Los Angeles QUIMBY Program
With the recent discovery that the Recreation and Parks Department of Los Angeles has collected more than $120 million dollars in fees (Quimby) without building adequate parks comes at a time when government transparency is at an all time low. The QUIMBY program is a fee charged to developers in the city of Los Angeles on each unit they build ranging from $9,000 - $12,000 per unit for the development of public parks and recreation. If the developer chooses to pay for this, the developer has the option to skip the construction of their own recreational area for their residents.
The admission from the Recreation and Parks Department not only shows its incompetence in management and planning, but it also gives an unsavory light on how gross the accounting and accountability is within Los Angeles city’s general city manager’s office. The reason why funding of this size hasn’t been dispersed is the time it requires to plan out appropriate projects and to find suitable locations to fit the Quimby ordinance requirements. As Recreation and Parks General Manager Jon Kirk said, “The department has neither the staff nor infrastructure to efficiently track and manage Quimby funds” (LA Downtown).
With this insight, why doesn’t the city take over the department and refocus the agency to partner up with another agency such as the CRA/LA? The Community Redevelopment Agency seems positioned to really make an impact and propose radical changes that can benefit the residents of Downtown LA. With over $120 million collected and only $17 million dollars allocated, a major shift needs to happen to increase the rate of development in parks and recreational areas. Major sources of these funds were from new downtown development sites (such as luxury condos/apts) and residents worry that these fees wouldn’t stay near downtown because of the high cost of land and the scarcity of available sites for parks.
Advocates worry that these fees would be used by other areas of the city even though Quimby ordinance restricts funding outside of the 2-mile range of the collected development site. City officials are looking over to reversing that ruling which is expected to pass without much resistance but is a wrong move if the City wants to see an improvement in the façade of Downtown Los Angeles.
-Phillip Yang