Park's makeover comes with $200,000 price tag

A chain-link fence surrounds Cedar Park at 50th Street and Baltimore Avenue, enclosing landscaping machinery and old playground equipment. For the time being, it is abandoned, and does not appear impressive.

But by Thanksgiving, the fences will be down and the machinery will be replaced with new landscaping, benches and improved lighting - worth a combined $200,000.

Cedar Park's makeover is not isolated. The park sits in the midst of what used to be a community hub - as suggested by the surrounding historic firehouse, stately Hickman Temple Church and trolley tracks - and local groups say that the park's changes will work to restore the entire area.

Specifically, community members predict that the makeover will discourage loitering and drinking in the park.

"For some reason, when things are fixed up, people stay away," Cedar Park Neighbors President Carol Walker said.

And neighborhood groups hope that area events will replace the loitering that takes place there now.

"That whole block is changing a lot, and the park will be part of it," said Gail Fisher, University City District's manager in charge of the area. "It'll be nice for people in the area because it'll be like a common backyard."

University City District is a neighborhood group that provides various services, like safety and community events, in the area.

Funds from the city, private donations and grants are enabling the effort, which will include landscaping the park with flowering shrubs and the addition of benches and lighting. The renovations, which began last week, should be completed by Thanksgiving.

The improvements began with a mosaic mural on the pavement last winter and will later include new playground equipment, she said.

Walker noted that the improved park will prove especially useful for the Hickman Church's day-care center across the street.

Fisher added that the lighting will make residents feel much safer at night.

"We could use more beauty, more enhancement," lifelong neighborhood resident Muhammed Abd'allah said of the park.

The nearby firehouse was home to the Firehouse Farmers Market until last November. The market was a community hub for more than 15 years and also served as a recycling center. Since 1999, locals have enjoyed summer Friday night jazz concerts outside the building and across the street from Cedar Park.

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