Just got back from a trip to Glacier National Park and the debate about park access is getting real heated

3 comments

3 Comments

Watch this same fight happen with every public good now. It starts with a trail or a campsite, then it's about library books or bus routes. We've lost the idea that some things are just for everyone, and that sharing them fairly is messy work. The park argument is just the most beautiful version of a much uglier problem.

alexpalmer26d ago

The park argument is actually the easy one. Try sharing a public pool in a hot summer. You see the real mess when there's a two hour wait for the diving board and kids are crying. The library fight gets nasty fast too, like when a town tries to ban a book half the people want to read. Parks feel nice because it's grass and trees, but the bus route cuts that leave old folks stranded, that's where the ugly problem really lives.

alexpalmer26d ago

Exactly. The ugly stuff hides in plain sight.