Olympia needs to decide where its priorities are -- in parks or housing the homeless

As a father of three young children, our family should be on a poster for a campaign to invest in parks. But we won’t be. And for those park advocates who would convert me, I hope this article challenges you to address a few questions that plague me:

• Are parks more important than housing our most vulnerable?
  
  
• Should we take a regional approach to our parks system?
  
  
• Are we really investing wisely in our parks?
  
  
• Do Olympians care more about people or parks?
  
  

The argument will be made that the $12 million the city of Olympia used to buy the 83-acres Spooner Farm was dedicated for parks through the Metropolitan Parks District (MPD) and couldn’t be used on anything else. But that ignores history. The MPD was designed as a solution to complete the acquisition of 500 acres of parks. Those 500 acres were to be purchased through a previously approved utility tax “dedicated” to parks. Instead, the city used those utility tax dollars to fund non-parks activities during the recession, leaving the city short of its goal.

Olympia has done it before and there is no reason it couldn’t do it again. If Olympia truly believes homelessness to be a public health emergency, it’s time we started spending our money like we believed it. Take, for example, that we have an entire department dedicated to Parks and Recreation, but Olympia had to use donated funds to pay for a homeless coordinator.

Olympia laments the lack of support from the county and other cities on homelessness, yet continues to purchase parks alone. A key argument for the purchase of large lots is that the city does not have enough ball fields to serve the community. Why can’t the city partner with Lacey to use the RAC, which still has undeveloped land or other jurisdictions to create regional parks?

Parks and real estate share something in common: location is crucial. My family has explored many of the parks in Olympia and in neighboring cities, and we find few are overcrowded. However, some, like Percival Landing, can get very busy. It is a beautiful location and a great park for kids and adults within walking distance of downtown amenities. So do we really need more park acreage or more well-maintained parks in strategic locations? And before you say both, you have to accept that Olympia is limited in both space and money. Tough decisions have to be made.

Olympia has decided to measure success by the pure volume of parks land, leading to some poor decisions and inequality. The Spooner Farms purchase brings the total to more than 230 acres of parks for southeast Olympia purchased in the last four years. If the goal is to buy as much land as possible, you won’t buy property where people live or in an equitable way, but simply where land is available. This approach apparently also includes buying property that isn’t even in Olympia, like the Spooner Berry Farm.

For the next six years, the city will continue to lease the land to Spooner Berry Farm before developing the park. A lot can change in six years though. For example: the Ward Lake Park which was purchased by Olympia over a decade ago. Six years ago the city set aside funds to develop it, but two issues put those plans on hold. First, toxic algae blooms forced the city to reconsider how often the park would be usable. Second, there were accessibility issues for those with disabilities. In six years, what kind of issues will the city face with the Spooner parcel, especially the cost to clean-up a property that has seen its fair share of chemical use.

The city seems committed to spend millions on future parks while it has a homeless crisis, literally at its doorstep.

A family may decide that a long-term goal is to purchase a sailboat that all of them might enjoy. Often, though, more urgent needs – a new roof, a major car repair, or even braces — may present themselves. At that point tough decisions need to be made.

Just like that family, Olympia has an urgent need. And just like that family, our community needs to invest in what we value.

So Olympia – do we value parks more than people?