Founded in 1965, Foothills Park had finally opened its doors to the public after 51 years. For 51 years, Foothills park had been exclusively opened for Palo Alto residents only and has been dead set on that. According to NBC Bay Area, nonresidents faced jail time or fines up to $1000 just for trespassing. Was this park so special that jail time was considered a reasonable penalty for trespassing?

The park is now open to the public, I entered the park and the first thing I noticed was a ranger using a payphone. A working payphone is not something you see often anymore. Right away I saw the views of the city and dark green mountains with mansions on top. The park is very beautiful for sure. The trails are clean, and they aren’t too long. What I loved the most was how plentiful the wildlife is. I saw a lot of deer and little birds frolicking around the park. However, despite how beautiful this park is, I can’t help but think about the classism embedded into this park’s history. Palo Alto is a relatively wealthy city with a majority of white people at 60%, followed by Asian (32.4%) 5.6% of the residents are Hispanic and only a mere 1.6% of the residents are Black, according to NBC. Historically, it has been difficult for minorities to buy houses in Palo Alto and as a result, the majority of residents who were allowed to enter the park were white and Asian. To add, the average rent of a 2 bedroom apartment in Palo Alto is 3,400 according to Apartments.com, making it nearly impossible for people with low incomes to live there. It took Palo Alto 51 years to allow non-residents to be able to enjoy this park, they reasoned that because they bought the park and run it with Palo Alto tax money; it was okay to keep the park inclusive. Why is this a problem? This is a problem because by denying non-resident to enter this park, Palo Alto was also denying access to most minorities and people with lower incomes. 

When I visited foothills park, I expected it to be nothing I had ever seen before, but after visiting this park, after I saw the beauty and I compared it to other parks I have gone to I came to one conclusion: it is just a park. That’s it. I can’t find a justification for why this park was so exclusive, except as a method of division. Despite Foothill’s park past with classism, I am glad they have finally opened this park and I hope this is a start to making better decisions not for just Palo Residents, but for residents from other cities who deserve a chance of experiencing the unique areas of Palo Alto.