Equity impacts
Careers in habitat management, recreation and parks, and other healthy ecosystem jobs are often unknown or unattainable for EJ communities. They often face barriers to access parks and open spaces. Improving or developing these lands can make areas more desirable to live in and may increase cost of surrounding housing, causing displacement. EJ communities also are left out of decision-making around what occurs in parks, natural lands, and open spaces.
Recommendations
- Continue RPD programs to connect jobs to EJ communities and ensure a focus/prioritization in EJ communities.
- Continue to improve access to parks and open spaces whenever possible.
- Ensure coordination of anti-displacement laws and regulations.
- Community buy-in and cross-departmental coordination with housing regulations is key.
- Ensure responsiveness to community needs and community empowerment.
- Identify EJ and vulnerable communities that could benefit most from biodiversity restoration and maintenance and prioritize those projects.
Suggested edit to the draft
Suggest revising the following action: HE 1-1: "…increase staffing *with an outreach focus in EJ communities* for sustainable…" HE 1-5: "*Work with community to* complete revegetation of Heron’s Head Shoreline Resilience Project by 2028, and continue..." Suggest adding the following action: "Explore programs to create a sense of park ownership in EJ communities, to support maintenance, beautification efforts, and placemaking."
Not adopted. Final HE-1-1 and HE-1-5 do not carry the suggested phrases; no park-ownership action appears.