NEWS

The Sky’s the Limit

December 16, 2019 from Trust for Public Land

In rural Washington and bustling Los Angeles, park advocates are tapping into the power of a common goal.

This article was originally published in fall 2019.

The first thing you notice when you cross the bridge into Wenatchee is the giant apple: a 16-foot-high apple-shaped billboard, welcoming all to the “Apple Capital of the World.” Wenatchee, a small city of around 30,000 people in central Washington State, sits at the confluence of two rivers—the Columbia and the Wenatchee. Surrounded by the high-desert foothills that edge the Cascade range, the Wenatchee Valley is an ideal environment for orchards; the region produces the majority of the nation’s cherries and apples.

This is where 22-year-old Teresa Bendito grew up, in a home on the banks of the Columbia River. Like many of her neighbors, Bendito’s family has worked in the farms and warehouses up and down the valley. During cherry harvest season—typically June through August—orchard workers regularly clock 12- and 15-hour days. But despite the long hours, Bendito says they always found time to ride bikes and play along the river after work, making the most of the midsummer sunlight.

Bendito was ten years old when developers razed her neighborhood to make way for new luxury housing. Her mother had fought the changes for a year, securing promises of relocation support from the developer and city officials. But when the time came for her family to move, their promises fizzled. Her family turned to the local Catholic church, which helped them find a new home, miles away from their beloved riverfront green space. Their rent tripled. It was just another link in a chain of unfulfilled commitments made to the city’s Latino community, Bendito says. “We have a history of proposals like these falling through, for one reason or another.”

Continue to full story here:

 https://www.tpl.org/land-and-people-magazine/2019-fall-winter/the-skys-the-limit