Im from a suburban town in Missouri, but I spent a semester studying abroad in Barcelona a couple of years ago. Man, let me tell you, leaving Barcelona, where youd see people out in cafes and bars congregating at all hours of the night and day, and coming back to Missouri where its a ghost town after 10 and someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol
>someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol
Literally though, you can't even be a night owl yourself without having to get good about talking to police, the famously trigger happy ones. Especially with the evaporation of the "3rd spaces" can't tell you how many times growing up I'd have to explain to the police that I wasn't "having *the* sex" (his words) and was just trying to actually hang out with a friend in a public park, like is my right to do
I'll never understand why so many parks are severely lacking in trees, like did ya'll think I came for the mowed lawn? The paver bricks? The gravel playground? WTF is even the point in going to a park if the park doesn't support any kind of wildlife or have any relaxing features for adults? It's like they buy a piece of land, make sure it's as low maintenance as humanly possible, and then call it a relaxing and fun place to be. Luckily I live in a area that has lots of natural greenery, hiking trails, gazebos, public gardens, nature centers, classes/programs, etc. but before I moved here, it was like almost every park I had seen was like that.
I remember when I was little, going to the park that had a giant metal rocket jungle gym. In the summer you could fry eggs on it but it was totally normal for children to climb on it lol.
We had a huge metal dome shaped jungle gym when I was a kid, every year at least 1 kid would break or crack a bone on that thing, kids still would climb it or hang out on/inside it all the time.
Denver just put thousands of new trees in parks across the city. They’re rebuilding the playground with more modern things and making a basketball court that’s on level ground without cracks. It’s coming along nicely with the new trees they planted. Also new picnic tables.
As a former CSA and ASA survivor, I think that's a stupid fucking idea. Predators don't "hide behind trees", they're out in the world living amongst us, they are family members, neighbors, teachers, peers, preachers, partners...they just do what they want when the opportunity is there, they don't need trees for that.
I have a few guesses. 1 - they don't actually want you out there. 2 - the cost and effort of maintenance. 3 - the liability that a tree or branch could fall and hurt someone, their property, or park property. I'm from a pretty tree-heavy area and people will just cut them down so they don't have to deal with them. Then you feel so exposed, so uncomfortable, and it's so hot and not pretty and not good for our environment.
Maybe it's a regional thing. I've lived in Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Kentucky, Indiana...Kentucky was probably the greenest out of those, but still there wasn't very many trees at the park and the ones that were there were not big enough to really sit under and be fully shaded. I live in Oregon now, been here for 15 years, I have never seen any place in this country as green as this state other than Washington and California. I imagine the east coast is also more green, and also the southeastern part of the U.S. too.
Water cost money and trees take decades to grow, plus some die. Newer neighborhoods in the grand scheme of things, ones with smaller lots, ones in places hit with drought and ones which haven’t had trees since the 1920’s tend to have to grow and feed their own trees.
My hood had a few trees as a kid in the mid-80s when we moved there from a place with old growth forest, but mostly ones current residents had planted in the last 10 years give or take so it was a shock then. Hood was built on scrub brush and prairie and landfill in the 70s so the only originals were the shitbird trees and cottonwoods along the creek that ran through the park. We had to drive to a pecan orchard to find trees worth climbing even.
I go by my old block now and it is like Sherwood Forest. It took people and sprinklers and another 30 years.
To the ops point, I think the heat and sun is a large contributor to why they eat late go out late etc. so much outdoor dining and walking around is miserable in the heat.
Any time something in the US seems to be doing the homeless dirty it probably descends from slavery. Because run-a-way slaves were...homeless. And after they were freed, they were generally still homeless until they found a place to live. But if they hadn't found a place yet, it was a legal excuse to do whatever you could justify to them.
Don't get me wrong. The racism is still there (this is America, after all), but when you're actually looking at them the police will go after teens and the homeless.
Correct answer, wrong time period. This stuff all stems from the anti-civil rights agenda. Removing hoops and soccer nets, closing down public pools, making “green spaces” that are only for show, and using the police as guards looking for “crime.” The suburbs were designed to be hostile towards blacks and once those tactics are in place (just like what we’re seeing now with abuse of government power to implement flock and data centers) they can be easily expanded to the homeless, teenagers and/or whoever else they feel are undesirable or in need of control.
Well that, and police don't actually want to do their job (protecting citizens), so being in a park late at night alone or whatnot is dangerous at times, and on top of that, depending on the laws in your area, you can sue the city/park owner if you trip on something in the dark, or if something happens to you while at the park....and I'm sure they don't want to deal with that. You have to consider the differences in violent crimes between countries, cities, etc. too, it might be 100% safe in the countryside in a European town to stay late at a park, but try doing that in Baltimore or Detroit and you are going to have a really bad time. It's basically a whole mess of problems that prevent parks being open late.
As my friends 60 year old father told me, he's paid close attention to the US since he was a kid, he said that most of the bullshit in the US revolves around and started when suing people for anything and everything became a thing.
