ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : ‘Public’ Parks Should Be That

Santa Ana, with little enough parkland as it is, can ill afford to change one of its popular parks to what a neighborhood group is euphemistically calling a “passive use.” The city should resist efforts by the group to turn the Jack Fisher Park in northwest Santa Ana into a botanical preserve. And neither should the park be otherwise redesigned to limit its use by the public.

Some neighbors of the 1.75-acre, wedge-shaped park say they are concerned about problems of parking, overcrowding, litter, loud music and graffiti. The Fisher Park Neighborhood Assn. has proposed several things to reduce the park’s use; an idea to simply close the park to all but neighborhood residents was wisely rebuffed by the city attorney and, likewise, the city refused to sell the park to the neighborhood association for its exclusive use.

The park is frequented by Latino families that have moved into a city that was once an all-white suburban enclave, and the complaints sound as if they are objections, in code, to “those people.” Of course, if there are problems with crime, litter or noise in the area, there are ways that the city should help. Parking on neighborhood streets could be restricted to residents, for example. The city already has plans to install new security lighting, but those plans have been put on hold pending discussion about the park’s future.

City staffers pointed out correctly that the park’s popularity shows the need to retain it as a public resource, especially in a city that already has too little open space.

But the city got roped into paying for a $2,500 study to investigate some of the ideas proposed by the association. That’s more than enough. Any further public funds should go to improve Jack Fisher Park as it is currently being used.

The neighborhood association’s efforts sound like a thinly veiled attempt to exclude Latinos from using the park. The city must do all it can to make sure that this public park remains just that--public.