The *Other* Park, or How the Other Half Lives

We have several parks within walking distance of our house. This is, I suppose, one of the benefits of living in the city, though it certainly doesn't make up for the lack of quality public education! Last summer, a decent park that we visited much (because it was a farther walk than the other parks we frequented) was torn down, and a brand-new, supercool park was built in its place. Since then, we go to "new park," as we so cleverly call it, almost exclusively. This means that we've stopped frequenting a park only three blocks from our house, which I had eschewed early last summer because a piece of equipment was broken and never repaired. Not only that, but homeless men sleep under the bushes in the lot attached to the park. Nice, right?

Meanwhile, although "new park" is less than a mile from our house (probably actually 1/2 mile), it's live visiting a whole other planet. The parents are nice and very friendly. It's where most of the children from Ella's school play. There are no homeless people sleeping nearby. And the kids, on the whole, just seem better cared for.

Anyhow, I had promised to take the girls to the park when I got home from work yesterday, but they had just gotten back from a trip to the new park with grandpa. So I decided to take them over to the park on School Street since I had talked to a parent recently who made it sound like they'd spruced the place up.

Let's just say that I think this was our last trip to that park. Ella's new thing is the monkey bars, so she immediately headed over to them. Not four feet from where she was playing was a dirty, disheleved man whose long hair was pulled into a ponytail. He had a bottle in a paper bag placed--in what I assume he thought was a discrete fashion--at his feet. He was watching the kids play.

Seriously?! Now, those of you who have two kids know that when you take both of them to the park, it's impossible to keep them both in the same exact place. I tend to shadow Sadie (since she is a maniac) and keep my eyes on Ella. But, of course, I was feeling none too good about having Ella anywhere near that man. Part of me wanted to ask him whether he could take his booze elsewhere, but I wasn't really interested in having a confrontation with the drunk, homeless man in the park--no matter how many other parents were there.

Meanwhile, Ella and Sadie started playing with a little girl who was there with her dad. We move away from drunk man. Only to realize that we are now having a lovely encounter with Man with Lit Cigarette at the Park. Ugh. First of all, it's ILLEGAL to smoke in any Chicago parks. Second of all, COME ON. There are children playing here. A lit cigarette in someone's hand is basically Sadie height. Not only that, but I get SO sick of seeing cigarette butts mixed in with the woodchips at the park. (It's worth noting that I NEVER see butts at the new park.) Smoke if you will, but I feel very strongly that a children's PARK is not the place to do it. Plus, it's just plain rude to throw cigarette butts on the ground anywhere. I don't care if it's the park or the side of the highway.

It is at this point that I realize drunk homeless man is actually the father of two unfortunate children playing at the park. Seriously??! I found the whole thing easier to swallow when I thought the guy was homeless. What parent brings a bottle of booze to the park in a brown paper bag, drinking surreptitiously while his kids play? As I watched the children walk away with this man, part of me felt like I should do something. But what? Alert child services? Like they'd care about an offense this minor. And who am I to judge? I mean, sure, it's illegal to drink in the park. On the other hand, I've had a beer or a glass of wine in front of my kids. Of course, I've NEVER done so at the park, and I've NEVER done so from a brown paper bag. Something about that just seems so very, very wrong.

Sigh.

It's back to new park for us.