Not Your Average Walk In The Park
When the word “park” is mentioned, images of play groups, soccer teams, picnics, playgrounds, and other group activities quickly come to mind. But what about an organization whose goal is not to use the park, but to improve it?
“It’s a jewel that needs some attention,” said Ward 4 Councilwoman Mary Louise Madigan of Madison Park.
And that is exactly what the Friends of Madison Park (FOMP), a recently formed Lakewood-based organization, wants to do. Their official goal is “the restoration of a family friendly neighborhood park with fun, functional playground equipment, sturdy, competitive fields, clean, well maintained bathrooms and a safe, welcoming atmosphere for young and old.”
“It’s in proximity to hundreds of families who could use a safe, functional park space on the east end,” said Madigan.
“I used to go a lot,” said Michael Fleenor, one of the key coordinators of FOMP and the director of Preservations Programs at the Cleveland Restoration Society. “But it started getting more and more rundown. Most of the equipment is at least 40 years old and the newer equipment is not really in compliance with current standards.”
So Fleenor, dissatisfied with the conditions of his neighborhood park, called the city to complain. Some pieces of equipment were removed and he got into contact with Madigan. They determined that the park might benefit from a “friends” group and in February FOMP started taking shape.
“There is a real diversity of people interested in the park,” said Fleenor. “I’ve been really pleased from the very beginning because young families and older people are involved in the group.”
The first step for FOMP was to look at what the park had and what it lacked. In March, the group did an asset mapping exercise with David Reed of the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative.
“We went to the park and talked about the assets and liabilities,” said Fleenor.
Among the strengths of Madison Park are the swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts, soccer field, nearby bowling alley, and the Madison Branch of the Lakewood Public Library. The park also has security cameras, good lighting, and a planned playground as well as WiFi.
However, there were just as many liabilities, some of which revolved around architectural and planning discrepancies.
“It does have problems,” said Fleenor. “It was designed as an afterthought. The view of the park improves home values, but Madison faces the back of houses. It’s not well organized. Things are placed helter skelter.” He added that this is a problem that several other parks in the city have such as Webb, Cove, and Kaufman.
One of the issues of planning is that all the paths in the park lead to the bathrooms, which are only open for the summer season (another major complaint and liability of the park). In addition, there seems to be too much fencing, a lack of balance, and poor landscaping.
To combat these deficiencies, FOMP also compiled a list of possible opportunities and actions that the city might take to improve on the park. Some of these have already been put into place, such as the community gardens and new playground equipment.
“The new playground equipment will do a wonderful service for the kids,” said Judy Gryzbowski, a librarian at the Madison Library. “If they see the city is trying to improve the park…children can be given pride in what they see.”
The new equipment is the only official purchase that has been made by the city in regards to FOMP’s plans for the park. It will be installed sometime in September, according to Fleenor, and will include a safety pad as well as a colorful and activity laden design.
The process has not, however, been without surprises as a discus field was discovered in the midst of the Madison Park grounds. It turns out that this was actually installed by the Recreation Department for Track and Field practice, and while it is not of great concern to the renovation plans, the direct result was a Memorandum of Understanding defining who makes the decisions about the parks and who pays for what.
“The administration has assured us that our input will be considered for any decision regarding the park,” said Madigan, whose role in the organization is to be a liaison between FOMP and the city. “The city is reviewing [our plans] and telling us what we can get done now and what has to wait based on our tight budget.”
Some of the possible plans for Madison Park include a pavilion or stage that could be used for local events much in the same way that the stage is used in Lakewood Park. There is also talk of a “Reading Garden” near the library for use by book clubs and the library facility itself.
“[The Reading Garden] would be a great idea,” said Gryzbowski. “We could read to the kids…it would be lovely.”
But nothing other than the aforementioned playground equipment is “set in stone”, however there are efforts to continue maintaining the park while these issues are being resolved by the community.
“You need to start with a goal,” said Madigan, who added that her philosophy on the matter is “Keep it Simple.”
Fleenor talked of some opportunities for Madison Park because of its historic location, great surrounding architecture, and proximity to a set of “nice” streets.
“We could interpret the rich history through public art,” said Fleenor. He continued that many of these ideas were drawn from other park renovations in the Cleveland Area done by Park Works, who helped advise FOMP. “We could interpret something about history or architecture into the fencing [of the park]…We wanted to create more of a gateway [into the park].”
In the meantime, efforts are being made to maintain Madison’s appearance until further renovations take place. In April of this year, Tessa Smith, a soccer mom and member of FOMP, took part in Spruce Up Lakewood Day and along with some other volunteers, cleaned up Madison Park.
“It’s snowballed,” said Smith of the clean-up efforts. “The goal was to get a couple of days set up to make sure everything is in good standing order.”
Smith is hoping that FOMP will be able to stage these park cleaning days at least once every other month and is now looking to August and the future.
“I would like to see the viability of the park improved with better community use,” said Smith, who talked of more varied programming at Madison. “I would love to see the park with more things available for use during different times of the day.”
Smith added that already there are many groups that use the park, such as LECPTA’s Family Room, St. Cyril and Methodius School and Lakewood Soccer.
“It’s great,” Smith said. “I would love to see more of that.”
“Suggestions keep coming in,” said Fleenor, who has gotten calls from other park groups asking for advice about how to proceed with their area.
That is what the FOMP meetings are designed for: to allow community members to share what they think would be advantageous or meaningful changes to Madison Park.
Madigan is excited for the playground equipment, but also hopes to see the “Reading Garden” and the security cameras up and working.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the new playground,” said Smith. “I think that will be fabulous.”
But FOMP still has challenges ahead of it, namely getting their message out to the community.
“Just show up to a meeting and give us your ideas.”
“People have to take responsibility,” said Gryzbowski. “We all live in the city together. I don’t think people should be afraid to come to the park…we need to take the park back.”
But will the idea of a community based friends group catch on in other city parks? “We’re going through and looking at a city wide park improvement plan,” said Mayor Edward Fitzgerald, who will be announcing this along with a safety initiative before the end of August. “[FOMP] is a symbol of what we’re trying to do, having community based decision making. We’re trying to replicate this at other parks.”
“I hope it does [influence] other park groups,” said Smith. “There are so many little parks in Lakewood that no one even knows about and that aren’t being used.”
The next FOMP meeting will be held at the Madison Branch on Wednesday, August 6 at 6:30 PM and will feature a marketing expert from the Geauga Parks District who will help FOMP advertise its renovation plans.
