It’s true, the entire state of California is a complete disaster. In the grand scheme of things, the impact of all the social services that are being sliced in the budget cuts will be far more deleterious than any one park closure. And, of course, any park closure is awful news. Especially in Los Angeles, where we just don’t have that many.

On a person level though, this park hurts most. It’s more than a park, it’s a symbol of change in Los Angeles. It’s a rallying cry that people can stand up to city hall and shady developers and help make their city beautiful.

This is indeed very bad news. By way of full disclosure, I grew up not far from Taylor Yards and used to catch tadpoles in the LA River just beneath the roundhouse there. I have been to the Rio de Los Angeles Park, it is indeed a wonderful park. It would be tragedy for this park to close. However the recent budget “compromise” is producing a whole range of other, possibly even worse, tragedies. This is just one of many.