vegetation in pomona’s parkstgyoung/pom_parks/vegetation in... · 2019-08-10 · management,...

Vegetation in Pomona’s Parks How are parks shaped by funding?

By: Belinda Gonez - May 15, 2019

PARKS IN POMONA - BELINDA GONEZ !1

Abstract

The City of Pomona is located at the southeast end of the Los Angeles County. It borders San

Bernardino County’s western boundary and is just five miles north of Orange County. Pomona covers

an area of approximately 23 square miles and enjoys a dry sub-tropical climate with an average

temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit with an average annual rainfall of 17.3 inches (City of Pomona).

Why are these things important? Based on environmental and population circumstances, there are

specific ways in which things such as vegetation and funding need to be allocated. This paper will

focus on several parks in the city of Pomona, including but not limited to Ganesha, Jaycee, Kiwanis,

Palomares, John F. Kennedy, and Country Crossing. We will be looking at the type of funding that goes

into Pomona’s parks, focusing on any present gaps, and how much of that goes into vegetation (trees,

plants, grass, etc) - if any at all. Vegetation plays an extremely crucial part in park planning and

management, provides nutritious benefits, and is necessary in the development of the human

relationship with nature. By the end, we want to offer solutions and new ideas to implement more

vegetation in our Pomona parks and include them more in annual budgets.


Introduction

Initially, it was expected to only focus on the funding of parks and how that all relates to

vegetation in the parks themselves, however going into the research a great deal was discovered in new

areas that sparked interest, such as the bridge gap between the park lover that wants more trees and

plants and animals incorporated in a park scenery versus the ones who feel too many trees calls for

danger and makes areas unsafe, they would rather be in an open space that is visibly clean and

aesthetically pleasing, also catering to their specific needs such as restrooms, playgrounds, a gym-like

ambiance, pet friendly, etc. New interests were sparked here and there throughout the process and the

following is what was found.

Across the US, urban parks are enjoying a renaissance. Dozens of new parks are being built or

restored and cities are being highly creative about how and where they are located. Space under

highways, on old rail infrastructure, reclaimed industrial waterfronts or even landfills are all in play as

development pressure on urban land grows along with outdoor recreational needs (Nagel, 2017).

The rise of innovative parks are helping cities face common challenges, from demographic

shifts, to global competitiveness to changing climate conditions. Several mayors and other city officials

in several communities are taking a fresh look at parks to improve overall community health and sense

of place, strengthen local economies by attracting new investments and creating jobs, and helping in

the movement of sustainability by managing storm water run-off, improving air quality, and much

more than we can even begin to touch on. When we think of city parks holistically, accounting for their

full role in communities, they become some of the smartest investments we can make. However, in

many communities public funding for building and maintaining city parks is inadequate, leaving


municipalities to look for innovative ways to ‘close the gap’ between current budgets and tomorrow’s

potential (Nagel, 2017).

Recent reviews of biodiversity preferences and urban park use have found that the aesthetic

appearance of urban natural space is more important to the majority of users than high levels of

biodiversity (Botzat et al. 2016; McCormack et al. 2010). Within these spaces, people enjoy seeing

focal landscape features such as water as well as wildlife and plants, particularly trees and colorful

displays of flowers (Botzat et al. 2016; McCormack et al. 2010). Whilst people expect rural nature to

be natural, they have different expectations of urban natural spaces (Cooper et al. 2017). Within urban

areas, people prefer spaces which are well maintained and contain amenities such as paths, seating,

toilets, and play equipment (McCormack et al. 2010). They are also more likely to visit relatively open

landscapes without dense vegetation, as they feel safer in areas with high visibility (Qiu et al. 2013).

Bertram and Rehdanz (2015) found park visitors considered a park’s cleanliness a more important

characteristic than the ‘naturalness’ of its appearance.

