from across the
         region. To the north, a day on the water at Sunset Marina Park--with its marina and
         landing--draws people from inland.
              The parks may be used primarily by people living nearby, but they aren't only
         for them. Would anybody suggest that the county shouldn't fund Salt Creek if the
         surfers and residents of the host city, Dana Point, turned out to be the primary
         users? Or that because Seal Beach might have the shortest haul to the marina, the
         sheriff and harbor patrol shouldn't cover the area?
              To hear Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad tell it, geography is
         everything when it comes to the RV parking, horse stables and golf facilities being
         funded by the county at the closed El Toro Marine base.
              Coad, from North County, is unhappy with continuing the subsidy that
         supervisors approved last August to keep those programs operating, citing heavy
         South County usage. It's also no secret that she is unhappy with South County for
         its opposition to an airport at El Toro. She has threatened to vote against renewal
         because a study she requested shows the programs are being used only by residents
         from South County.
              "North County pays while South County plays," she said. Coad's 4th
         Supervisorial District covers Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma, Orange and
         Placentia, nowhere near El Toro.
              Well, it's also true that the Orange County Zoo is in Orange and is owned,
         staffed and operated by the county. How many people from Lake Forest avail
         themselves regularly of that facility? If it's only a handful, should the county stop
         paying? If the philosophy Coad applied to El Toro were extended, only those living
         in the vicinity of any county park would use it or pay for it. Every supervisorial
         district would become a jurisdiction unto itself, coveting its own regional recreational
         assets.
              For the record, the county's official position is more expansive. "Thanks to a
         wealth of natural resources and visionary land management, millions of people have
         and will continue to have year-round access to over 30,000 acres of spectacular land
         and water where they can experience a number of activities and attractions," says
         the county's web site.
              Instead of playing politics, Coad should click on to her county page and adopt a
         more generous view. 

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