[Peace] the Disney-fication of Crystal Lake Park

[Susan Parenti]

*The Disney-fication of Crystal Lake Park ---do we buy it? were we ever
asked? *

By Philip Douglas

<https://www.google.com/search?sa=G&hl=en&tbs=simg:CAQSmwIJluP59ZK9aQkajwILELCMpwgaYgpgCAMSKMwV0xXfFYAL-wrhFb8W8BXmFbsKnjj1KakqnTiqLaA44D6eKp0qnzgaMJzit0iQ2teqVN5aRzYd6rYxxt0oYY_1JsMgktT0OlFLxqhzouB2lXzhtM3Dm3lEXWSAEDAsQjq7-CBoKCggIARIEoXkrDwwLEJ3twQkahwEKFgoEZHVja9qliPYDCgoIL20vMDlkZHgKGgoHc2VhYmlyZNqliPYDCwoJL20vMDEyc2hrChoKB3NlYWR1Y2vapYj2AwsKCS9tLzAxZm1icAocCgljb3Jtb3JhbnTapYj2AwsKCS9tLzAxZGw5cgoXCgVyaXZlctqliPYDCgoIL20vMDZjbnAM&sxsrf=ALeKk02qTXhXrWDUO60YYuQcEWa9cj-Y_g:1600027332849&q=rodzina+kaczek&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwihlbim9ubrAhXUGc0KHY8PCxoQwg4oAHoECAgQKQ>


Sept. 14, 2020

If you visit their website, you’ll discover that the Urbana Park District
has received $8 million dollars from various sources to purportedly improve
Crystal Lake Park. These improvements will include a lot of people-friendly
amenities including a new boat dock, a playground and family game area.
They also intend to “restore” the lake edge and give people more access to
the water, presumably with various man-made structures.

But if you’ve taken a walk around the park lately, you’ll see this
*construction* involves a lot of preliminary *destruction. *Several of the
magnificent trees that adorned the bank have been cut down and many of the
creatures that lived on or near the banks have had their homes ruined and
habitats erased. For example, pileated woodpeckers, a species rarely found
in urban parks, but spotted in CLP by observant birders, have disappeared
from the park. More common species such as bluebirds, red-winged
blackbirds, wood ducks and nesting owls previously seen in the park are
being pushed out by UPD's damaging preparations. Not just birds, but small
mammals such as raccoons and muskrats that folks delight in have also begun
to decline. The latter are particularly affected by the destruction of the
brambles on the banks of the water that they depend on.

While citizens of the community should enjoy their park, they need to ask
themselves a basic question: At what point does “improvement” mean turning
a natural space into Disneyland, a fabricated, artificial outdoor venue
that no longer displays its true ecological identity?

We might even wonder what Crystal Lake Park will mean in terms of its
identity as an urban park. The neighborhoods surrounding the park are
largely made up of black and brown people, many of whom grew up and have
spent their whole lives in the surrounding area. Will the Park District
invite them to the new, sanitized theme park they have planned?

While national and state parks may offer some man-made amenities to their
visitors, the guiding philosophy behind them has always been to let nature
alone. When city planners of parks dismiss this vision entirely, *parks* cease
to have any meaning. The UPD Board should just admit that they want a giant
waterpark and playground, not a place for the community to experience
nature, especially if there is no nature left.



-- 
*Susan Parenti*
*Educational Coordinator *

*The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net

*Like us on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/designasociety>!*
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