It is crystal clear that the future of parks is a tricky one as there are many layers and aspects that

need to be considered when deciding where funding should be coming from and how it should be

distributed, how ineffective budget cuts in this area are to not just civilians but the city and even the

county of Los Angeles itself, and addressing the fact that every individual wants a little something that

is different from parks, but collectively, we must be willing to meet in the middle. Parks are shared and

have been proven to be a necessary part of daily life, making sure everyone feels included is important

and in the case of Pomona that should not be so difficult as it is one of the few cities in this county that

has over ten successful parks.


If the funding is not right, the flow and management of parks will suffer and it will show and

you would then be taking a way a part of life that is essential in the development of not only the child’s

mind, but the continued growth and evolution of every human being and their relationship to the

natural environment - though parks are mainly seen as strictly recreational, there is still something

nature-y about them when living in the middle of a suburb.

Methods

First, an examination of several parks in the city of Pomona was done. This included observing

the number of trees in coordination with the number of people attending the park that day and the

overall size of the landscape. Temperature was definitely taken into account as well as we know

Pomona is known to garner really high temperatures and trees and vegetation aid in the control of

microclimates providing a shady, restful place that can continue to be pleasant versus a park out in the

open that is dead during the summer because it is just too hot to be there.

Second, the results were compared to all other parks examined and an attempt to collect as much

data on public funding of parks was conducted, however this is where it gets tricky throughout this

research project as there were very little individuals willing to help and speak on the matter and the

data that was collected through online resources just was not enough or somehow showed to not add

up, but we did our best to organize our results with what was presented to us about budgeting and

funding.

Lastly, a case study was conducted in order to find out the relationship civilians have to their

public parks. This was done through a survey which turned out to be highly successful as the responses

were more than bargained for and truly shaped the results and purpose of this paper. The survey was


only five questions in length, but all participants were encouraged to give as much detail as possible

and not hold anything back. In order for participants to feel safe and envelope was handed to them

along with their surveys which they would individually be able to seal and conceal should they feel

uncomfortable giving out any personal information. The case study included 60 participants, half men

and half women. The study was conducted at the following locations over the course of three weekend

days: Ganesha, Jaycee, Kiwanis, Palomares, John F. Kennedy, and Country Crossing.

Below you may view a copy of the survey itself.


Results

After visiting Ganesha, Jaycee, Kiwanis, Palomares, John F. Kennedy, and Country Crossing

parks, what we gathered told us much more than crunching numbers trying to determine whether or not

the funds put into public parks were actually going to the parks themselves and what happens to the

money when these parks are constantly undergoing budget cuts.

Most of these parks as is the case with all of Pomona’s parks are catered to the open spaced

preference park visitor. Yes, the trees are there, the vegetation is all there and there is a variety,

however the diversity is at a minimum and in several parks it is lacking completely. Currently, there are

millions of dollars that get put aside for renovations, new parks, and adding features that are making

these parks more accessible to a larger group of different types of people including the elderly and

those with disabilities. Which is great, you do not see very many cities working so tirelessly to be

inclusive of all types of people, however being that Pomona is one of the poorer cities in the Los

Angeles County, many of these new budgets and landscape designs are put to a halt without public

knowledge. After reading several responses from the survey, many individuals reported feeling left in

the dark about the city’s plans and issues, especially those dealing with economics.

People care, the public is demanding more inclusivity and less exclusivity. Out of the sixty

people that were surveyed, more than 80% of them reported visiting their public parks as an activity

they participate in very often. The people of Pomona love their parks, they want to see all these new

changes that are constantly being talked about and become works in progress, but are often left

confused when they hear new reports of budget cuts. I as much as they are completely in the dark when

it comes to trying to do research on what exactly is going on behind closed doors. Personally, I have no

business in Pomona other than I attended university in the city for two years, but during this process I


found that some of my favorite parks are in this city and I want to continue coming back after this

research to see how things unfold. Many of the individuals who chose to participate in this research

were very open to communicating and so many of them are very knowledgeable in politics and

corruption. It really makes you wonder what we work so tirelessly for if not just to pay our bills and be

able to have the luxury of enjoying a few hours out of your weekend at a park. The people of Pomona

deserve their parks.

