Sunny Side Park

Dilapidated play structures. Cracks in the sidewalk. Overgrown bushes. Outdated equipment. Weeds growing on the tennis court. How long should it take for an old city park to get an update?

Never underestimate the power of stubborn people, inefficient power structures, and just plain human error. Would you believe it took over 20 years for Sunny Side Park to be renovated? This past week our neighborhood got our park back. It was a site to see - hundreds of people filling the park. Jazz band playing. Balloons floating in the air. The grill was hot with burgers and hot dogs. Kids running, jumping, playing. Parents connecting. All celebrating. A community was drawn together for the culmination of a long anticipated day.

The thing that kept it from happening years earlier was that people wouldn't agree on priorities and design for the park. The families and grandparents wanted play structures to dominate. Dog owners wanted open space to be an integral piece. City dollars came and went. Opportunities passed. Fast forward to the last couple of years - long time activists were finally agreeing, dollars were aligned, and this past week happened.

The amazing thing is that it took just a year for the rebuilding to happen. That seems to be the easy part. The hard part was the people side of things. There is a lesson there I want to always remember: when people won't come together to build NOTHING HAPPENS. As I talked with some of the long-time residents who've been fighting for it to happen I noticed resentment, anger, and alienation.

I'm not sure the newer residents, like myself, will fully have the ability to appreciate what it took to make it happen. But,I do want to thank the folks who went before me. Our little community is a better place because of your work. The park has already been drawing a new crowd here. The word is out on Sunny Side. May you live to fight another day and bring the right people together to accomplish all you're meant to do. My hope is that those of us enjoying the fruit of your hard fought battles will learn to be bridgebuilders in all we do.