[zeestephen]

I think if they made these areas into real parks - trees, green grass, flowers, pedestrian pathways (no bikes, skateboards, etc.) quiet shaded benches, no boom boxes - it might be worth the cost.

But if they plan to convert them into “community centers,” only the derelicts, the jobless, and mobs of juveniles are going to show up.

[Moonman62]

I think if they made these areas into real parks - trees, green grass, flowers, pedestrian pathways (no bikes, skateboards, etc.) quiet shaded benches, no boom boxes - it might be worth the cost.

But if they plan to convert them into “community centers,” only the derelicts, the jobless, and mobs of juveniles are going to show up.

...

Look at the park in Dallas on Google. It’s nice and it closes at night.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I would be concerned too, that the homeless and youth gangs and undesirables will take over these spaces.

There are plenty of examples of public parks in places such as Chicago, where decent people don’t go to the parks and green spaces, because the gangs are there. Drug dealing and God knows what else forces out decent people.

The same concept has happened with many shopping malls around the country. A bad element starts showing up, decent people/paying customers of the malls are afraid to go there, business declines, stores pull out of the mall — it’s a downward spiral.

[hinckley buzzard]

Just visited Millenium Park in Chicago. It is a fantastic asset in the middle of downtown, between Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, next to Lincoln Park. Whatever it cost and whatever it replaced, it was worth it.