The dismantling of the fountain in Anchorage's Town Square Park definitely is a positive development, but this news still overlooks the greater issue of who is included and excluded from our public spaces. In her ADN May 19 article, "Anchorage's Town Square Park sees clash over space," journalist Devin Kelly makes a good effort to interview individuals who occupy the park space. However, giving voice and agency to the homeless or street people is a rarity in ADN's coverage of this issue that often repeats the same narrative about the homeless in our city.
There is not a uniform homeless or street person living in Anchorage. Kelly's story highlights, as has become the norm in our media, a man who "moments earlier" purchased Spice in the park. This kind of coverage just perpetuates the myth of who is using the space and infringing on "our" safety.
There is a huge variety of experiences betweenpanhandlers on the side of the road, those who hang out in Town Square Park, and those visible on the corner of 13th Avenue and Gambell Street in Fairview. Yet, when "we" (the news media, community leaders, and working professionals like myself) talk about "them" who pose a risk to our enjoyment of public spaces like Town Square we are engaging in racist, classist, uninformed rhetoric not useful to solving the real issue at hand.
With generous permission from the Performing Arts Center, I installed a time-lapse camera on the building in 2014 and recorded movements and activities in the park over a three-week period. I found overall, the park is an underused space. Certain areas are more utilized than others, and many claims of dangerous nighttime activities were unfounded from my recording. From my own research, I can confidently conclude removing the fountain will not have a radical effect on who uses the park, and maybe even more importantly, who and how decisions are made about who is a "desirable" park user, who engages in "legitimate" park activity.
Likewise, from my research in public spaces around the world, I can also say I don't believe that "one-off" events or Friday night concerts, as proposed by the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, will change much about users' attitudes about the sentiment the park is "dangerous," and who ultimately occupies the space on a daily basis. Without educating our city's citizens about who is using the park, why it is used in that way, and what are some actual innovative ways to create an inclusive park space (Friday night summer concerts are not innovative or inclusive) knocking down the fountain really will not change anything besides creating an artificial sense that safety, for certain park users, finally has been achieved.
A recent New York Times story reports that in June, media organizations in the San Francisco Bay area will coordinate efforts to cover the homeless crisis. What's even more revolutionary about this effort is that instead of writing traditional news articles, reporters will offer possible solutions instead of rehashing the standard discourse about why people are homeless and how it creates a burden on cities. The effort is meant to force politicians and community leaders to not only create new solutions, but to be accountable for their plans.
As an example of one possible solution that could be offered locally, consider how the spaces in our city — like Bean's Cafe and Brother Francis Shelter — where the homeless and street people are "allowed" during the day are all harsh concrete environments. Given the strong research on parks as restorative spaces for mental and physical health, why are we trying to exclude anyone from green spaces? What effect would it have to transform some of the parking lot in front of Bean's Cafe into a green space?
I challenge our news media here in Anchorage — radio, TV, print and electronic — to consider a similar effort to the Bay Area's: Let the homeless speak as well as offer solutions instead of continuing to recycle the same stories about who we think the homeless are, and the same tired solutions to solving our homeless crisis in town by moving them to places they can't be seen by the general population.
Bree Kessler is a freelance writer and researcher who studies the built environment and behavior. She is a trained social worker and has worked as a community organizer for many years.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.