the uglier truth

I decided to take a stroll through San Pedro Springs today. Not only because I've decided I would write a piece on it for a class assignment, but because I hadn't been through there in quite sometime (unless you count that one time I actually cut through the park to get to Annex on San Pedro so that I could meet a couple of friends out...but that's another story). I was actually on my way to Golden Star, a cheaply priced, yet highly talked about Chinese/Mexican/Seafood on the city's near west side. It was closed, so I opted to turn around and visit the park.

I had almost forgotten how beautifully the park had been restored. In 2001 or so, I was a student at San Antonio College just across the street from the park. The college was celebrating it's 75th anniversary and me being a beginner journalist writing for The Ranger, was assigned that beat (I know, right? That's not a beat!). Well anyway, the refurbishing of the park was one of the things I wrote about most that semester. I pretty much had to learn that park inside and out.

So here, all these years later, thinking I had stored in my head all this useless information, I get an assignment in class to write a travel/history piece. Although I was given a great number of ideas, I decided in the end to write about the park, yet again. Why not tell people about what a great place this is. I think sometimes people still see it for the crappy place it was 20 year ago (tranny hookers, drugs, thugs). Lots of peopel don't realize they had a revitalization project almost 10 years ago, giving the park a much needed facelift.

While I was there tonight, I saw families barbecuing. I saw ladies walking their dogs. I saw kids running around laughing and having fun while their parents snuggled and whispered in each others ears on the benches along the wading pool. It looked so nice out there. There were lights all along the walkways so and a small skate park giving all those little skater kids a place to hang and show off.

I want more people to know about this place. I want people to know that it's safe to come back to the park, but more than that, I want people to know that San Pedro park is here, where it's always been. I used to go there as a kid, and yeah, I remember people telling me that it was "ghetto." Well it's not...anymore. And I stand by that. It's not ghetto! Sure it's a little strange that the little creek like trenches that used to surround the park are gone (I'm not sure if these were part of the acequias or not), and that they're now filled with dirt and grass grows along the bridges that used to go over them. Yes, the bridges are now just in strange spots not helping you cross over anything, but they're a historic part of the park. Check it out!