When asked about vegetation, this one went completely black and white. 50% of participants

agreed that the city of Pomona implement more vegetation into their public park landscapes as they

crave to feel the beauty of nature and trees, plants, and flowers provide that for them. They also claim

that it gets really hot during the summer and adding more trees to parks will not only increase fauna

(which is also important to a lot of participants), but generate positive changes in the issues of climate

change we are currently undergoing. Several people reported avoiding parks during the summer in the

daytime because there is just hardly any coverage. The other 50% reported that being that they live in a

fairly poor city, having too many trees actually hinders their safety and they would much rather have

their dollars put into implementing more recreational activities and features to parks as well as building

more parks in general, which ties into sustainability. Generally speaking, people want more green

space and sustainability incorporated into their parks.

According to several online sources, the millions of dollars the city sets aside for the parks

comes from different sources, including a $500,000 Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open

Space District grant and city funds (Rodriguez, 2017). However, most of the time participants report

only hearing about budget cuts and halts in park projects. Most participants reported not feeling like

their tax dollars are going toward anything they want them to go to, they are curious as to why the


parks are always left last and those who strongly encourage more vegetation do want to see a good

portion of funding going to the planting of more diverse vegetation and vegetation in general.

Participants want more transparency. They want to bee able to trust their city as their best

interest in mind and that there is no funny business going on. Accountability means a lot to most of

them and Pomona’s park goers are ready to take action. The fact of thee matter is, people are attracted

to the city because of its’ parks and Pomona could really thrive as a city if they focused more on one

thing instead of trying to make a ton of other tiny things happen all at once.

As far as vegetation goes, it is not clear whether it is even included in the budget, however it is

important to take into consideration that the more vegetation, the more, generally speaking, people are

drawn to the area. The city of Pomona could really use this as a strategy for some of their parks as a

good amount of participants did indeed report they want to see more vegetation incorporated into their

parks.

Discussion and Conclusion

So what does it all mean then? Parks are definitely more important to the lives of many than we

are led to believe and if you find yourself residing in an area that is as poor and populated as the city of

Pomona, it should follow that better management be an absolute given and not an option.

But how can we improve management exactly? Low management showmanship usually has

more to do with money and allocation than anything else. We are clearly not seeing the results we want

to see and sometimes we are truly left to wonder where the money is actually going because

realistically it is hard to tell from the point of view of an average civilian. You can be told and shown

that “xyz” is where the money is going, however behind closed doors that may not be the case.


As we saw from our survey responses, the majority of people do not trust their governing

officials. It is really difficult to gain the people’s trust when your actions are showing the opposite of

what your mouth is promising. People want to see a change, they want more funding to go into their

parks. Though there is a large bridge between the people who want their parks to be more natural and

filled with beautiful vegetation and those who prefer a safer ambiance with more open space, there is a

way to find the balance in between. Collectively, we are evolving, we want to move forward and see

real changes being made. More of us are caring about funding and sustainability. We are asking the

right questions and heading in thee right direction because of it.

We know very well that public parks provide a crucial recreation resource that contributes to the

wellbeing of residents. They provide us with a location for exercise, social interaction, and reflection

(Aldous 2007; Baur and Tynon 2010; Sugiyama et al. 2010), and people with better access to urban

parks live longer (Mitchell and Popham 2008), exercise more (Bai et al. 2013; Thompson 2013), have

better social cohesion (Kazmierczak 2013), and report better general health (van Dillen et al. 2012).

Public parks also provide a critically important habitat for flora and fauna in an otherwise hostile

urban landscape (Zhou and Chu 2012), and they have commonly been found to harbor much higher

levels of biodiversity than their surrounding urban areas (Matteson et al. 2013; Strohbach et al. 2013).

