Towns, cities face tough choices about parks during pandemic
On a nice, normal day, Dave Carroll, 27 of Stratford, would typically head back to his native Bridgeport to shoot hoops on an outdoor basketball court.
“I’m always in the ‘Port. I’m always playing ball,” Carroll said.
While Carroll’s passion is sinking a ball through a net, 80-something Bob Schneider of Trumbull loves hitting balls over one, playing indoor tennis in the winter, then transitioning this time of year outdoors. He and his friends also grab breakfast afterward.
“It’s all part of the camaraderie,” Schneider said.
When camaraderie was allowed. The 6-foot minimum social distancing required to fight the coronavirus pandemic has forced state and local governments to place more and more restrictions on what residents like Carroll and Schneider do outdoors.
With schools and many workplaces, stores and attractions closed, elected officials have on the one hand encouraged home bound constituents to get outside. The challenge has been keeping them apart, leading to even more lost freedoms and norms.
In Greenwich, First Selectman Fred Camillo initially tried to keep that town’s parks and beaches open. But then on March 21, an estimated 8,433 visitors packed Greenwich Point. The following day Camillo ordered those public spaces shut down, and warned violators faced citations for trespassing or “more severe criminal sanctions.”
The mayors of Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Danbury and New Haven recently took actions to limit or shutter access to fields, playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, though, depending on the municipality, many local parks in the state remain open for individual activities.
“For decades we have had people living in multi-family housing in apartments, condos, public housing and they need a place to get out and breath from time to time, and that’s one of the functions of our parks,” said Stamford Mayor David Martin.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim on Wednesday in his daily Facebook address on the pandemic noted his just-enacted limitations on recreation — closed playgrounds and chained basketball hoops — were unpopular and “we got a lot of calls. There’s no leeway on this.”
“I’ve spoken to the chief about breaking up soccer games, breaking up basketball games,” Danbury Mayor
Mark Boughton said Tuesday evening on Facebook. “We may actually take the extreme measure of closing our city parks ... if we can’t follow social distancing rules that are out there”
On Tuesday Gov. Ned Lamont voiced his own personal struggles with allowing people to continue to enjoy the outdoors when some are still doing it in groups or when specific areas become too crowded.
“I’ve been a little reluctant to close our big (state) parks because it’s one of the few outlets that people have,” Lamont said. “It’s a relief. I do worry about going by the basketball hoops where I’ll see, you know, sometimes 15 kids having a game. So I think we’ve got to be a lot stricter on some of these places where people tend to congregate.”
Hours later, the governor and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced plans to limit parking capacity at certain state parks and to prohibit walk-in visitors who leave their vehicles outside of already filled lots.
Eric Hammerling is executive director of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, which has for weeks been urging residents to enjoy fresh air, but responsibly, so they do not ruin it for everyone else and force more draconian rules or closures.
The association has been educating the public that, while Connecticut has some well-known parks, the state contains over 3,000 miles of recreational trails and 250,000 acres of parks, forests and wildlife management areas for people to get out and spread out.
Hammerling credited state officials for “really making every effort to keep places open.”
“Even the (governor’s and DEEP’s) recent announcements were focused on those places that get the most traffic and have the most opportunity for not allowing for social distancing,’ Hammerling said. “But there’s been great pains to still say there are many, many places that are open and could be used. But just be smart.”
Hammerling hoped that as the state and local cities and towns try to manage access to their public lands, they work together to ensure “it’ s not putting undo burdens on other, nearby facilities” and shifting social distancing problems from one area to another.
Joel Rein, who lives near the Greenwich side of the Mianus River State Park, with portions jointly owned by that town, Stamford and Connecticut, said it it appears people are making an effort to stay apart and the site has not been overrun.
“It’s being used, and used regularly. But people are keeping their distances, and getting off the trail to let others pass,” he said.
The hunt for open space has lead some towns, like Monroe on Wednesday, to establish resident-only restrictions. Monroe First Selectman Ken Kellogg announced that until further notice non-residents could not park at Wolfe Park and Great Hollow Lake.
But out-of-towners do not appear to always be the problem. On Tuesday Wilton First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, in a stern statement on her town’s website, wrote officials were “beyond frustrated with the continued use of closed recreation facilities by adults, teens and children” and pledged stiffer enforcement. She did not specifically target non-residents.
Vanderslice ordered all playing fields, playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts and the high school track closed in mid-March.
Other areas, like Orange, Branford and Middletown, as of Wednesday said they were not experiencing the same issues.
Middletown Public Works Director William Russo said, “Our parks are closed, our playscapes are closed, but I see people walking, running . ... They’re really using this 6-foot social distance recommendation.”
Jill Strawn is a retired psychiatric, mental health and nursing educator living in New Haven. Strawn said allowing people to get outside during the current coronavirus crisis is “critical,” particularly those who need that freedom to cope with anxiety and depression, or for people seeking a spiritual connection with houses of worship shuttered.
“I think that closing parks and closing beaches just is gonna create more mental health problems,” Strawn said.
Stamford Acting Police Chief Thomas Wuennemann said, “We are starting to see a slight increase in calls reporting emotionally disturbed persons, and we are concerned that may happen with domestic incidents. We’re doing our best to not close the parks.”
Staff Writers Angela Carella, Rob Marchant, Justin Papp and Julia Perkins contributed to this story.