Parks

My name‿ is‿ Oscar. I use the park near my flat daily,│ an(d) the more‿ I pay attention to how it‿ is run,│ the more clearly I see a municipal failure that‿ is presented‿ as‿ a financial one.

For five years the budget has been cut. The grass‿ is mown less‿ often,│ two toilets have been permanently closed,│ an(d) litter,│ which used to^usta be seasonal,│ is now a constan(t) feature. Volunteers do what they can,│ and‿ I objec(t) to that‿ on principle:│ provision that depends‿ on the free labour‿ of residents with spare time‿ is‿ inequitable,│ because‿ it redistributes the cos(t) to precisely the people│ who have least‿ of‿ it. There‿ is now a proposal to commodify part‿ of the park‿ as‿ a paying garden,│ which would raise revenue for the rest‿ of the maintenance. It would probably work,│ and‿ it would create‿ a space that‿ is nominally public‿ and‿ effectively reserved for those│ who can pay.

The mos(t) troubling part‿ is the accounting. Green space‿ is deferred maintenance dressed‿ as discretionary spending,│ an(d) the well-being‿ it produces cannot be measured‿ in the year‿ it‿ is spent,│ so it loses‿ every budget‿ argument‿ against‿ a road‿ or‿ a hospital. Yet the evidence‿ on‿ accessibility an(d) biodiversity is‿ unambiguous,│ and‿ a park‿ is the cheapest‿ intervention‿ available for both. If the city^ci-dy will not fund‿ it,│ somebody will‿ eventually privatise‿ it,│ an(d) then we will discover what we had‿ only│ after‿ it‿ is fenced.