The thing about the Grinch was that he came around in the end.
No such thing has happened in San Marino, one of California's wealthiest communities, where town leaders discourage nonresidents from using Lacy Park by sticking them with an entrance fee on weekends.
City Manager Matt Ballantyne tells me there has been zero discussion about reviewing the policy, so our only option is to keep the pressure up.
As I reported, I wasn't all that steamed about the $4 outsider fee until I discovered the gated park has been upgraded with several hundred thousand dollars in state funds over the years. In other words, I and other nonresidents have paid for the improvements.
Readers by the dozens shared my pique, and one Pasadena resident typified the response.
"I am outraged that the city receives state money -- I had no idea," wrote Sally Howell, who lives near Lacy Park and has used it for years. Howell believes the fees are charged so Lacy won't become "a park full of brown-skinned people" from Alhambra and El Sereno.
San Marino City Council members insisted that wasn't the case. They told me that despite the substantial relative wealth of residents, city funds are tight because there's virtually no sales tax revenue. They said the park fees, instituted in 1990 and raised from $3 to $4 last month, were to cover the cost of park staff and upkeep.
You may recall that in my first column on this subject, I promised to check with the state parks department to see if it's legal for a city to receive state funds and still charge nonresidents.
Patti Keating, a state parks official, researched the matter and told me San Marino is in the clear. She said that despite the city's having received more than $600,000 in state funds for Lacy projects, state code allows a city to charge nonresident fees as long as they are reasonable and not excessive.
If that raises your blood pressure, so will the tip I got from three readers:
Even federal funds have been used to upgrade Lacy Park.
This was confirmed by Elisa Vasquez and Linda Jenkins at the L.A. County Community Development Commission. They told me that San Marino has in the past received nearly $70,000 annually in Community Development Block Grants.
Excuse me?
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development website on the block grant program describes it as a way "to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities" and as "an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities."
