This story came from notes taken by Josh Whitehead, a San Diego Documenter, at a City of Chula Vista- Boards & Commissions meeting in July. The Documenters program trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings. It’s run by inewsource, a nonpartisan nonprofit newsroom dedicated to investigative and accountability journalism. Read more about the program here.
If you live in Chula Vista, whether you can walk to a public park nearby depends largely on which side of the freeway you live.
In 2020, Chula Vista residents who live east of Interstate 805 had access to almost three and a half times the amount of park space per person than residents on the city’s older, more industrialized west side.
This year though, Chula Vista officials are taking a step towards mending those inequities. The city parks department is drawing up a proposal for a new half-acre park in the city’s southwest corner, on an empty lot at the corner of Oxford Street and Fourth Avenue.
The new park would extend access to over 4,000 people who currently don’t have a park within walking distance — many of whom are low income and identify as Latino. That’s according to the Trust for Public Land, a national environmental group that studies parkland, whose data Chula Vista officials are relying on for their planning.
It would be the first new park that Chula Vista has built west of the I-805 in nearly 20 years, said Chula Vista Parks and Recreation Director Frank Carson. The last park city officials built on the west side was Harborside Park in 2006.
“I want more places like this,” Carson said. “I want more opportunities like this for western Chula Vista.”
Many residents are already excited about the idea. Jacob Helfman, a West Chula Vista resident and geographic information systems (GIS) researcher who has studied parkland access, said the move would be a step in the right direction.
“I felt like the city is paying attention to the community's needs,” Helfman said. “They're making progress.”
West Chula Vista is certainly not alone in its relative lack of parkland. Many Americans do not have public parks in their neighborhoods, a loss that disproportionately affects people of color and poor people.
That’s despite the fact that having a public park nearby can reshape everyday life. Researchers have found that they encourage physical fitness, improve air quality and cool down neighborhoods on hot days. People who live close to parks are more likely to be healthy and physically active.
The city’s park system also came under scrutiny as the number of people falling into homelessness soared during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the turmoil, dozens of unhoused residents took shelter and established an encampment at Harborside Park in southwest Chula Vista.
City officials moved to evict the Harborside encampment, citing higher rates of arrests and reported crimes than other city parks. They considered closing the park for good but backed down after residents organized to protect it.
Chula Vista has a mixed record on parks overall when compared to other large cities in the United States, according to the Trust for Public Land.
The city maintains close to 3,300 acres of parkland. 70% of residents live within a 10 minute walk of a park, much higher than the national average. But much of that parkland is part of East Chula Vista’s newer, master-planned communities.
It’s not yet clear how much the proposed park would cost the city. Carson said his department would look to state and federal grants, along with funding from the city’s major infrastructure tax.
The proposal still has to make it through a series of community meetings and other planning decisions before it would go before the City Council. City officials are currently in the process of collecting feedback from the surrounding neighborhoods.
Carson expects a final decision by February.
The land where the park would sit doesn’t look like much right now. Four years ago, it was an aging fire station slated for demolition. Now, it’s an empty concrete lot filled with dead leaves, dry grasses and a leaning eucalyptus tree.
Oscar Rodriguez, 52, lives just a few blocks from the lot. He was excited about the planned park, and said he was thinking about the needs of seniors and disabled people. Rodriguez wants to see more trees and a restroom, along with maybe some food vendors.
“It would be nice to relax,” Rodriguez said. “Instead of going a block to another park, or possibly long-distance walking.”
Carson said many of the people who have responded to online surveys so far want to see a dog park. He envisions a fenced-off section for dogs to play, along with a playground, exercise equipment and picnic tables.
He does have hopes of keeping the tilting eucalyptus tree.
“This is an at least 30-year-old eucalyptus tree, and it is a wonderful piece of shade,” Carson said. “I'd hope to keep it here as part of the park.”
