County OKs Beach, Park Ad Program

SANTA ANA — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ambitious marketing plan that permits the county to seek corporate sponsors and sell advertising space on beach and park benches, trash cans, lifeguard towers and signs.

Supervisors praised the proposal as a novel way of generating up to $800,000 a year in park revenue without raising taxes or fees. But they vowed to carefully monitor the content of the ads and veto any objectionable or garish items.

“I’m very prudish about what I consider marketable” for the beaches, said Supervisor Marian Bergeson. “So I will be scrutinizing these [ads] very closely.”

Some environmentalists have raised concerns about the marketing plan and argued that ads for soft-drink companies and auto makers don’t belong in natural park settings.

But officials insist that the campaign will be tasteful, noting that Los Angeles County and Huntington Beach already have similar programs.

The county will now create “adoption” programs in which companies agree to pay for beach and park maintenance costs in exchange for signs that recognize their contributions. Additionally, corporations will be able to put logos on signs, trash cans and other objects in exchange for some sort of donation.

Several costal cities as well as the California Department of Parks and Recreation--which runs the county’s seven state beaches--are joining with the county in the marketing drive. Each government will have final approval for ads in their jurisdictions.

Board Chairman Roger R. Stanton said that he was concerned about potential “visual pollution” when he first heard of the plan but that parks officials convinced him that advertising would not harm the appearance of the beaches.

No one spoke in opposition to the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting.

In other action Tuesday, the board approved in concept a plan to refinance a series of pension obligation bonds in an effort to head off a potential cash shortage in the next few years.

Under the current financing, the county would be required to increase its annual payments from $28 million this year to $53 million in 2003. The sharp increase could cause budgetary problems in those years because the county would have less money available to fund programs and services.

By refinancing the bonds, the county would gain a more stable payment schedule of about $25 million a year for the next few years.

Supervisors peppered county finance experts with questions about the refinancing. Supervisors said they were mindful of the board’s fateful approval of an earlier pension bond financing just months before the county’s Dec. 6, 1994 bankruptcy.

The board will take another vote on the current financing proposal once details of the plan are finalized.

“We are going to have to have all our questions answered in detail before we support this,” said Supervisor William G. Steiner.