Since 2008, LA has taken $40 million from the Recreation and Parks budget to fund other city services. The cuts have meant park staff has been cut by a third, and programs from sports to CPR training and dance classes for seniors have been cancelled. And now Steve Soboroff, former head of the city's parks, all-purpose rich-guy-about-town, and cofounder of a group called Parks Save, tells SCPR we need to find some "creative" ways to claw some of that money back. His ideas include putting solar panels over park parking lots to generate power, soliciting grants from private foundations, and seeking corporate sponsorship for city parks. Because what's more creative than that? Here's Soboroff: "Why not go to Nike, and say 'hey, here's our 40 parks that need the basketball courts redone, and if you want to put your 'swoosh' in the middle, god speed,' ... To me that's commercialization with taste."
· Steve Soboroff: find creative ways to fund LA's parks [SCPR]
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