Recreation Facilities

A collaborative effort between the county, Brea and the Brea Olinda Unified School District has resulted in $150,000 in improvements to recreation facilities at Laurel Elementary School and adjacent Lagos de Moreno Park. The new facilities, which were dedicated late last month, are available for community use after school and on weekends. Half the funding was provided by the Brea Redevelopment Agency and the other half was provided by a grant from the county's Third Supervisorial District.

Robert M. Wilkinson, who during four terms on the Los Angeles City Council between 1953 and 1979 helped lay the foundation for the development of his districts in the San Fernando Valley, has died. He was 89. Wilkinson, who had broken an arm and hip in a fall, died Monday after surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said his daughter Noreen Hodapp. Wilkinson moved to the Valley with his family in 1936, and when the Canoga Park High School graduate first ran for City Council in 1953 at age 32, he told The Times he wanted to see "more young people getting into city government.

The newly renovated and expanded Panorama Recreation Center will be dedicated today in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Renovations included the addition of 2,658 square feet to the original 6,097-square-foot facility, which was built in 1960, said Arline DeSanctis, an aide to City Councilman Joel Wachs. The $775,000 for renovations came from city funds set aside for the construction of new recreation facilities, she said. The facility is at 8600 Hazeltine Ave.

As part of a matching gift to preserve art, music and science education in Irvine public schools, the Donald Bren Foundation gave the school district a $700,000 check Tuesday. The money was presented to trustees even as Irvine Unified School District officials counted ballots Tuesday night from an election on a proposed parcel tax for recreational facilities to aid the financially strapped district. Officials for the Bren-owned Irvine Co.

Property owners in a mail-in election have narrowly rejected the continuation of annual assessments to pay for the upkeep of Claremont school recreation facilities. The election was held in the wake of Proposition 218, passed statewide last year, which requires property owners to approve local levies for public services. The levy was first implemented four years ago when only a school board vote was required to approve it. Asked whether they wish to continue to raise $1.

Acity report Wednesday showed that 20% of the recreational centers in the San Fernando Valley are not being fully used, room that could be dedicated to boost girls' access to sports programs without biting into those that mainly serve boys. "There's a lot of opportunity to expand the pie in the Valley region," said Councilman Mike Feuer, chair of the committee that requested the survey from the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The city's first public gymnasium will be open to the public Wednesday with a grand-opening ceremony. The event includes speeches by the mayor and other council members, food and a free basketball clinic for all ages. The $1.5-million facility, which is the second phase of the Capistrano Community Center, is part of a master plan to create more recreation facilities and open space for residents. The gym is at 25925 Camino del Avion.

San Dimas and La Verne property owners in a mail-in election have overwhelmingly approved the continuation of annual assessments for the upkeep of Bonita Unified School District's recreation facilities. When all the ballots were counted Tuesday on whether to continue to raise $798,000 annually through a recreation assessment district, 64% of landowners favored the measure.

Students at the junior and senior high school levels will have a voice in planning their recreation facilities following a recent approval by the City Council of a Youth Advisory Committee to the Parks and Recreation Commission. The seven-member committee will be made up of city residents between the ages of 12 and 18, according to a plan from Bruce Wegner, parks and recreation manager. There will be three junior high and four high school students on the panel.

Recreation Committee member Marilyn Vainer said the city is in desperate need of more soccer and baseball fields, a gymnasium and a community center. To address deficiencies, the committee wants to create a new park and facilities plan to update the aging plan written 20 years ago. The original document, created in July 1980, inventoried parks and recreation facilities and determined needs for future ones.

Twelve-year-old skateboarder Elvis Garcia launches off a three-foot ramp and catches air. The pint-sized daredevil from Watts is accustomed to dodging cars and police in search of places to practice. But as he flies across Lynwood's new skate park, his sole challenge lies in completing the daring "transfer" trick--soaring from one ramp to another. Not this time. Elvis tumbles when his board hits the rail and he falls hard onto the concrete.

It was 9:15 a.m. on a Friday, and the parking lot at the Montanoso Recreation Center in Mission Viejo was jammed. Inside, heads bobbed to the beat of a Jazzercise tape. Legs pumped on the Lifecycles and treadmills. The pool outside churned with morning water aerobics class. The tennis courts were alive with smashes and volleys. Just another day in this South County city.

For almost a year, Stephen Roney and the two Ladera Ranch adult softball teams he plays with have had to load their cars with equipment for a 15-minute drive deep into neighboring Mission Viejo for their games. Their home games. Now, with the opening today of the county's first new sports park in nearly 20 years, Roney and teammates will be able to walk to their practices and games.

In Northeast Los Angeles, residents, soccer aficionados, environmentalists and even high school students are arguing over the future of a pristine jewel in their midst: 190 acres of rolling grasslands in the Ascot Hills. On the one hand, the locals and die-hard soccer enthusiasts support a plan by City Councilman Nick Pacheco to create a recreation park on a 30-acre portion of the mountainous, city-owned preserve, which borders the communities of El Sereno and Hillside Village.

Inspired by Tiger Woods, city parks officials announced Wednesday they will open a golf academy for city youth next month in Griffith Park. The Tregnan Golf Academy at Coolidge is set to open July 10, providing city children with the chance to take lessons on three practice holes and a driving range. The facility, on the site of the old Coolidge pitch-and-putt course, also includes a clubhouse with classrooms. Instruction will include golf merchandising, club repair and greens maintenance.

Recreation Committee member Marilyn Vainer said the city is in desperate need of more soccer and baseball fields, a gymnasium and a community center. To address deficiencies, the committee wants to create a new park and facilities plan to update the aging plan written 20 years ago. The original document, created in July 1980, inventoried parks and recreation facilities and determined needs for future ones.

The Los Angeles City Council gave the first official nod Tuesday to a list of projects that would likely be funded in the next five years by Proposition K money, including more than $31 million for recreation facilities in the San Fernando Valley. The council unanimously agreed that the projects in the Prop. K five-year allocation plan--a report developed by the L.A. for Kids Steering Committee--were worth funding.

Regarding Nicole Yorkin's fine article, "Taking Back the Parks" (May 28): It is good to know there is hope for dead parks, which exist in many California cities other than Los Angeles. I believe that a decade of inadequate funding for facility maintenance, recreation programs and the hiring of staff to do this work are the major factors that made so many parks vulnerable to gang activity and drug dealing. During this period, propositions 13 and 4 (the Gann initiative) have squeezed city and county budgets very hard.

The city's first public gymnasium will be open to the public Wednesday with a grand-opening ceremony. The event includes speeches by the mayor and other council members, food and a free basketball clinic for all ages. The $1.5-million facility, which is the second phase of the Capistrano Community Center, is part of a master plan to create more recreation facilities and open space for residents. The gym is at 25925 Camino del Avion.

To the delight of horse owners worried that the stables at El Toro Marine base would close, Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved a lease with the U.S. Navy that allows uninterrupted use of recreational facilities there. Board Chairman Charles V. Smith said he has been assured by Navy officials in San Diego that the lease will be signed before July 2 when the Marines leave the base for good. "The Navy is agreeable right down the line," Smith said.