First they came for our bathrooms and locked them. Then they
came for our sidewalk benches. Now they've come for our parks.
As someone
who sometimes slept in Santa Barbara's city parks because of the lack of
affordable housing — and was an excellent caretaker of them — I am
disappointed by the councilmembers' decision to close our parks early. Parks
are a source of beauty and respite day and night, not a venue to be monitored
by security cameras, as some have advocated.
Blame for
the state of our parks is often placed on those without housing, most of whom
are just looking for a safe and quiet place to live and sleep. If blame must be
placed, it should be levied on the greedy bankers, politicians, property
owners, heads of corporations, and pharmaceutical and technology executives
whom have been waging war against poor people for decades and defunding mental-health
services.