By YOMI SACHIKO WRONG: For Complete Post, Click Here…
WHEELCHAIRS IN WILD SPACES shouldn’t be an anomaly some thirty years since the Americans with Disabilities Act, but here I am, in front of another gate, asserting my right to exist in nature. The very fact of me seems to rankle the men I am here to meet.
King Estates Open Space Park is a verdant area of native grasses, wildflowers, and spectacular vistas overlooking the San Francisco Bay. During the darkest days of the pandemic, sheltered at home and half-crazed with fear, my daily sojourns here replenished and sustained me. But today I am shut out, blocked from the most usable entrance to the park by a poorly designed and inaccessible chain-link fence. The City of Oakland Department of Parks and Recreation hastily erected the barrier at the request of a few vocal homeowners angry about the recent increase in park use.
