The park that “time forgot”?

May Park, one of the city's mini-parks, did get recommended for 2014-2015 funding on June 10 just as the Monitor went to press. But its fate won't be known until year's end, when the St. Paul City Council adopts the capital budget. (Photo by Denis Woulfe)

By JANE MCCLURE

Some Hamline-Midway residents may not know about May Park. One member of St. Paul’s Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) Committee called May Park “the saddest little park I have ever seen.” Hamline-Midway Coalition calls it “the park that time forgot.” But unless city officials act, the park’s old equipment may remain in place for at least a few more years.

May Park is what the city calls a “mini-park,” on a .81 acre site on Clayland Place, just west of Fairview Avenue and south of Newell Park. Its equipment is more than 25 years old. It has the dubious distinction of ranking fifth citywide, out of 77 play areas needing work due to safety, accessibility and existing conditions.

May Park’s equipment include an old six-swing swing set, a wood and metal toddler-sized slide and a slightly leaning merry-go-round. The merry-go-round is of the type area parents and grandparents might remember playing on. It isn’t the type of equipment the city has used for many years.

Its site includes a field area and trees that also need attention. One concern St. Paul Department of Parks and Recreation staff has is that the park’s two old oak trees have soil compaction because of years of children playing beneath them. “To preserve and protect these trees, any new park amenities such as a play area should be located away from the root zones, yet still take advantage of the tree canopy,” a city staff report said.

If and when the project is funded, May Park would get new, relocated pay equipment. Work would be done to improve the field and address the issues facing the trees. A sidewalk would be added on the park’s north side. The project has an estimated cost of $254,000.

“Ths is absolutely the saddest little park I have ever seen,” said CIB Committee Member Kellie Charles Connor. “It has the only old merry-go-round still being used in the entire city.”

“It looks like one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the play areas,” said CIB Committee Member Melanie McMahon.

But the two women were unable to get May Park moved up into the ranks for committee funding. With more than 100 projects vying for funds for the next two years, May Park faces staunch competition.

Hamline-Midway Coalition ranked the park third. The district council’s top priority was multi-model improvements to Snelling Avenue, which also have missed out on funding.

“We do hear from people saying from time to time that they would like to see the park improved,” said Hamline Midway Coalition Executive Director MichaelJon Olson. But the capital budget request came from Parks and Recreation.

In a letter to the CIB Committee, the Coalition stated, “The existing play area is antiquated and referred to by local residents as ‘the playground that time forgot.’ As the proposal notes, the existing play equipment is not accessible to those with disabilities and does not meet current playground safety standards. Also, the multi-purpose field is sorely in need of rehabilitation.”

But what hurt the park in the eyes of some CIB Committee members was not having a group of neighborhood residents lobbying for support. But some neighbors said they didn’t know the proposal was being heard and that they would have attended a hearing.

Of the households around the park, 24% of households have children under the age of 18, according to the 2010 US Census.