When Kensington banned children from a public park and tried to extort money from their school earlier this week, it was an acute case of heartless cruelty. It was also an (admittedly extreme) example of the exclusivity ingrained into much of suburban thinking that can seriously degrade community health.

It’s easy to understand how communities built on the notion of escaping from the unruly city can be so xenophobic, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK that they are. A community that values its serenity or pocketbook so much that it forgets the needs of its constituents isn’t much of a community. College students, skateboarders, high school marching bands, and even (the horror) fifth-graders are all legitimate community members, with legitimate needs.

The next time the folks on the Kensington town council see a news story about obesity rates among children, or about the social apathy of a generation raised on video games and TV, they should remember the time they outlawed healthy, constructive, school-supervised outdoor play.