The Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation is proud to officially release Parks and Equity: The Promise of Oakland’s Parks, a report marking the culmination of a yearlong exploration of the many ways parks serve and deeply connect Oaklanders. A generation has passed since Oaklanders were surveyed about their parks and the timing of this report is poignant as gentrification, climate change and a global public health crisis exacerbate disparities along income and racial lines.
The analysis for this report began during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Oakland found itself navigating unprecedented waters, with both public health and the economy at stake. Shelter-In-Place mandates awakened us to the universal human imperative to be outdoors, to play and have access to nature. Accordingly, one of the important decisions Oakland made last year was to keep its parks open.
As we work toward recovery, the pandemic reminds us of what has been true all along: parks are essential to the well-being of people and communities. Today, findings and recommendations from Parks and Equity can guide us toward an equitable civic strategy for restoring our health, rebuilding our communities and renewing our connections.
People, Places and Lived Experiences
The Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation conducts regular surveys of conditions in the city’s parks, 12 in all since 2006. Parks and Equity is the first during that time to focus on the voices of Oaklanders, centering the ways that parks impact the everyday lives of community members.
“Of the 1,334 survey participants,” observes Parks and Equity co-author Heather Kuiper, “more than 900 added written answers to their responses. There is a real hope and desire from people wanting to be heard and putting their belief in the survey as a way to get the change they are longing for.”
Practically speaking, Parks and Equity asks users not only about the aesthetics and conditions of their parks, but also how these factors affect how they visit and use these green spaces. The reality is that Oakland has many different communities who want different things from their parks.
“We have park poor areas and we have underserved community members,” says Parks and Equity co-author Dr. C.N.E. Corbin. “We need to understand how our communities want to enjoy their green spaces. It’s an opportunity for the Foundation to support them as an organization and also bring that information to the city. There are fixes here that will bring more people to parks for needed and desired recreation.”
Parks Are Part of the Solution
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the perpetuation of environmental injustices. In simple terms, the harms of displacement, pollution and severe weather hazards, as well as the benefits of access to nature, quality parks and recreation, are inequitably shared across Oakland communities.
Rather than reacting to problems, Parks and Equity points toward proactive solutions that target investments in parks to produce community safety, health and happiness. The survey holds that creating a vibrant, beautiful and equitable city requires putting resources toward areas of civic life that produce those qualities.
“Parks are often demarcated as separated spaces,” says Dr. Corbin. “In reality, they’re connected to transportation, public safety, and even the democratic right to assemble. When you think of this as just parks and recreation, you lose the larger network effects that these spaces provide.”
The Voice of the People
One of the most extraordinary findings in Parks and Equity is that Oaklanders share a vision for their parks: activated, meaning well-maintained, safe, equitably accessible, fully utilized and beloved, with community buy-in. The survey makes clear that people want more from their parks and recreation system — cleaner and safer spaces, better access and more programming.
Notably, 95% of participants reported that barriers to park activation restricted their access to the community benefits that come from parks usage. Four of the top five barriers (bathroom conditions, safety concerns, encampments, litter / deterioration and drug paraphernalia) were maintenance-related and disproportionately affected those bringing children to parks.
Safety and access concerns were high among all participants, but significantly, half of all Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and Middle Eastern (BILAM) participants reported safety barriers, compared to 40% of white participants, and roughly 20% of BILAM participants reported unsafe routes to parks, compared to 9% of white participants.
Participants from East Oakland and the South Hills faced pronounced barriers: Nearly half reported unsafe routes to neighborhood parks, compared to 25%-29% of participants in other neighborhoods. One third of East Oakland participants have to travel over two miles to get to their most visited park, compared to 14%-22% of participants from other areas.
Finally, circumstances were generally worse in neighborhood parks, which is concerning because these parks reflect people’s community environment, with potentially the most immediate impact on quality of life. These structural disparities in park access have ramifications for community and personal health, connection and opportunity.
Your Turn
Parks and Equity shows that the gap between vision and current conditions represents a tremendous missed opportunity for elevating and benefiting communities in Oakland. The question becomes: Will Oakland fulfill the promise of its parks?
The vast majority of survey participants resoundingly call for more investment in parks:
- 94% agree we should invest more in parks, fields, pools and recreation facilities.
- Nearly 80% want more art, events and cultural activities in Oakland parks, and want recreation centers to be open seven days a week.
- 92% said they were more likely to vote for councilmembers who strongly support parks.
Read Parks and Equity, then consider talking to your City Council representative about park investments, voicing your ideas at the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission or inviting the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation to share the report’s findings and recommendations at your next community meeting.
“We found that parks have the potential to be a source of unity for Oakland,” concludes Kuiper, “but we must resolve past harms, preserve everyone’s right to public spaces and honor the community’s diverse needs and desires.”
RESOURCES: 2020 Parks and Equity: The Promise of Oakland’s Parks // Executive Summary
I love our parks but the homeless are claiming them as their own. You clean up and the tents pop back up. The Lake, Veterans, Snow Park, Athol tennis courts,etc. we’ve spent millions of dollars investing in them and then the Parks are taken over by the homeless and then trashed. Now that the Lake is busier, the garbage cans get emptied more regularly. No excuse not to have people working on weekends …homeless people have to have a safe, clean, area with social services but not in our parks. If nothing else, pick up the trash.
Thank you for contributing your perspective, Pam. We’re listening to all feedback as we share this survey report in the community.