Our View: A park reclaimed

It’s 7 a.m. in Palisades Park and beer bottles and shattered glass – left behind by late-night revelers – glint in the morning sun. A woman jogs through the park, her ponytail dancing. She is flanked by two hefty dogs, looking like don’t-mess-with-us bouncers. The menaces here feel both rural and urban. Will a moose suddenly charge from the brush? Will a meth addict, camping on the hill below, climb up to panhandle some change?

Palisades Park is located southwest of downtown Spokane, less than a 10-minute drive away. It overlooks the Spokane River. It’s a 464-acre beauty. But Rimrock Drive, which slices through it, is like the razor-blade scar on the face of the supermodel. The road brought in gang members who spray-painted graffiti on 100-year-old lichen clinging to ancient rocks. It brought in paintball enthusiasts playing war games, and archers perfecting the aim of their arrows. And, dudes, you can’t believe all the beer drinkers who hung out up there.

Last week, the Spokane Park Board unanimously approved closing most of Rimrock Drive to motor vehicles. It should have happened years ago. The gates will allow the park to realize its true destiny as a conservation area. A place for hikers, bicyclists and contemplatives.

Park users with other activities in mind – drinking, drugging, paintballing, fire-starting – will have to look for another hangout, dissuaded by the lack of vehicle access.

“If they have to carry their bottles to break on the rocks, they usually won’t,” said Robbi Castleberry of the Palisades Neighborhood organization that has worked toward closure of the road for 20 years.

These citizens learned much about civic activism in their effort to get Palisades Park clean and sober. They understood the appeal of a park for others, too. If you are homeless and camping out, who says you can’t appreciate beauty? And beer-drinking teens and rural settings have long formed interesting alliances.

But as Spokane grew more urban, the untoward behavior escalated. Law enforcement responded to 188 calls at the park last year. Enough was enough. Now, the worst should be over.

Castleberry offers advice for other citizens whose public spaces are being encroached upon by illegal activity. “Organize your neighborhoods. What are the goals? Set out accomplishing them one by one. It can take from six months to 15 years. Don’t get discouraged. Ask the public entities: ‘How can we work together to get this solved?’ “

The day the road-blocking gates go in, members of the Palisades Neighborhood group will celebrate together. Cheers to them for a park preserved, a civic job well-done.