On Gatekeeping

I don't like the idea of gates, especially when they prevent me from accessing public spaces. Whomever controls the gate, well, I'll let you finish the thought because it makes mad just thinking about it 😤

They recently put up a gate along a path on the seawall around a local park and my feisty self immediately raised a rebellious freedom-loving eyebrow. I'm a civilized man, however, and I understand that gates are certainly useful when you want to alleviate problems like people riding bikes and scooters along a path when they should be in bed. Maybe there's criminal activity going on and large gear is being hauled deeper into the park. Perhaps maintenance work is necessary because of storm damage, and this is a way to let people know they have to turn around. For the most part, we tend to follow the rules and polite hints. The thing is that while it looks like a large sturdy gate, I certainly don't think it's meant to literally stop people because as you can see in the picture, you could just jump onto the beach and get around it easily.

It could stop large vehicles, but I've never seen any along this pedestrian/bike only path. I do admit I'm not privy to all the going-ons in this out of the way area, but in all likelihood, they could be targeting bike and e-scooter riders whom are plenty around these parts.

Still, I'm mystified by the gate's presence. I think that if aliens came down and found it, they would be mystified too.

I decided to take a closer look at it when I came across it the other day. It's actually a nice gate with some artistic designs. It casts cool shadows on sunny days. One side of it is right next to a rocky cliff face, which is a great idea undermined only by the wide open Pacific ocean on the other side.

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