Corcoran Park update

By |

With the summer program season right around the corner and registration for our summer programs starting April 13th, I would like to highlight some programs and events that you might want to mark on your calendar.Fishing Camp: Aug 19-22, 9am-1pm, Ages 8-12, $25Learn the basics of casting, knots, and catch and release while exploring shore spots on the Mississippi River this summer. Instructor Dan the Fishing Man has years of experience sharing his passion for fishing with kids in the parks. He will teach your child secrets of catching fish on the river and how to land the lunker.Photography Camp: July 15-18, 9:30am-1pm, Ages 8-12, $25Come explore the Corcoran neighborhood. We will be going on adventures through the neighborhood and the kids will take pictures of the amazing and unique things we see. Each day we will explore the area then come back to the park and have snack time, and–weather permitting–we’ll go for a swim. Continue Reading

Chelsea Heights: The village that built a St. Paul playground

By |

Chelsea Heights Elementary School students will see a new playground erected outside their school windows on May 1 and 2.The project will be celebrated on Thursday, May 2, at noon with a ribbon cutting and press conference. After nearly four years of fundraising by the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), the school, which is located at 1557 Huron St., will get new playground equipment, a naturescape surrounding the area and a new tot lot for preschoolers.“We’re really excited,” said Ann Smith, PTO vice president. “It’s going to be great.”A teardown of the old playground equipment will begin the last week of April. The entire project should be finished by the Chelsea Heights spring carnival on Friday, May 17, Smith said.The project has received funding from a variety of sources but began with the PTO, which has raised nearly $60,000 through donations from Chelsea Heights families and neighbors. The PTO’s efforts made the project eligible for a school district match of $15,000. Continue Reading

St. Paul: New playground for Indian Mounds Park

By |

Planning is underway for a new and expanded play area for Indian Mounds Park. A task force of neighbors has started meeting to offer suggestions and review many proposals. There may be a “water feature” such as a splash pad, new play equipment, and a new building or two. The construction will start this summer.There will be a community open house within a couple of months. But if you have some ideas you want to share, please contact Ellen Stewart, the city staff person who is coordinating the project. Continue Reading

New playgrounds at Minnehaha Park coming soon

By |

After a lengthy planning process, the new playgrounds slated for the North Plateau and Wabun areas at Minnehaha Park have received approval by the Park Board, which is one of the last steps before construction will begin this summer.Park planners focused on developing playgrounds that represented the unique histories of both locations. Read more about the area’s history and the plans for the two playgrounds in a previous article.North PlateauLarger version of North Plateau plan details.At the North Plateau site, all of the existing play structures from the WPA era will remain. Andrea Webber, project manager at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, said that the new playground features will be classic stand-alone structures, such as slides, see saws, spring rockers, and a merry-go-round. To blend the new with the old, the new equipment won’t have the bright colors typically seen at a modern playground. The North Plateau area was the location of the Longfellow Gardens (the Zoo), and the play area will have a few concrete animal climbers as well as signage telling the story about the site’s history.WabunLarger version of Wabun plan details.The new Wabun playground is a universal access playground, which means that all children and caregivers, including those with disabilities will be able to take part in the fun. Continue Reading

E-DEMOCRACY | A day in the life of Conway Recreation Center

By |

From: Betsy Leach Date: Apr 04 18:21As we were dealing with the Parks Department over the upcoming privatization of Conway Rec Center, they kept telling us that the center was under-utilized. As we questioned them about this, we discovered that Parks uses registrations for sports activities and after-school activities as the metric for usage. That is, when people pay to attend events, or participate in sports, they are counted. If they are just stopping in for a pick-up game, or to hang out with friends, if they use the park grounds and stop in to use the restroom or get a drink, they are not counted. If participants at the center are a part of a partner program – such as the senior activities, or our meetings or other community meetings, they don’t get counted… Continue Reading

Youth sports build more than just muscle — Laverne Turner helps students achieve academic success, learn leadership skills

By |

As a youth, local community leader Laverne Turner was heavily involved in organized team sports, and he remembers how positive an impact it had on him growing up. As an adult in 2003, he says he noticed there were no athletic programs for youth in his community, which motivated Turner to develop a sports program for young people in his South Minneapolis Phillips neighborhood — the East Phillips Park Sports Association (EPPSA).To decide which type of sports team to organize, and if there would even be any interest among the kids, Turner surveyed the young people in his neighborhood to get their feedback. “Most kids wanted to play football, so I tried to put together a football team in cooperation with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board [MPRB] at the time,” Turner says.The partnership lasted for a year, and he says it “had some successes. There were a lot of kids that wanted to be a part of [EPPSA]. There was a buzz in the community…but my expectations and the park board’s expectations weren’t the same.”While Turner felt that the quality still had to be at a high level, it soon became apparent to him that having a community sports team provided more than just the opportunity to keep young people physically active. Continue Reading

OPINION | “The story is our escort”: Phillips pool and gym needs your help

By |

“It is the story that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.” – Chinua Achebe; born November 16, 1930 and died March 21, 2013.The headline above, from The Alley Newspaper, April 1984, is still relevant in April 2013 because the 40-year saga of the Phillips Pool continues. The next chapter is being written as you read this. You are welcomed to be a part of this chapter.The Pool is empty again!The story intensifies as the characters’ levels of passion and available time move between those who are deeply involved to the casual observer and some in between. Continue Reading

Como Park’s historic footbridge on its way to complete renovation

By |

A century ago, it functioned as an elegant main entrance to Como Regional Park, but in recent decades, the footbridge near the Historic Streetcar Station more closely resembled a crumbling wreck.Although listed on the National Registry of Historic places, portions of the bridge had fallen away or been removed, small trees grew on its deck, and it was fenced off to protect passersby.Happily, looks proved to be somewhat deceiving.The City of St. Paul’s initial goals for the bridge, which lies just northeast of the Horton Avenue and Lexington Parkway intersection, were modest. The plan was to use a combination of federal and local funding to stabilize what remained so that it was safe to walk or bike under, but not over. The bridge was to be considered a ruin, valued for its historical significance and part of an interpretive site, tied in with the streetcar station.“Based on the appearance of the structure, we were under the impression that, if we didn’t do anything, the bridge would eventually collapse under its own weight,” said Don Varney, a landscape architect with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and the project manager.However, a subsequent engineering analysis revealed the concrete in the key structural elements was strong, and a complete renovation proved possible to do within the existing budget.“I think the end result is going to be a lot more satisfying for everybody,” Varney said.Way back in 1898, the St. Paul City Railway Co. Continue Reading

$500K for St. Paul park, in a Pig’s Eye?

By |

Pig’s Eye Regional Park sits southeast of the St. Paul Downtown Airport, just across the Mississippi River. It is a 1,200 acre complex of water, wetlands, prairie and woodlands with one of the largest heron and egret rookeries in an Upper Midwest metropolitan area. It also contains a 500-acre body of water named Pig’s Eye Lake.Because public access to the area is limited, the park doesn’t receive many visitors. HF116, which was heard and laid over, by the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee Thursday, seeks to change that.Rep. Sheldon Johnson (DFL-St. Continue Reading

Figuring out what fits at Farview Park in Minneapolis

By |

David Luce has lived next to Farview Park for decades. Gary Wilson has coached and volunteered in other ways at Farview Park for decades. The two of them, on opposite sides of the impending re-working of the ballfield area, met with park planners and consultants from the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to review options Jan. 7 at Farview. A couple of other park users and other interested parties attended.The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has already voted to accept a donation that’s still being raised, to install artificial playing surfaces at both Farview and North Commons parks. Continue Reading