Parks are easy to treat as an afterthought when budgets tighten, but in a city as hot as Fresno they are anything but a luxury. Shade, green space, and safe places to play are matters of public health, not decoration.
Well-maintained parks give kids somewhere to go, help neighbors know one another, and can even reduce crime by keeping public spaces active. The return on that investment shows up in ways a spreadsheet struggles to capture.
Fresno should treat its parks as essential infrastructure, funded reliably rather than in fits and starts. Our neighborhoods, and our summers, would be better for it.
