(Editor’s Note: Even board members are occasionally motivated to submit a letter to the board! Gary chairs the Parks & Open Spaces Committee and Friends of Wilshire Park.)
When I moved here 10 years ago, my family and I discovered that we had a wonderful park located just blocks from our house. This park was Wilshire Park.
The park became our second home as we spent hours at the park playing soccer and baseball games, jogging the dirt track, throwing the Frisbee, and playing on the playground. But as the years went by, we began to notice the playground seemed to be getting in worse and worse shape. The paint was peeling on most of the wood structures, the small wooden play cars had chunks missing out of them, and the teeter-totter was spray-painted with graffiti.
I began calling the city to see if I could start the process of getting our playground area upgraded. My questions were met by many barriers. I was told by the city that I would have to submit a proposal to get the park on a waiting list. This was followed by an e-mail letting me know that the waiting list was no longer taking new proposals because of budget cuts. Discouragement grew, and I gave up the dream of getting our playground upgraded.
Months later at a spring BWNA meeting, I found myself in a conversation about the playground (and other parts) of Wilshire Park with a group of people who shared my frustrations, and soon Friends of Wilshire Park (FOWP) was born. Many meetings later, Commissioner Amanda Fritz was invited to be a guest speaker, and she informed us that one of the broken-down play structures (the toddler house) was scheduled to be replaced using bond funds. We asked her if it would be possible to raise funds for the rest of the toddler area, and she said yes. Meanwhile, our first major FOWP project had been launched—the grant-assisted NatureSpace, with the goal of creating a beautiful natural area for reflection and play near the park pavilion. More than 40 neighborhood volunteers, young and old, turned out in early October to participate in “Mulch Day” on a drizzly Saturday, and we thank you. Building on that enthusiasm, a fundraising drive is currently underway to upgrade the toddler playground—beyond the new toddler house—and we’re looking for interested parties to help.
FOWP meets every second Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the basement activity room of Bethany Lutheran Church at the corner of NE 37th and Skidmore. Please participate in helping to complete the NatureSpace project, and join me in my quest to achieve a world-class play area! For more information, go to www.friendsofwilshirepark.org.