Parks to extend summer opening times
Print Edition
MORE than half of the city’s parks will stay open longer next summer to meet public demand, the greenery authority said yesterday.
A total of 47 parks have applied for “summer operation time” for next year, which will allow them to extend their closing time from 5pm or 6pm to 9pm from July to September.
Out of the 165 parks in the city of Shanghai, 19 are already open around the clock, but the rest is operating under strict opening hours due to concerns over security at night, additional noise pollution and operational costs.
More than 35 percent of citizens said that they would want to visit nearby parks after 6pm, when most of them are closed already, a survey published by the East China Normal University found. The same survey, however, also showed that, despite the demand, residents are also worried about an evening noise pollution that longer opening hours might cause.
Almost 40 percent of people who live within the vicinity of a park said that longer opening hours would negatively affect their quality of life due to increased noise.
Luxun Park in Hongkou District, popular for its many ponds, has not applied for longer opening hours due to safety concerns, the park’s management said.
“Apart from noise, safety would be our major concern if the park had to open till late,” Luxun park director Wu Gang said, adding that the park was already open until 7pm.
“One-sixth of the park’s space is covered by lakes. We would have to invest a lot in security staff to assure the safety of evening visitors,” he said.
The survey also showed that more 80 percent of the parks that extended the operation hours in the past have hired 10 extra staff on average, including sanitation workers and security personnel. Only a small part — less than 20 percent — received additional government funding to do so.
The greenery authority called on district governments to offer more financial support to parks.
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