Walking and the pedestrian environment
August 6, 2004
Terrorist Training Camp (San Diego)

Open-air shooting range in Balboa Park

shooting range
In Balboa Park, the Boy Scouts have an archery and rifle range a few dozen yards from a mixed use path. Amazingly, it's open air without significant safety barriers at the back end, just the earthen rise of a hill.

Nothing against Boy Scouts, but they either belong indoors or somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

Actually, I do have something against the Boy Scouts' exclusionary practices. I remember when I was a kid how cool I felt that we had mothers in troop leadership, developmentally disabled boys, and boys from several religions. As an Eagle Scout I'm embarassed by the sudden shift towards divisiveness and not allowing homosexual or atheist boys or leaders. What a horrible lesson to force on kids.

That's all beside the point though. The real point is that even if this is the best place they could find for a shooting range, why on earth does it need to be camoflauged? So a cross-country jogger doesn't know that they're about to be shot at?


Posted by Rob Ketcherside at August 6, 2004 11:58 AM
Lost Seattle
Check out my book Lost Seattle for more explorations of history and urbanism.
These pages are an archive. For my new content, visit ba-kground.com.
Copyright Rob Ketcherside; contact roket swirly gwu.edu