Parks struggle to keep balance
High demand forces tough policy decisions
As the Bay Area enters its seventh weekend of sheltering in place, the people who manage the region’s open spaces once again will confront the dilemma of their product, so to speak, being too much in demand.
Everything from neighborhood parks to trails that thread through wilderness have served as relief valves for the region’s 7.8 million residents. They’ve also attracted crowds to such a potentially hazardous extent that some destinations had to be closed off to the public, while the parking lots of others are padlocked.
This balancing act could become trickier now that shelterinplace restrictions will remain in force through the end of May. Even so, park managers across the region say that behavior for the most part has improved from week to week — and most visitors seem willing to accept the compromises necessary to enjoy the outdoors without putting other people at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“Our hope is that people stay the course” and follow social distancing guidelines in the month to come, said Phil Ginsburg, general manager of San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department. “At the same time, we recognize the weather’s getting nicer and that everyone has been cooped up.”
San Francisco has kept all of its parks open in the weeks since March 17, when emergency orders to shelter in place were imposed in six Bay Area counties. Such orders have been extended twice since then, though local shelterinplace restrictions on Wednesday were loosened slightly to allow more casual activities in parks including sunbathing and playing golf. More communal spaces such as playgrounds and dog parks are still restricted.
In some counties, the guidelines have led to yellow caution
tape stretching across playground equipment. San Francisco has taken a lighter touch, although fencing was erected around adult fitness courts at Marina Green and the Golden Gate Park Panhandle because of too much use.
“We’ve tried to be somewhat minimalist in our approach,” Ginsburg said. “The results haven’t always been perfect, but most people are trying to do the right thing.”
The park districts for San Mateo and Sonoma counties have taken more drastic steps.
All 23 parks in San Mateo’s 16,000acre county park system were designated offlimits on March 27. Sonoma County Regional Parks shut down its 50plus parks and beaches on March 23, when the county health office declared that heavy use of the parks — including by many people from outside the county — undermined efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Sonoma County parks reopened on Wednesday, but not their parking lots, so access is restricted to people on foot or pedaling bicycles.
“I hope it’s the worst thing, professionally, that I ever do,” said Bert Whitaker, director of the park system, recalling the initial move to close off the countyowned public land. “Your whole mission is to attract people to the outdoors, not tell them they’re not welcome.”
Nor is he comfortable with the approach now in place, though he understands the need to be vigilant from a public safety perspective.
“In terms of (social) equity, it’s a lessthanideal situation,” Whitaker said, since the lack of parking makes it difficult for county residents to visit their parks if they don’t live nearby or aren’t accomplished bicyclists. “The goal is not to punish people, or to be inequitable. It’s to protect your health.”
The urge to play it safe explains why San Mateo is opening 13 parks on Monday, but keeping 10 others closed.
“We want to get our trails up and running so people to have access to the physical and mental health benefits of being in parks,” said Nicholas Calderon, the county’s park director. Not so with parks that feature playgrounds and picnic areas: “Places where people congregate will be reopened later.”
Such moves are appreciated by park managers who have seen their spaces get increased use — not just because of the locals’ cabin fever, but natureseeking outsiders who can’t go to their regular spots.
In the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, which overlaps with San Mateo County Parks, “weekday use hadn’t been heavy in the past, but now it is,” said Ana Maria Ruiz, the district’s general manager. “People really are looking for a respite. Humans aren’t equipped to stay in place for too long.”
To allow access, while also allowing for easy social distancing, the district has gone so far as to keep major loop trails open — but make them oneway.
“At first it was a bit of an experiment, but we’ve received a lot of positive response from the public,” said Ruiz, who described the goal as “to reduce the friction of interaction on narrow trails.”
While the MidPeninsula system has seen strains, especially in the early weeks, Ruiz is heartened by the validation that natural spaces indeed are an essential part of urban regions.
“I definitely see our regulars, but there’s a greater representation of the diversity of our community,” Ruiz said. She’s also seen a learning curve from week to week in park behavior. “Early on we were seeing issues with large gatherings. That’s no longer the case.”
Walnut Creek’s Shell Ridge has also been discovered.
It’s a 1,420acre terrain of wooded slopes and valleys that begins as a ripple of hillsides behind the city’s busy downtown. It also leads into Mount Diablo State Park, a longtime East Bay destination that now is closed to traffic.
Neighbors have complained about people parking on residential streets near the dozen or so trailheads, concedes Dan Bylin, an open space ranger for the city. At the same time, he is struck by the thanks he gets from people enjoying the open space where he has made the daily rounds for years.
“So many people are so appreciative,” Bylin said. “And most have been really good about the need to act properly” with regards to social distancing.
For Bob Doyle, general manager of the East Bay Regional Parks District, the transition has been rocky, as parks became the rare destinations where people could escape, even momentarily, from the cloud of coronavirusrelated uncertainties that has darkened daily life.
“This is something we never expected to face — we’re the only one in town,” said Doyle, who has closed several roadways within larger parks to try to create safe space for the extra visitors.
“There’s been a big surge in new users, and some don’t understand trail use,” Doyle said. At the same time, “we need to educate people, not make them the bad guys.”
The task in the month ahead is to keep things from getting out of hand — including on weekends where the weather is seductive and people want to blow off steam.
“It’s the difference between open spaces being cared for and loved, and the desperate note that comes when there’s a fear of scarcity,” suggested Walter Moore, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. “Everyone is taking this day by day, week by week.”
The challenge was described another way by Annie Burke. She’s the executive director of Together Bay Area, which works to coordinate community outreach by 51 Bay Area open space organizers and owners.
“We need the public, all Bay Area residents, to behave in parks as they’re behaving in more urban settings,” Burke said. “That would help a lot.”