We need a new park

Spokane has a lot of parks. It’s very nice for most Spokanites. We have parks for organized sports, random strollers, cyclists, dogs, eating, music, golf, monuments, industry, etc. We have a new indoor park for track, and another for indoor skating and one for outdoor skating, and indoor and outdoor swimming. We’ll soon get a new football stadium.

We need a type of park that serves a real unmet need. We should create a number of campgrounds for people who like to sleep, but find themselves driven from pillar to post by housed people. I’m not suggesting hobo jungles but very basic campgrounds that are well kept at free or a sliding scale.

There would be few expenses, compared to an indoor track facility. Construction of toilets and showers and shelters, and regular, as in daily cleaning of the park and surrounding area.

Staff might be needed, social work and policing would need to be readily available to keep the peace, but rules should not be enforced any more strictly than elsewhere. Service groups could concentrate their outreach in the camps, drawing needy people to the camps.

If we provide this basic service, people might move off the bridges and alleys and riverside. The city would be neater and more charitable.

Terry Sawyer

Spokane