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So much for people enjoying the outdoors, getting some exercise and using a successful community space. Manhattan Beach's Sand Dune Park will open in June--albeit with restrictions--after an eight-month closure prompted by neighborhood concerns.
Jake Rome, a local photographer who supported keeping the dune open, visited Sunday to find the adjoining park nearly empty. "With the dune closed for over 8 months, the park is used less than ever," he wrote. "2:30 on a cool spring Sunday, and the dune was fenced off. The tot lot was empty for the 15 minutes I was there. A half-dozen people quietly walked up & down the stairs. And the park attendant noted that the rest of the park was used much less since the dune was closed. Where parents would once let their young children play in the tot lot while they quietly exercised, now the park's most popular patrons were apparently the squirrels."
[Update/Correction: Rome writes in saying that the dune will actually open in June and not this month as this post originally indicated. The rest of the park adjacent to the dune has remained open, but has been used much less since the dune closed.]
