By Caroline Jacobs Santa Monica
On Wednesday, July 13, on the front page under the picture of Reed Park was the statement that “City Hall is reaching out to schools and other groups for program-ming at the park in order to make the space more active.” And then it said “Vagrants are known to congregate on the lawn, resulting in their domination of the park.” I guess the theory is if we get enough groups of people in the park, they will push the vagrants out. Not!
I have lived right across from the park for years and have longed to go there just to sit in the shade and read a book. It can’t be done. First, there are no benches in the park proper. Of the few benches on the periphery, all are occupied by the homeless.
Ah, you say, bring your own lawn chair and put it under one of those lovely eucalyptus trees. It can’t be done. Each and every tree has at least one human log under it. The whole scene is very depressing.
The city’s notion that bringing in schools and other groups to the park to make it more active (it isn’t too active already?) will squeeze out the homeless and end at least that problem. I don’t think so. They will just move to the edge of the park, as they have done while the fence has been up allowing the new grass to grow in. Speaking of bringing in schools and groups, should private religious schools and groups be allowed to use public property? Better check that out, Mrs. City Attorney.
A better solution would be to stop feeding the homeless there almost every day. Give this park a break. Direct them someplace else for a while, please.
If you want groups in the park, No. 1 on your list should be the senior apartment building right across the street. And there’s another one a block away. There are more than 600 seniors living there. Most of them live in one room each. They have no bedroom, they have no individual balcony. There is one common balcony that never gets any sun. Nowhere can they take a little sun. If you don’t believe that Reed Park evokes fear in its elderly, go there and count how many of them use the park. What a wonderful gift it would be if they, me included, could have a small enclosed area only for seniors where they could enjoy a little of the outdoors — safely.
My bottom line is please don’t bring in more groups. There are too many now. The city even allowed a church group for the homeless to use a room for services on Sundays — it folded for non-attendance, I believe.
Look, a park is where you go to quietly read a book. A playground is something different. Don’t turn this park into a busy noisy playground any more than it already is.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 4, 2005. Read the original PDF.