IMPROVEMENT BONDS GARNERING MIXED RESULTS.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles area voters were split on park improvement bonds, giving county Proposition A a commanding lead but turning down city Measure K.

``I'm very pleased,'' said county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Proposition A's main supporter. ``This was a bottom-up campaign that reflects the grass-roots support for this measure.''

Proposition A is a $319 million bond issue which would pay for new and improved parks and recreational facilities in every city in Los Angeles County, as well as for county beaches, museums and other facilities.

City Measure K would assess all properties in Los Angeles to raise $776 million over 30 years to build new park and recreation facilities throughout the city.

City Councilman Nate Holden, a Measure K opponent, applauded the results, saying, ``This is very good. Local taxpayers had too much on their agenda this year. Enough is enough.''

The city measure, called L.A. for Kids, in many cases would provide funds to complete projects partially financed by Proposition A.

To pay for the county bonds, an assessment would be levied on property owners based on the size and type of parcels, though caps have been placed on how much owners of large vacant parcels would have to pay.

The measure would cost an average homeowner, with a home on a seventh-of-an-acre plot, less than $7 a year.

The city proposition would cost an average Los Angeles homeowner on the same-size lot about $18 a year.

Overall, the county project calls for spending more than $40 million in and around the San Fernando Valley, on a variety of projects ranging from senior citizens centers in Glendale and the Mid-Valley to expansions and improvements at Hansen and Sepulveda dams, Griffith Park and Travel Town.

That total includes $17 million in parkland acquisitions in the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy ringing the Valley; $7 million in competitive grants for programs targeting at-risk youth; $1.7 million for El Cariso Park in Sylmar; and $700,000 for a San Fernando youth center.

The county bond was closely modeled on a voter-approved 1992 predecessor, also called Proposition A and totaling $540 million. Funds from that measure have helped renovate the Hollywood Bowl and acquire parkland throughout the Santa Monica Mountains among other projects.

Before the elections, supporters of the two measures had been concerned that voters would balk at a ballot containing several funding initiatives, including a billion-dollar school bond and an advisory vote on a proposed landscape and lighting district for the Los Angeles Community College District.

Taxpayer advocates criticized the measures, saying the use of benefit assessments and landscape and lighting districts by local governments are dodges around limits put in place by Proposition 13 and older state laws requiring two-thirds majority votes on general obligation bonds.