The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks is seeking community input to help update its Park Needs Assessment report, which will guide future funding, projects and amenities.
How you can get involved
Community members can share feedback about their local parks and the type of amenities they’d like to see prioritized via online surveys until mid-April.
Residents can also offer input in person this summer at one of the department’s community meetings or their local neighborhood council meeting. Recreation and Parks requested the city’s 99 neighborhood councils share feedback by June 2. The department will host a virtual community meeting on July 1.
Why this matters for Boyle Heights
This marks the department’s first Parks Needs Assessment effort since 2009. The department maintains 16,000 acres of parks and 92 miles of trails around the city of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County conducted similar park assessment reports in 2016 and 2022.
The county reports found Boyle Heights and other Eastside communities are in “high need” of green space and park investments. Community members can view their neighborhood’s park needs score here. The Recreation and Parks Department also has conditions assessments of park amenities graded as good, fair or poor.
The assessment is currently in the evaluation phase before a final Parks Needs Assessment report is set to be released this fall.
Protecting park funding and services was a priority for community members in attendance at two recent budget listening sessions in Boyle Heights and El Sereno hosted by CD 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado. The city is projected to face a $1 billion budget deficit in the coming 2025-26 budget year, meaning city departments like Recreation and Parks could see reductions in funding and staff.
“Right now, because of our budget deficit, I hate to say that city services are going to be lower,” Jurado told community members at her budget listening tour in El Sereno.
To learn more about the Park Needs Assessment, offer feedback on needs in your neighborhood or watch the virtual community meeting, visit needs.parks.lacity.gov.
Reporting for this story came from notes taken by Jaimé Rodriguez, a Los Angeles Documenter, at the CD 14 budget listening session hosted by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado in El Sereno. The Documenters program trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings. Check out the meeting notes and audio on Documenters.org.
