Sacramento's Hollywood Park residents push for long-awaited park as city navigates budget deficit

CBS News

2 days ago

SACRAMENTO — Something's been missing from Sacramento's Hollywood Park community for more than seven decades: the park.
Now, many residents say it's about time the city finally builds a public park, even though Sacramento is facing a multi-million-dollar budget deficit.
"I feel like we have everything that we need here except for our park," said Claire Sallee, president of the Hollywood Park Neighborhood Association.
Sallee says the community is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, but unlike other established neighborhoods, no city park was ever built there.
"Maybe something happened with the plans, but what I do know is that we don't have one," she said.
Sacramento's current goal is to have a park within a 10-minute walk of every home. But Hollywood Park is right in the middle of a park desert.
The closest playground is nearly a mile away, across busy Fruitridge Road.
"It's hard for the kids. They don't get to bike anywhere," Sallee said.
A vacant two-acre lot on 23rd Street has been identified as the best spot for a new park, but paying for it is a problem.
"It's really challenging to figure out how do you build a new park, how do you fund it, how do you maintain it," said City Councilmember Caity Maple.
Maple is now proposing to create a new community financing district, something that didn't exist back in the 1950s when Hollywood Park homes were built but is common in new neighborhoods like Natomas.
"I often have community members who come to me and say, 'Why do they get really nice parks and we don't?' And the answer is because it was a master planned community and those districts' fees were built in," Maple said.
The proposal would require a vote to place an annual tax on the approximately 600 Hollywood Park homes.
"I think that this would be such a benefit to our neighborhood," Sallee said.
There are more than 80 other parts of Sacramento that don't have a nearby park, and if this pilot project is successful, it could be used in other neighborhoods.
"I would love to see this if it makes sense and it works for this community to see this throughout the rest of the city of Sacramento," Maple said.
City leaders say the proposed new fee could be placed on the June 2026 ballot, and other fundraising efforts would be held to help offset the cost of purchasing the property.