In a recent
post, I recounted a tour of five public parks. They were the parks assigned to me in my role
as a member of the Petaluma Recreation, Park, and Music Commission. My task was to do occasional oversight,
looking for condition and maintenance issues.
I was
disappointed to find only 32 people using the five parks on a lovely Sunday
afternoon in early spring. That wasn’t
32 people per park. It was 32 people
total in all five parks, an average of barely more than six folks per park.
From my
observations of the five parks, plus a look at another pair of City parks, I
began formulating a hypothesis on what makes parks successful, or unsuccessful,
in our time.
Since the
post was published, the Commission has met.
After I reported my concern about the low usage of my assigned parks, the
Parks Director suggested that I visit Leghorn Park on Petaluma’s eastside. I was familiar with the park, but hadn’t
visited in several years, so readily accepted his idea.
To make my
comparison as fair as possible, I began my outing by once again visiting my
five assigned parks. Once again, it was
a lovely Sunday afternoon in early spring, with a blue skies and a temperature
approaching 70. Once again, I visited my
parks between noon and 1pm.
I hoped that
the 32 folks I’d spied on my earlier visit to my assigned parks had been an
aberration and that I’d see a more thriving park culture on my revisit.
I was
half-right. Perhaps 32 park users had
been unusual, but it might have been unusual on the high side. On the revisit, there were only 20 people
total between the five parks. And once
again, one of the parks was completely empty.
With those
images of empty grass in my head, I continued onward to Leghorn.
The Parks
Director had been correct. Leghorn Park
on a pleasant Sunday afternoon was bustling and full. I tried to count heads, but gave up at 100.
And the activities
were widely varied. Pickup games were
going on the basketball courts. A Little
League game was underway on one of the diamonds. Neighbors had wandered over to watch the
youngsters play ball. Teenagers were
sitting at the picnic tables making plans for their post-high school
futures. The play equipment was being
well used. An older gentleman in a
motorized wheelchair was cruising on the path with ragtime playing on his
onboard sound system.
About the
only facilities not in use were the bocce ball courts. And I’ve since spoken with a friend who told
me of meeting other couples for evenings of playing bocce balls on those exact
courts, evenings that ended only when the sun set.
It was a
scene to warm the cockles of a dubious parks commissioner’s heart.
Leghorn Park
is tucked between the Parkway Plaza shopping center and the Santa Rosa Junior
College Petaluma campus. Thinking that enthusiastic
park usage might be something peculiar to that area of town, I visited another
park on the other side of the campus.
Eagle Park
is roughly the same size as Leghorn Park.
It has play equipment and a broad expanse of green grass, but lacks the
other amenities of Leghorn. On this
pleasant Sunday afternoon, it also lacked people. I’d found another completely empty park.
So what is
happening at Leghorn is specific to the Leghorn site. But what’s different at Leghorn? I can point to several factors.
The level of
development at Leghorn is much higher.
While most of my assigned parks get by with play equipment and green
grass, Leghorn also offers ball diamonds, basketball courts, and bocce ball
courts. Indeed, one of the few areas of
Leghorn not being well used were the grassy mounds. People seemed more willing to sit on aluminum
bleachers or wooden picnic tables than on the grass.
Leghorn
adjoins retail. Although we don’t often
like to admit it, most of us feel more comfortable if other folks are
around. No matter how many layers of
grumpy individualism we’ve donned, we have an underlying sense of
community. Being around a gang of folks
enjoying themselves, even if we don’t know them, makes us happier. And the retail begins to develop the critical
mass of people needed to create a self-sustaining park population. Plus the retail provides a convenient place
for a post-recreation meal or beverage.
Leghorn
adjoins higher density residential. High
density residential affects parks in two ways.
It brings more people within walking distance of a park. And it reduces the inside places where one
can lounge away a Sunday afternoon, making park visits more likely.
(Some may
also point out that Leghorn Park has a parking lot. But it’s not the only city park with a
lot. Nor are many of the parks short on
curbside parking.)
Looking at
the list of elements that help make Leghorn Park special, a link quickly
becomes evident. They are all also
elements of urbanism. Denser, more
intense uses? Check. Walkable access to retail? Check.
Higher density housing? Check.
Far from
parks being incompatible with urbanism, it may be that parks absolutely thrive
in urbanist settings.
I’ll admit
that two Sundays of casual observations doesn’t prove a grand theory. However, the two Sundays needn’t stand
alone. I suspect we all have recollection
of drivable suburban parks sitting relatively unused while well-designed
downtown plazas and playgrounds surrounded by multi-family housing thrive.
What course
of action should this imply for our current supply of parks? That’s a question that I’ll tackle another
time.
As always, your questions or comments will be
appreciated. Please comment below or
email me. And thanks for reading. - Dave
Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
McNear Park, between the baseball (of all levels) and the dog park, tennis courts, playground and picnic areas, and just being in the midst of a vibrant active neighborhood; gets used a lot. Paying attention after your last post, I think it was Sat evening, between all those things, adding up 2 teams and spectators, fellow dog walkers, three picnics, and the playground we used to frequent when our 28 year old was of that age, there had to be a couple hundred people using that wonderful park. Maybe a design to be studied for others. OH right, of course there are the horseshoe pits, also!
ReplyDeleteMurray, your identification of McNear Park was right on and informed much of my continued thinking on the success of local parks.
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