The Broker's Record

Just Say No - to County Parks?

September 04, 2007

There’s an interesting article that came out in the Santa Cruz Sentinel the other day:

Pleasure Point residents speak out against improvements to Floral Park

We here in Santa Cruz County are very accustomed to NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard) when it comes to things like big-box retailers and high-density housing projects. It was very interesting to read, though, about how there is local opposition to improving a county park (Floral Park) in Pleasure Point.

To me, it’s one thing to fight against putting a Home Depot in the Lower West Side of the city of Santa Cruz. That, I can understand, because traffic down there really is very congested. I’m less certain about the fight against higher-densitty housing: in a society built on never-ending growth, higher density housing is the only logical way forward for Santa Cruz County. We don’t truly have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand and saying “Nope, not gonna do it” - we’ve already tried that, and look where it has gotten us (checked the price of housing in Santa Cruz lately? You see my point).

I am very certain, though, that quality open space is one thing that makes Santa Cruz the great place that it is. To me, it is ludicrous to fight against improving Open Space based on the grounds that more people might actually take advantage of it. I cannot see under what circumstances use of the space would skyrocket to the point where it truly becomes a neighborhood nuisance. What do you think?

The improvements in Floral Park are to be paid for by the County of Santa Cruz Redevelopment agency. They have a lot of improvements for the 2007-2008 fiscal year - looks like some good stuff is coming our way.

Technorati Tags: parks, redevelopment, recreation

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Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 5:25pm
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