During a recent visit to Cobourg’s Ecology Garden to conduct interviews for a story about the local fight over parks and playgrounds, a man sleeping in the gazebo decided to pleasure himself in front of me.

He looked up, made kissing noises, put both hands down his pants, and began openly engaging in self-pleasure while staring directly at me.

Mid-interview, while my videographer and I were simply trying to speak with another man who was being perfectly respectful, I had to physically reposition myself, using the interviewee as a shield, just to put an end to the indecent act.

This is the kind of behaviour that won’t appear in any municipal planning document or feel-good policy statement, but it is the reality residents are describing on the ground.

This incident happened in the same park flagged in Cobourg’s draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan, where locals say they now avoid the garden during summer months.

The plan talks about “non-stigmatizing” public health signage and sharps disposal bins. What it doesn’t adequately address is the open drug use, encampments, and anti-social behaviour that have made families, children, and seniors feel unwelcome in spaces built for them.

After Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland pushed back on the draft plan and called for it to align with the law and common sense, several social service organizations issued an open letter defending the inclusion of homelessness, encampments, and harm-reduction measures in the Parks Master Plan.

They argued that “Cobourg’s parks are public spaces—for all members of the public,” that people experiencing homelessness reside in parks because shelters are full.

The letter, signed by leaders from Northumberland United Way, Green Wood Coalition, Northumberland Community Legal Centre, Rebound Child & Youth Services, and Transition House Coalition, frames opposition to encampments as lacking compassion. They defend syringe bins as protecting everyone, including kids, and insist housing is a human right.

But here’s the reality many of these advocates seem keen on ignoring: when a handful of people’s chaotic or criminal behaviour drives out the vast majority who simply want to use the park for recreation, picnics, or play, “parks for everyone” stops sounding noble and starts sounding like a slogan that excuses failure.

One person’s freedom cannot come at the expense of everyone else’s ability to use public spaces safely. Children, families, and seniors aren’t asking for exclusion; they’re asking for parks that remain what they were always meant to be: clean, safe places for community life. Places to be utilized for their intended use.

Mayor Cleveland has since filed a Notice of Motion, set for council consideration on June 24. The motion notes that parks exist “for the recreation, health, and quality of life of all residents, not as sites of encampment or illegal activity.” He’s asking staff to ensure the plan respects the Safer Municipalities Act and the values of Cobourg residents.

It’s been framed as controversial, instead of the reasonable and responsible governance that it is.

No amount of signage or disposal bins fixes predatory behaviour, open drug use, or the degradation of shared spaces. Compassion that ignores the safety of the most vulnerable — kids and families — isn’t compassion. It’s ideology over reality.

Cobourg residents deserve honest conversation about what’s actually happening, not platitudes that erase the rights of the law-abiding majority. Parks belong to the community, not just the loudest advocates or the most disruptive users.

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