Greening a neighborhood has numerous positive affects on a community. The following are just a few of the benefits of greenspaces:

• Well maintained greenspaces such as parks and community gardens add to the aesthetic appeal to a neighborhood and influence home values.
• Parks are necessary in commuities to create and maintain a good quality of life
• Property values are higher on tree-lined streets. Streets lined with the same tree species have higher property values than those with several different types of trees
• Parks and recreational areas offer residents respite from the urban environment
• Environmentally, parks and greenspaces create much needed oxygen and turfs absorb rain water that alleviates storm water runoff.
• Parks promote neighborhood pride
• In areas close to freeways and airports trees cut down on noise pollution by acting as sound barriers

Vacant lots

Vacant lots are detrimental to communities. Vacant lots are aesthetically unappealing and repel investment from both business and homeowners; they often become spaces for illicit activities. Not only do vacant lots affect a community internally by posing dangerous conditions and attributing a shared sense of decay, but externally the lots brand a community as undesirable.

Currently there are approximately 30,000 city and county owned empty parcels of land in Los Angeles County.