Our
View: Long Beach open space park great
idea
According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram article “Level Playing Fields” published
this past Tuesday, a 56-acre undeveloped parcel of land in-between Spring and
Willow Streets and just north of Sunnyside Cemetery is due to become something
better than it is now.
The former industrial park is an, “uneven land spotted with oil wells [that]
graffiti has made the site a prime spot for illegal dumping. Piles of rubble
accompany an overturned couch, an oil drum and abandoned tires. Rusty pipes crisscross
the hills and jut out from strange angles.”
So what’s in line for this dump spot? Ideas include making it into preserved
wetlands, an adult sports park or a contemplative open space. The last two of
these ideas are valid.
Unfortunately, the first idea of preserving the area’s wetlands is nice
in theory, but unrealistic in the long scheme of things. The theory behind maintaining
the wetlands is that some believe the area has biological value.
While this is probably true because of the animals currently living there, central
Long Beach is not exactly the best place to adopt as a wilderness abandon.
The LBC has paved over whatever wild outdoors it once had. We have replaced fields
for suburbia and sandy beaches for international ports. Wild nature preservation
so closely and completely surrounded by seemingly wilder human urbanization would
make the wetlands look out of place like a bald man in a hair salon.
The other two ideas are much better.
Concerning the second, a proposed adult sports park, this city needs more space
for athletics. With the mass media constantly telling us we’re obese because
of McDonald’s and burritos, spaces for exercise will help residents of
the LBC to fight off the fat, regain control of our bodies and enjoy the green
grass. According to the PT, the space could accommodate six softball fields,
three soccer fields, a batting cage, a skateboard park, two volleyball courts,
a parking lot and multipurpose pavilion.
However, the third idea, contemplative open space, is the best idea yet. The
value of open spaces and parks in an urban setting is infinite, especially in
an area as heavily urbanized as Greater Los Angeles.
Open spaces are an escape, a serene solitude from the pressures of modern society.
For a city of full of houses, businesses and skyscrapers, Long Beach has few
opportunities left for open spaces. This may be this city’s last chance
to get one.
This plan also preserves the historical value of the area. According to the PT, “an
artesian spring that used to exist on the site is believed to be city’s
first water source.”
C.L. Rawlins said it best on the psychological value of open spaces. “Most
of us live in cities. Nature, as we define it, is where we go on vacation. Wilderness
is what our lives are not: noble, quiet, unhurried...We [try] to get away from
the content of our lives, to forget what we’ve become...So, wilderness
is about as far from life as we can make it. We’d rather it was over the
horizon...So we won’t have to alter our ways. So that we can lie to ourselves,
that in spite of what we do, someplace somewhere is safe.”
|