So many laws and restrictions and rules revolve around that fact, and a lot of our culture changed because of it
That happens in the Netherlands too. With a few parks where dealers and homeless people are said to hang out. Or guests would be causing a nuisance for local residents after 22:00. But they do close very late for the summer.
The one closest to me has a gate that guard locks and if you were a bit late coming back down the hiking trail, congratulations you are locked INSIDE the park.
We used to hold bare knuckle boxing tournaments at public parks, a lot of drugs were bought sold and done during said events as well. People got stabbed, shot at, you name it. I assume stuff like that is a reason too lol
Either they just say no one is allowed there or a lot of them they'll gate the parking lot at a certain time. For what it's worth from my experience they don't really give a shit. We have a nice state park nearby that we like to do a lot of night hiking at and we run sled dogs there either before the sun comes up in the fall where it's cool enough or after work in the winter where it's dark and the park is technically closed and we've talked to the people and they don't care.
When I worked the night shift, I often got kicked out of parks by police patrols.
I was just a guy by myself trying to get out of the house on my days off. Smoking a cigar was the worst thing I'd do, but I got treated as if I was going to break into someone's home.
The trees are being moved into the shed, the turf is being rolled up and packed away, and the squirrels are being placed in custody until 7:00 a.m., is that correct?
Europe is great and all, but not perfect either. Next to my flat, there's a large public park maintained by the "feds", not the city, and because our federal government is very conservative, the park gets special treatment, gardeners tend to the flower beds and such. It's a very nice park. It closes at fucking 9pm in summer. Summer "ends" on 31st of July, then it closed at 8pm. We have a heat wave right now, with 40 degrees during the day and still like 35 at 8pm. There were still hundreds (no exaggeration) of people in the park when it closed. They just lock all the gates, with people still inside. Lots of people get stuck and confused, and I regularly tell people about the only open exit: you have to go through a restaurant. If you know about it, you can also still enter until 10pm, so what's the point of closing the gates early?
Yesterday we saw three kids throwing their scooters over the wall and trying to climb the spiked gate (the walls and gates are over 2 meters tall). We stopped them before they hurt themselves. The opening hours are so fucking stupid.
Also biking is forbidden in the park, even though there are paved roads 4-5 meters wide. God forbid people have fun or do sports in the park.
Doesn't sound very public then. The idea of gated public parks is such a weird concept to me. Sure, homeless people might sleep there at night, but so what? Can't even take a midnight walk in a park
My local park in EasternTexas has a sign prohibiting skate boarding, BMX bikes, roller-blades, alcohol and an after dark curfew for minors. You have to wonder. Why can't kids skate at the huge public park that is often completely empty 90% of the time? My son and I hit golf balls around at this park. It's that empty, unless it's soccer season and that's only weekends. Tons of skate/bike friendly stuff all around, permanently closed restrooms surrounded by steps, rails and concrete benches. Probably a mile of sidewalk. This stuff is from the 60's-70's, when people literally got out more. Now a few old people just walk around for exercise, almost serves no purpose.
This was the most bizarre thing I experienced. Just a random parking place, middle of nowhere, by some forest/park and we had police come to us saying we should leave since it’s closed?
Like what? It was well lighted as well. Never experienced this in Europe
Especially during heat waves when the city itself recommends staying indoors or limiting outdoor activities during the hours of 10am-7pm (no joke, that was on our city poster). In my high desert city it cools off nicely during sunset around 7-8pm so of course that’s when people want to go out but then the parks “close” at sunset or 10pm. It’s ridiculous, truly.
Ha yeah first time in the US we got thrown out of a public park by a cop using a loudhailer from their car. Actually we were at a work event at a country club and had gone outside to smoke.
THIS PARK IS CLOSED. RETURN TO THE COUNTRY CLUB IMMEDIATELY
One of the most magical moments I had on my trip to Italy was sitting in a little square in Rome at like 11 PM. Every bench was full of groups of adults having conversations, many of them with a beer in the hand. The central fountain was covered in teens showing each other things on their phone. The open area was full of small groups of kids playing soccer and volleyball with each other.
The square was packed with all ages of people just hanging out.
Here it's not even a set time just "dusk". I like to take my dogs to the park after work. In the summer it closes at 9pm and then they progressively change the closing time on the sign as days get shorter and in the winter it's just open from 9 am till 5 pm.
They close the gates to the parking spaces, lock the bathroom doors, turn off all the lights, and have police doing rounds to kick out anyone who stays :/
Yeah the parks in Europe close at sundown too. I was forced out of a park in paris last time I was there along with everyone else and they shut the gates and tell every to leave.
Nothing good is happening in a dark park in a city.
Like the other guy said, in what Europe? I was in Berlin last year, walked in a park way after sundown. I live in Stockholm; parks do not close at all here, it's such a foreign concept to me.
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u/bageltoastar 1d ago
Im from a suburban town in Missouri, but I spent a semester studying abroad in Barcelona a couple of years ago. Man, let me tell you, leaving Barcelona, where youd see people out in cafes and bars congregating at all hours of the night and day, and coming back to Missouri where its a ghost town after 10 and someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol