I know it is gauche to watch network television these days but I challenge the uber hipster to find anything on HULU as majestic as Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea that ran for a colossal twelve hours on PBS last week. I am a sucker for the narration by Peter Coyote and Burns’ co-producer Dayton Duncan is a poet mixing the word stylings of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt into a balm that almost allows the viewer to overlook the glaring hyperbole of the series sub-title. Is a national park system America’s Best Idea? Probably not, and I’m certainly not alone in my conclusion. The price for our parks has been at the expense of indigenous people, native flora and fauna and capitalism. That being said, I am still a fan of public parks. The state and local parks of Minnesota are the reason many of us brave the climate and otherwise “flyover” geography.
Earlier this fall the Minneapolis parks were the focus of referendum campaign to afford the city’s quasi-independent park and recreation board greater autonomy in raising tax levies. Despite sufficient petition signatures submitted by the Citizens for Independent Parks Committee the Hennepin County District Court voted not to put the proposed city charter amendment before voters at the upcoming city election. The judge called the amendment request “manifestly unconstitutional” because state law allows only the Legislature to create separate units of government. The Minneapolis Park Board is currently a department of the city.
Time and more policy debate will tell if the Minneapolis Parks are in the right hands, if an independent Park Board would provide the best protection of the park system and the most accessibility for citizens. I know that in the mean time I will continue to enjoy the parks. I will pick up after others whose trash is blown out of their reach (this helps me not think evil thoughts about my fellow citizens) and I will keep watch over the policy debates. It is a narrow line we walk together between enjoying what is available today without ruining it for future generations. Our founding fathers got it right with the notion of freedom and our parks express this most American experimental and improvisational concept.