Thus, public parks and the ecosystems within them provide important recreational ecosystem services

for people in cities while also contributing to the sustainability of urban landscapes (Bolund and

Hunhammar 1999; Wu 2013, 2014). There is no doubt why anyone should feel like public parks are

unnecessary, in fact there has been an increasing demand for more parks to be built. However, we must

fix the problem within before we start expanding. Close that gap that exists between awareness and


budget cuts, find the balance so that all parties may be able to enjoy all parks to their fullest extent, and

as an individual, becoming more involved.

Some ways we can help close the gap are seeking to expand public and private donations,

reconsider our current uses of funding, explore recreational fees, elect individuals who share common

interests and put urban landscapes and public parks at the top of their agenda, write to your current city

officials, take action on a personal level, attend city meetings, get involved, stay informed, educate

yourself, spread the word, fight for more green space and sustainability, and the list goes on. If so

many of us are unhappy with the way things are set up, then we should not sit back anymore and hope

that someone is going to say the things we want to say for us, it is up to you. This is your call to action.

The torch is being handed down to you, will you take it to the finish line?

The future of parks rest in our hands. We need to be the change we wish to see and slowly but

surely we shall watch things unfold in our favor. We need parks, plain and simple. It is our duty as

human beings and occupants of this land to do what is right, conserve what is left, preserve what once

was, and improve where we can. I believe in us and the future of our parks. The city of Pomona is the

perfect example of how plans to innovate parks and grow the number of parks in your city could

amount to almost nothing if there is no adequate plan for budgeting and funding.

According to an online source, at the beginning of the 2017 year, the city of Pomona had six new

innovative projects in the works for public parks. The six parks and their projects included:

• Kennedy Park — Field improvements, but unfortunately there was only enough funding at the

time to add lighting and no updates exist since.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Park — The existing picnic gazebo would be replaced, ramps for those

with disabilities would be added and some concrete work.


• Esperanza y Alegria Park — Construction of a new pocket park on a lot within the Angela-

Chanslor neighborhood in south Pomona; it requires clearing and grading, planting trees and shrubs,

concrete work for a combination basketball court/volleyball court, among other elements.

• Garfield Park — Addition of ramps accessible by the disabled.

• Phillips Paw Park — Construction of the city’s first dog park within a portion of Phillips

Ranch Park with separate areas for large and small dogs, agility skills equipment and other

amenities.

• Ganesha Park — A tree grove is planned for a section of the park along White Avenue and the

westbound on-ramp of the 10 Freeway, which requires turf removal, tree plantings and installing an

irrigation system (Rodriguez, 2017).

And, still, there are many plans to improve the park system and build new designs for new parks

and older parks as well. We have our work cut out for us, but we must not cease to continue to fight for

green space and sustainable urban landscape use. As long as we continue the conversation, there

should be no reason why we cannot close that gap between funding and budgeting of public parks and

the public’s desires. It is clear the city of Pomona wants to see changes, it is also clear that Pomona is a

city that thrives on the presence of as many parks as it does have, there are just a few things that need

work on in order to ensure every person’s park needs are met. A city will not succeed if the needs of

civilians are neglected and then what would it all have been for? A city without any people, what

would that look like? The health of the city and its’ civilians rests in the solid fact that properly

managed funding and budgeting and consistency are essential.

I urge you to urge more transparency in the system. Show your receipts. This is a collective act

and thus we should all feel included in the process whether it interests us or not, having these sources


available to everyone can really shape how we view money because as of lately we are not taking

enough responsibility in the areas we are lacking. It is easy to point the finger at the “big people” in

charge, but when we take a step back and truly analyze what is at stake here, it is not so hard to see that

we are part of what makes up the big people, they are a reflection of us as we are of them and thus we

have a duty to our younger generations and our environment to fix things, starting with our parks and

how we budget certain aspects of them.

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https://cities-today.com/new-public-and-private-funding-strategies-for-urban-parks/

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