Play Place
The Butler community will gather Thursday evening to plan a massive cleanup of Father Marinaro Park.
Cindy Parker, a resident who grew up on Butler's South Side, hopes to spark renewed interest in the park. She has a history of volunteering there dating to the turn of the century, when her sons pulled her into a local effort that eventually built the park's skate park.
“It began with a whole lot of kids, including my own, getting fined for skating where they shouldn't be,” Parker said.
Parker said she and other residents started soliciting donations from locals and businesses in 2001. The skate park was built in 2012.
For years, she said, it thrived.
“There were people after who kept their eyes on it,” she said. “It stayed clean.”
But as the kids who supported and used it grew older and others replaced them, its caretaking waned.
Parker said she was inspired to re-examine the park after reading residents' complaints in the Butler Eagle and hearing from others. Upon returning to the park, she found a city fixture in need of a hand.
The skate park is frequently littered with trash, and sports large amounts of graphic graffiti. Its former concession stand is now a shed, and a few of the wooden ramps are rotting.
“If anything, just maintenance to the ramps and adding a few ramps would help,” said 22-year-old skateboarder Lucas Stone, adding that more people would use the skate park if it were better maintained. “I feel like a whole new cement park would be a huge improvement. It would last and you wouldn't have all these screws popping out and boards coming off.”
Stone said the skate park is often littered with trash, prompting him to bring a broom a few weeks ago to clean up broken bottles.
Elsewhere in Father Marinaro, Parker said she hopes to trim trees to let more light into the park.
“With all these dead branches hanging down, I think when you pull up it just looks gloomy and unapproachable,” Parker said.She also wants to find a business partner to install security cameras in the park to curb vandalism and help visitors feel safe.Father Marinaro Park isn't in great shape, compared to many other city parks, she added.“I think people have written this park off, sadly,” Parker said.Jeff Smith, the city council member who oversees parks, said he believes citizen intervention, as opposed to government action, will save the park.“Fifty years ago, 100 years ago, the residents were the leaders when it came to doing things for our kids,” Smith said. “Through the years, somehow that responsibility shifted to our municipalities. Unfortunately, municipalities don't always have the money or resources.”Smith hopes Parker and others who join her will return to community-driven efforts.Eric Maher, a resident who took up the skate park as a cause in 2016, is glad to have help raising money to fix the park.“We really need to raise some money to get it repaved,” Maher said. “The pavement there is in awful shape. It's been repaired with tar, and that just doesn't work with skateboard wheels.”He said he is eager to see a renewed interest in the park. At 48, he remains an avid skateboarder and said the sport can work wonders for some children.“If they're spending their money on skateboards, they're not going to be spending it on drugs,” Maher said. “I think it's great for the kids. You're going to fall, but then you get up and push harder and try again.”If Parker's efforts are going to work, she said, she'll need people to step up.Those interested should attend the meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Father Marinaro Park.
What: Community meeting to clean up and improve Father Marinaro ParkWhen: 7 p.m. ThursdayWhere: Father Marinaro Park on Kaufman Drive
