Ferguson- The Politics of Parks

Rebecca Ferguson’s class visit was an important aspect to this “great debate” about the park because its easy to get wrapped up in thinking about the human factors tied into construction, but sometimes we all too quickly forget to ask, but what about the environment? I’m an amateur environmentalist so it was great to get FACTS, real statistics about what’s going on in terms of cutting down trees and damage done.

I asked a couple questions and got very thorough responses that helped to clarify things. It was also interesting to hear all of this from a person with an environmental background – I’m not so sure that she’s exactly doing her dream job, but to paraphrase Ferguson, at least we’re benefiting from having a knowledgeable person on the inside. I was also happy that she recognized the validity between the big mistrust of the Parks & Recreation Department and the community. She and I also discussed the issue with establishing a balance between serving the needs of park goers and still protecting the already-damaged environment. After her lecture, I did a lot of thinking about any future career I might have in environmentalism and all the politics involved in relevant public service departments.