It’s a Family Place
Cesar Chavez Park is a family place. (It could be more of a family place if it had modern sanitary bathrooms, but that’s another issue.) Even as it stands, the park provides tons of open space, fresh air, and relative quiet for family togetherness.
Because the park is a family place, the Conservancy opposes rapacious commercial proposals like the recent cannabis promotion schemes. These would fence or otherwise block off access to the entire park from shore to shore. No children, no one under 21, would be admitted. You would have to pay admission to enter — $65 per person was a recent price at similar events for the basic ticket, $420 for the VIP pass. The clear and firm No Smoking rule in the park would be flaunted. Bits of cannabis would end up on the ground; the substance is poison to dogs. Unlimited amounts of trash would accumulate. Stoned drivers would spread out from the park throughout the city and region. All for the commercial promotion of cannabis use.
Schemes of that sort belong in commercial settings, such as county fairgrounds or exhibition halls. They do not belong in public parks.
Park rules are very clear. No Smoking. (They should include No Vaping.) No Alcohol. No dogs off leash except in the 17-acre dog park (“Off-Leash Area”).
Some families include people who are classed as “Disabled.” People with different abilities and vulnerabilities have every right to enjoy the park to the fullest. Blue parking spaces must be maintained. Man-made air pollution like tobacco or cannabis smoke, or excessive gas discharges from the flare station, cannot be tolerated.
As a Member of the Conservancy, you support the existing park rules. You oppose proposals that would inject smoking (or vaping) or alcohol use into the park atmosphere. You keep your dogs on leash except in the dog park. You support full park participation by the “disabled.” You want a smoke-free, alcohol-free atmosphere with dogs under control, and available to everyone. Why? Because it’s a family place.
If you agree, become a Conservancy Member.
