The most common public spaces in which kids can congregate safely, most of the time, are schools. Schools serve a very essential purpose and need - which isn’t just education - but also opportunities for socialization. Children, especially teens, need to have a space to socialize and be with other people; interacting with one another. However, outside of school, opportunities for such things are very limited. Skate parks and parks in general for those in marginalized and poor communities are either too far away and inaccessible, closed down, unclean, privatized, or just too risky to be alone after-hours. There are very few places where kids can actually meet with each other and chill with one another safely, and even then, those places are being slowly taken away, being turned into just another vacant lot.

Without these kinds of public services and spaces, the incentive for people to go outside and interact with those in their community outside of commercial purposes becomes inadequate. This issue is complicated by the fact that, because our public transportation is so underdeveloped, if a person is poor and can’t afford a car, it becomes basically impossible to travel to places that do have those public accommodations. This issue is exacerbated if that person is a child and/or in school. These places provide a space for people from within and outside to communicate and socialize with one another, bringing communities closer together and raising trust between the community. 

Public spaces also fulfill other vital social functions too by creating social cohesion between groups of people together who wouldn't ordinarily mix, which also improves the local economy. In places where integrated housing is the norm, meaning that zoning laws allow for a blend of homes for which both low and moderate income households are built side by side, public spaces like parks, community centers, and even restaurants and bars are used as pathways for low-income workers, high-income workers, and middle-class business owners to interact with each other and exchange services. Sociologists often talk about relationships that they call “weak ties,” which is basically the equivalent to an acquaintance. People often get their jobs through their “weak ties,” and that these ties are often made through these public spaces.

Unfortunately in Los Angeles, integrated housing isn’t a common practice and the amount of public spaces outside of schools are decreasing. There are plenty of ways that these issues could be solved and local governments have actually begun to try addressing these issues in recent years. The LA mayor, Karen Bass is planning on taking many of these vacant city properties to build housing for the homeless and the city council has put forth bills to address the underfunding and mismanagement of public parks and other social infrastructure, but there’s still much more work to be done. There needs to be a systematic plan that ensures that there are more spaces for people to congregate, like parks and community centers, and that these unused pieces of land are put to use. Whether it be to build local shopping centers, grocery stores, gardens, and other projects that would facilitate community engagement, Los Angeles needs to get proactive and creative to take serious strides toward becoming the city that the people who live here deserve.

Writers note: Please check out our other articles on homelessness, another issue in Los Angeles that is largely ignored, and at times exacerbated. They articulately highlight the issues surrounding homelessness, their causes and effects, while also presenting the homeless in an empathetic light.  They put a lot of effort into their writing and they deserve all of the recognition for it.