One council member wonders aloud: why city parks only in certain areas of Graham
A divided city council voted, 3-2, this week to authorize the purchase of new playground equipment for a small park on North Marshall Street.
The council authorized $88,000 for the new equipment, opting to replace existing equipment with new slides and other playground equipment for children.
The council opted to wait on adding any “adult” components, which had been a request in online responses and a public meeting held by the recreation department to assess the interest in the park.
Council members were divided about whether the park was used very much. Mayor pro tem Ricky Hall said he had “never seen anybody using it.”
But councilman Jim Young suggested that “if there were a shiny new park, it would attract people.”
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Council member Bonnie Whitaker questioned why the city was providing parks in only certain areas of the city, noting that there was no park in the subdivision where she lives (off Lacy Holt Road on the south side of Graham).
Whitaker announced herself as firmly opposed to “spending anything” on the park – not for new children’s equipment, and not for adult equipment.
Brian Faucette, the city’s director of recreation and parks, said the equipment at the Marshall Street Park and another in the Greenway Park subdivision are the only two that have not been replaced in recent years. Faucette said the new equipment was geared for children five to 12 years old.
Ultimately voting to spend the $88,000 were Young, councilman Bobby Chin, and mayor Chelsea Dickey. Hall and Whitaker were opposed.
Later, during public comments, one resident, Eric Crissman, noted what he considered to be the irony that the council would spend $88,000 for the Marshall Street Park, which some had suggested was not used by many, but was unwilling to spend any money on the Sesquicentennial Park on the northwest corner of Court Square. The city has dismantled the park and is preparing to offer the lot for sale through an online auction.
Whitaker responded to Crissman by saying she had been consistent, opposed to expenditures for both the Marshall Street and Sesquicentennial parks.
