JEDDAH, 15 June 2004 — Makkah residents are increasingly looking outside the city for clean recreational facilities as their public parks are in a state of neglect.
Al-Madinah newspaper reported another reason why these parks are deserted was that they are only open during the day although the favored time for families to go out is after nightfall.
“I am surprised they are not taking care of our parks,” Makkah resident Ibrahim Mahdi told the paper. “We are not taking advantage of public parks in our neighborhoods. I think the fault lies with the municipality. There are no wardens to open the parks, and there is nobody taking care of them. I’ve never seen the gates of the park in our neighborhood open,” he said.
He said the municipality seemed not to care. “They should keep the doors of this park open so families can enjoy their weekends,” he added.
Salem Al-Zahrani agrees. “I would love to see public parks in all neighborhoods organized properly.
“We should be able to enjoy them at all hours, not just for a few hours every day,” especially since families tend to gather at weekends and at night, he said.
“We need more green space and open space for our children to enjoy,” he added. “Why is the municipality not doing anything to improve our parks?”
Ateya Al-Ghamdi said the parks were essentially dead space. “They are not organized, closed all the time and there are no entertainment programs. There are no plans by the management of the park to attract families at weekends. That is why most of our public parks are deserted. How can a family sit in a park where there are puddles of raw sewage?”
