Healthy Parks, Schools and Communities Councilman Ed Reyes
Councilman Ed Reyes addresses regional grassroots efforts to improve parks and recreation for all, and cites the history and pattern of discriminatory land use policies and racially restrictive housing covenants which contribute to disparities in access to parks, recreation, and housing. “These are problems that we have. The gang issue. We put a lot of money, a lot of policy language, discussion, meetings, but we haven’t looked at the core issues of what causes gangs, and that is the ability for children to live near parks, to have diversion, so that they are not sucked into the gang culture.”
“The end consequence is that the kids in our neighborhoods are being shot to death. Our kids don’t have a place to play. They don’t have baseball diamonds, they don’t have soccer fields. . . . We need to put our policy language in line with our realities. I hope this Council understands that it does take a brave act to do what’s right, and that we should sustain our policies so that we can allow for whole communities to live near parks.”
Councilman Reyes read from The City Project’s Policy Report analyzing park, school, and health disparities based in part on discriminatory land use, housing, and economic policies of the twentieth century. (See pages 14-18 and chart 801C.) We agree with Councilman Reyes and others on the need for a public conversation on race and ethnicity. We need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in urban areas today can be traced directly to inequalities passed on from earlier generations. We need to remember the past to understand how we came to be the way we are, and how we could be better. The lack of places to play, struggling public schools, wealth and income gaps, pockets of concentrated poverty in urban communities, gang violence and crime – together we can overcome these challenges to achieve healthy, livable communities for all.
Download the Policy Report Healthy Parks, Schools, and Communities: Mapping Green Access and Equity for the Los Angeles Region.
Download the letter to the City Council summarizing our recommendations.
