I'll admit, I'm an outsider. I've been here for just under a year, and come next christmas, I'll be gone again.
The first thing I noticed when I moved to San Antonio last winter was a lack of city parks. There are a few, yes, but not many. And the ones that are there- well, you have to drive, or a take a bus to get there. The ones I end up frequenting are all outside the outer loop of the city. Somedays, I would like to go, but the idea of sitting in traffic to go to a park really doesn't appeal to me. On the days I do go, I am always amazed at how empty they are. The parking lots are empty, the trails are mostly empty.
I think the city parks (regardless of the city) play an important role in getting the masses outside. Its asking a bit much of your regular couch potato to drive 1/2 hr to go take a walk in a city park, let alone drive an hour or more to go to a nice state park. Theres no way that people will vote for funding parks if they don't ever use them. Theres no way that people will respect the environment that they live in if they don't really know its there at all- so the decisions they make on a daily basis have no relevance (for them) to the environment that they live in. I think this might have a lot to do with the amount of litter that is EVERYWHERE in S.A.
I think part of the problem of getting people outside, at least in S.A., is that its such a production to get outside. S.A. is not a pedestrian or biker friendly city. Many times deciding to walk or ride somewhere means literally taking your life into your own hands. Yet these are the most common ways that kids get around their neighborhoods. If there were parks that the kids could get to on their own, they might develop a love for the outdoors. If that were to happen, they may grow into adults that love the outdoors.
I don't think that getting more people outside is a bad idea. People need to get out, they need exercise and unpolluted air. The citizens of our country are developing more and more health problems associated with the increase of obesiety in both adults and children- its putting a strain on our health care and our workforce.
It would be sad if all the beautiful state parks were over run with loud, obnoxious, non respectful people. But I think that if there were more city parks, then many of the people most likely to be irritating and detrimental to the environment would be those people who don't want to drive all the way to the big state parks- the outlet they can get at a city park might be enough.
Overall, the benefits of getting people outside far outweigh the drawbacks of getting more people outside. Our country has become very sedintary, and its very unhealthy. Also, political decisions are made about our country's park land that will affect many future generations, yet not many people can associate with those places, and cannot see the significance.
People are only going to care about land that they have a connection to. No one is going to throw money at a problem that they cannot identify with. No one will loose sleep over something they have seen, smelled, tasted or felt.
In the mean time, when I go out, whether with or without my dog, I carry several grocery bags rolled up in my pocket to pick up trash (and my dog's doo as well). As I hike along, I pick up what I see, as long as it fits in the bags. And when I come across other hikers, I tell them I am collecting to trash to help clean up the park and ask them if they have trash they'd like to put in my bag- hopefully, that little question might plant a seed in their minds (or at least keep some additional litter off the ground).
[that was really long and disorganized. sorry- was writing quickly- out of time]
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