By Charlene Muhammad | LA Sentinel
Invited to imagine a new or ideal park in their neighborhoods, three Los Angeles County residents opened up about their dreams for the new and hopes for what exists in their communities.
Carmen Taylor Jones loves taking walks in the park, but aside from Ted Watkins Park, there are few near her home in her South L.A. community of Watts. She imagines more in her neighborhood, suitable for herself, and four-year-old granddaughter.
“I’d like to see the community part of the park updated. It’s very outdated and it’s very small and only one event can really go forward at a time, because it’s so small,” said Taylor Jones. She would also like to see more rooms so after school programs and community events for youth and families may run concurrently.
“My park would look like one that is lush, well-maintained, and clear of loitering. That’s really a deterrent to the masses using the park, because it’s inhabited quite often … It seems unsafe,” said Taylor Jones.
In addition, she imagines activities, including dance programs for children. For young adults, she thinks that computer coding and other electronic programs would be beneficial. “Since they already have their phone with them all the time, it would teach them how to utilize them for entrepreneur efforts,” she stated. “We have kids in different communities that are really making money and creating programs using technology and these kids are not afraid of technology,” added Taylor Jones.
For older adults, she desires yoga classes, as well as tech-type programs, would enhance her ideal park, she continued. “I’d really like to see the park to be able to be a center for the whole family, where they can come at one time and first of all, certainly be safe, but then really substantive type of programming outside of just being able to sit on the grass.”
According to a recent Healthy Aging in Parks Survey, the most common park and recreation offerings to older adults include exercise classes, field trips, tours and even vacations, arts and crafts classes, opportunities to volunteer in recreation centers, and events and festivals for older adults. Park and recreation agencies are a major provider of services for older adults in their communities — frequently one of just a few organizations in their areas that directly serve this population, researchers found.
The survey was part of the National Recreation and Park Association’s campaign to improve and maintain the health and wellbeing of older adults by increasing opportunities for physical activity through parks and recreation.
Some might think parks ordinarily have basketball courts, public restrooms and water fountains but not so, says Deiondae Davidson of what’s closest to his home in Winnetka. “Some restrooms are completely locked and we have no idea why,” he said. “But playgrounds, more playful activities for children and trees, those are ideal for my park,” said the 27-year-old.
In addition, a large area for those who enjoy soccer and even volleyball, would add value to such a park, he continued. Davidson envisions a community center, where coordinators would set out actives for children, from reading, board games, and even help such as tutoring and homework help.
Carolyn Maxwell Jones, babysits her granddaughter and visits parks often in Los Angeles and her Inglewood communities. Her immediate neighborhood needs more parks, especially accessible, as in walking distance, especially because she desires to expose her granddaughter to parks and their community, she said.
She wants a place to go and exercise, meditate and relax, especially with her granddaughter. “She’s two-years-old and playing is a part of learning,” said Jones. Ideal would be climbers, spinners, and other sensory playground equipment, in her view. “For grown folks, it would afford us to walk and have activities like pickle ball, tennis and baseball, and you’d meet people. … You’d have the rubberized walking tracks and of course, hopefully, it would be secure. … Parks are just needed!”
This story was produced by American Community Media in collaboration with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) at UCLA as part of the Greening American Cities initiative supported by the Bezos Earth Fund. Read more stories like this by visiting the Greening Communities homepage.
