BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Clean-running water and restroom access are just two of the concerns community members in Kern County's District 5 have for their neighborhood parks. On Tuesday, those community members accompanied Kern County District 5 Parks and Recreation officials as they took a real-time look at conditions at the district's neighborhood parks.
One of those community members is Rosanna Esparza.
"I live 4 to 5 blocks away. I have enough sense to know not to drink water on my way here because I don't have any place to pee," said Esparza.
Esparza says she has lived in Kern County's 5th District for about a decade and tells 23ABC her concerns about having access to running water and functional restrooms have been ongoing, so much so that she's even created her own version of a portable toilet.
"I have my hand sanitizer, I have my toilet paper, and I have my biodegradable disposable bags. Why? Because this represents a portapotty," said Esparza. "It wasn't until 2 days ago that we had a portable toilet that actually was unlocked and that works."
District 5 Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ucedrah Osby says the overall purpose of their 'take-a-look' tour is to get what she calls "a boots-on-the-ground look" at what the community is experiencing.
"There are broken tables, barbecue grills," said Osby. "There's a lot of graffiti."
As the tour went from Heritage Park to Pioneer Park and then on to Potomac Park, Osby says the residents' concerns represent public health issues.
"We are asking them to take action now in giving us resources to bring our parks up to par. We are asking for equity now," said Osby.
Kern County Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop also took part in the tour. He noted that bathrooms in parks seem to be a magnet for graffiti, saying the county does its best to keep up with the repairs from vandalism and other issues.
"We've got 40 parks across 8,000 square miles. That's a lot of staff time and resources that are spent on actually going out and fixing things," said Alsop. "Last time I checked, 75 to 80 percent of our operations budget in parks was spent on fixing things that get broken."
Alsop added that there are District 5 parks improvement projects included in the current county budget.
Esparza says all she's hoping for is change.
"I want to see what's happening in the community with the dollars that you say you have."
