Dishonoring President Lincoln's legacy, Long Beach deepens its park equity divide.
OPINION - Every second grade student learns that Lincoln freed the slaves and saved the Union. One would think that if the City of Long Beach was giving Lincoln Park an over $13Million makeover then the park would be a testament to the legacy of our slain President.
Looking through an equity lens, Lincoln Park dishonors the legacy of its namesake. Far from serving to liberate our city’s inequities, it further cements them into the city budget.
Far from saving the fractured union between our City's affluent and underserved districts, Lincoln Park plows a deeper line in the sand.
What Happened at City Council
Honest Abe, America’s most celebrated President, was center stage at City Council’s final meeting in February. Before the Council was an agenda item admitting that the Civic Center Fund was in a "substantial negative" position and that even after its sale funds would not return to a "positive status." Still the City was recommending that council approve losing another $1 Million on the already "negative" project.
Ironically, while Council hardly questioned the million dollar loss, there was plenty of fanfare over the larger than life-sized penny planned for installation at the redesigned Lincoln Park.
It’s understandably hard to focus on fiscal management with a bright shiny object at the Council Meeting. But this was no ordinary copper coin. This was a gigantic penny only a block away from City Hall and Mayor Garcia was particularly proud of the artist renderings.
In the old days, Lincoln park was called Pacific Avenue Park. But when residents pooled their resources to raise funds for a cannon and a statute of President Lincoln, the park took on a new identity.
Before being demolished, Lincoln Park felt more like a Downtown homeless encampment than a park to bring the kids to.
The new renderings of Lincoln Park are a world apart. Whether you’re a basketball enthusiast, a dog lover or looking for the next best selfie backdrop Lincoln Park has something for everyone.
Before moving to the next agenda item, Mayor Garcia insisted on circling back to the big penny. He gleefully remarked how the architect’s plan to construct a jumbo penny was certain to draw tourists to the City teaming with smart phones to pose in front of the life-sized copper coin.
Park Equity by the Numbers
With all of the focus on the giant penny and the legacy of President Lincoln, our editorial staff began thinking more about park equity. When we examined the numbers, we were embarrassed by what we found.
In a document prepared for the Council meeting, our Public Works explained that the newly built Lincoln Park would have a $700,000 annual programming budget.
That's not bad for a park that's a bit over 5 acres. To put things into perspective, that’s about $140,000 of program funding per acre.
When we compare Lincoln Park’s level of funding to the amount of money allocated to Whaley Park, a community park neighboring CSULB, we find an alarming disparity.
Weighing in at 13.5 acres, Whaley is alot bigger than Lincoln. According to our Parks Department, Whaley’s annual programming budget is approximately $277,666. These dollars support youth programming, staff supervision and supplies.
Putting things into perspective, that’s a little over $20,500 of program funding per acre compared to Lincoln Park’s $140,000 per acre. That means Whaley will receive about one-third the program funding as Lincoln Park although it’s nearly three times as large.
The disparity is even harder to comprehend when you consider that “over the years Whaley Park has consistently been one of our highest attended park programs” says our Parks Department.
If Whaley’s Disparity isn’t Bad Enough, Take a Look at DeForest Park Park
While the funding disparity between Lincoln Park and Whaley is concerning, the disparity is even sharper when we focus our equity lens on North Long Beach.
Remember, Whaley park services a solid middle class community. Largely homeowners, the average home sales for over $800,000 and sometimes more. Not to mention, that the over 700 acre crown gem of Long Beach's park and recreation system, El Dorado Park, is a short - often sunny -bike ride from Whaley.
Park access isn’t so rosy for communities surrounding DeForest Park. Nestled in the underserved 9th District, DeForest park sits inside a food desert and beside the LA River.
Walking from the park you’d pass more than a dozen fast food providers before reaching a grocery store. And one of those grocery stores, operated by Kroger, only weeks ago announced it would close its doors. The area is also experiencing a surge in gun violence and has suffered the most hospitalizations and deaths from COVID 19.
According to the Uptown Open Space Vision Plan sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, of the 170 parks in Long Beach, DeForest is one of only 4 parks serving North Long Beach. Built more than 40 years ago, it also has the unfortunate distinction of being the areas newest park.
DeForest Park is 49.9 acres and nearly 70% of those acres are wetlands.
Unlike Whaley or Lincoln parks, around 2017 the City shutdown all programming at DeForest Park. The community was outraged because without viable programming DeForest would swiftly decay into a den of vices.
All the more shocking was that the City was coldly cutting programming at a community park whose residents were already "park poor" by national and state standards. DeForest Park had become home to a meth lab tucked away in the corner of the park. Some had become so brazen that neighbors called police to report mattresses being placed in park bathrooms for the purpose of lewd acts. To this day residents plead with the City for trash cans.
Apparently, DeForest Park wasn’t only in need of programming but security. Neither of which the City would fund. It may surprise you to learn that our City has set aside funding for security at Lincoln Park. A liberal yearly budget of $500,000.
Shamefully, the City shut down DeForest Park’s programming with no solution for how to provide after school programs, sports and camps for some of the most underserved kids in our City.
In fact, were it not for grass root community engagement and a partnership with Camp Fire USA there would be no program funding at DeForest Park.
The Penny Hypocrisy
If there were ever regions of our City in need of the sort of liberating and unifying leadership Lincoln provided toward the end of his presidency, it’s North, West and Central Long Beach.
Which is why it seems rather odd that a park named for the very President who lost his life for emancipating slaves would continue to perpetuate park inequity for the poorest and darkest residents in the City.
Unfortunately, park inequity is trending in Long Beach as both State agencies as well as ordinary residents are charging City officials with failing to protect vulnerable residents.
Only weeks ago, the California Coastal Commission ordered the City to include underserved community members in program and access planning for the $85 Million Belmont Beach Aquatic Center. This came after City staff purposefully excluded them from input.
Then there are the River Park Coalition activists in West Long Beach advocating to prevent a storage developer from building on what could serve as needed park space. Their chief argument is that comparably little park space on the West and North side of town is rooted in a history of continued racial inequities in underserved zip codes.
Like the Northern states versus the antebellum South Long Beach is shamefully divided by it’s zip codes. Although named to honor our fallen 16th President, Lincoln Park’s funding continues the very despicable legacy our reluctant national hero, Honest Abe, lost his life defending.
But why bother with the pesky facts on the ground when there’s a huge penny to take a selfie in front of?
As the old saying goes, “penny wise and pound foolish.”