What is a RED field, anyway?

There's an interesting report coming across the Environmental News Service this morning which examines how some municipalities hope to address surplus or vacant commercial properties.  It seems that thousands of acres of US land sit unused in the form of things like abandoned or bankrupt strip malls and grocery stores.

Several groups are pushing to have these transformed into parks.  They are calling it a redfields movement; like" brown" fields which once held industrial factories these places are called red because they sit empty after their owners' went into the "red" financially.

I couldn't help thinking of the David Byrne/Talking Heads song Nothing But Flowers, which includes the line "Once there were parking lots, Now it's a peaceful oasis, you got it, you got it, This was a Pizza Hut, Now it's all covered with daisies, you got it, you got it.." as I read through this story.  I kept picturing Dairy Queen signs being bulldozed and a huge group of people in tie dye shirts following the construction crews, throwing flowers in their wake...

Then I woke up out of this happy reverie and my second thought was:  who will manage those spaces?  Parks need money for mowing, maintenance, safety, rangers, etc.  Right now almost everyone I know is fighting their respective city hall or state legislature to keep their parks open and operating.  Earlier this week, the NY Times had several photos of protesters fighting on behalf of Minnesota's state parks which were shuttered this month due to budget crises.  And locally, those of us who would probably be in that crowd throwing flowers behind those imaginary construction crews find that instead we have become experts in that all-too-bureaucratic thing known as the county budget process... there's not enough money being spent to adequately address the needs of the parks we have.

In reality, it isn't like the parks can take care of themselves.  Public lands need responsible, qualified managers who can oversee their safety, welfare and well-being.  Unless there are some private benefactors somewhere who can sponsor these places and keep them running and safe I just don't see this being realistic --even though it breaks my heart to EVER doubt the value of adding MORE parkland to any system anywhere...we can't even convince our elected leaders to take care of what we already own.

Meanwhile, I will now have that song stuck in my head all day long.  Not a bad thing at all.

You got it, you got it...