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Carmen Villeda

Professor Batty

English 101

May 26, 2018

A Community Without a Park

Communities have come together in district areas to raise money to convert abandon lots

or parking lots to grassy playgrounds. Banksy, a political British street artist, who is known for

their strong political and social message, graffitied on a wall by 9 th and Broadway in Downtown

L.A. of a girl swinging from the bridge of a capital letter "A", from the word "Parking" as the

'ing' fades away. Banksy created this mural in 2010, a block away a residential group were try to

raise $6.6 million to convert parking lots into neighborhood playgrounds. The group hoped they

would get a $5million State's Proposition Park Grant; over 1,000 projects statewide applied for

funding. from projects. Banksy saw it appropriate to create his "Parking" mural because he saw

an opportunity to create this mural to convert parking lots into parks for pedestrians to be aware

that there are no parks in the city. Although many residents may not approve of truing parking

lots into public parks because there're already limited parking in the city, I argue that the

community benefits more in having freer, accessible, public parks than parking lots in urban

cities.

In Banksy mural, there is a young girl, perhaps the age of 10, swinging on a wooden seat.

The background is white and with only one word that say "Parking" in red capital letters "Park"
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is the only word that is in red coloring, while the "ing" is fading away and hardly noticeable. The

rope is tied to the capital letter "A" bridge as she swings backward and forward holding onto the

rope. One of her leg is pointed forward and her other is bent at the knee with white a white collar

and white buckle belt. White high knee socks with black formal shoes with a small strap that

goes over her foot. Her long hair flowing back as she swings forward. Her eyes are closed and

she is clam yet she has a bored look on her face because there is nothing around her, no children

there to play with her and no other playsets to play on or to runaround. At park there are

playgrounds, grassy areas to play in, tables and benches to sit on, but in this mural, there is

nothing but a swing.

When you go to the park, its's only quite in the mornings and nights, but other than that

there is laughing, yelling, and family's talking all around. It's never quite at the park at the park.

A park should not be empty, it should be filled with grass, playgrounds benches, tables, and

families with their children. As a child I would love going to the park to play, sometimes making

new friends or playing with my siblings. Public parks bring people together. Often times there

are community events host in parks which can be enjoyed by all family members and friends.

Citizen have been raising money and coming together as a community to build small parks in the

near future, hopefully, they’ll be a park easy to accesses for family, children, and for

communities to visit.

In San Fernando Valley, there are several cities that have parks for its residents. When I

was younger me and my family went to many parks such as Dearborn, Lake Balboa, North Hills,

and Northridge. I lived in Northridge and each park was about 10 to 15 minuet drive depending

on the traffic. We also have a lot of open space to walk around the neighborhood and walk freely

without being crowned by other. In Downtown. L.A. has many cities and districts that have parks
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but are not easy to commute to. Los Angeles there are around 15 parks with large spaces, though

they have large spaces, half of them don’t have playgrounds or grassy areas for children to run

around and play. Parents should not have to drive or take public transportation to go to a park

that's not in their living area. Downtown is a central business district in Los Angeles, California,

as well as a residential neighborhood to 58,000 citizens. Looking for a park to go to in

Downtown L.A. is like finding a needle in a hay stack and depending what time of day to go to

the park there will be traffic. In large cities, such as Downtown, there is no room to run and play.

The only place to do so is inside their home, but sometimes they live in small living places or

play in the parking lot, if they have one. Apartments or any housing complex, don’t have extra

space for children to run around without getting hurt or lost depending where they live. With no

parks nearby, children have learned to play indoors since they live in the city. They learn to play

with video games and children lose their imaginary minds and social skill. Public parks should

always be accessible in every community, especially near school zones. Some children and teens

still have energy and by going to the park it will help them release that energy; it will help them

focus on their homework and not get detracted.

In Conclusion, a park should be free and accessible to anyone in the city and not drive

and be stuck in traffic. A public park brings friends and family together, a place filled with

laughter and chatter. A place for picnics, birthday parties and public events. Children playing on

the apparatus, playing tag or sports on the grassy fields. An empty parking lot does nothing but

collect trash and weeds when it could become a small playground for children. If a park can't be

built in an empty parking lot, an indoor recreation center should be built. We don’t need to be a

city without a park, but a city with many parks.

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Works Cited

Richarson, E. (2010). Banksy's "Parking" Echoes Real Life at

9th and Broadway. Southern California Public Radio.
Catherine. (2017) What Did I Just See? The 10 best Art Murals in Los Angeles, CA. Trip
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