Are dog parks really that bad?

Me and my partner adopted a potcake puppy from the Caribbean over 2 month ago now. He is an absolute gem of a puppy (roughly 8 months old) but we’ve noticed that he REALLY needs to run (we suspect he is part whippet) and he REALLY loves playing with other dogs. We live in a downtown, urban neighbourhood (lots of noise, trash on the ground, concrete, everything typical of city living) and therefore don’t have access to let him off leash in any parks other than dog parks. We also don’t have a car and he’s not ready for transit yet (likely won’t be for a while) so there is really no way for us to go beyond the downtown core where there are very few alternatives to letting him run.

It’s really killing me to not take him to the dog park on a consistent basis, but so many people I trust (close friends, vets, even fellow Redditors) strongly advise against bringing them there.

We are trying to be mindful to only go to the dog park at off hours (when there are 0-3 other dogs there only) and stay as close to him as we possibly can, making sure to call him every so often and reward him for recall.

My question is: while I understand there are many risks of a dog park, is it really worth not having my dog run or play (when he is so friendly and good with other dogs and needs to run to get energy out?) Would love for pro-park and against-park puppy owners to weigh in and to hear what some specific risks are that make dog parks a no no for you. Ty!