MLK Park: How can it better honor Dr. King?

Dr. Martin Luther King Park should better honor the legacy of the person for whom it is named, say community residents. Mary Merrill Anderson facilitated a 90-minute session January 6 with around 40 community residents at the South Minneapolis park.

“We are very excited about this opportunity, and we think, by all of you being here, you have shown your excitement about Dr. Martin Luther King and the ways in which the [Minneapolis] Park Board is trying to change what happens here,” she told the audience prior to their division into four small discussion groups.

Unlike recent meetings on a proposed off-leash dog park, which has caused a rift among residents, last week’s meeting was more cooperative. Anderson immediately warned the audience, “If you are here to talk about the dog park issue, this is not the meeting for that. What we are going to talk about it is what we can do to enhance the programming…to honor Dr. King.”

The audience then split into four small groups that met for 45 minutes. Anderson asked each person to introduce themselves and share their favorite memory about Dr. King. “I am what I am today because of people like Dr. King,” said Jonathan Lee.

Johannes Frazier said he liked the small group format “because it gave people more of a comfortable opportunity to speak in front of other people and get their voice heard. A larger meeting takes so much longer and becomes much more complicated.”

“It was so much nicer to break up in a smaller group and really share the stories,” agreed Ms. Charlie Dean. “We had tears in our group, and it really was touching.”

Each attendee then was asked what they would like to see happen at the park to honor Dr. King. Among the many suggestions offered were installing “pillars” that would include Dr. King’s quotes, recognizing local leaders from the Civil Rights Movement era, renaming a playground after Rosa Parks, and establishing a leadership camp.

Sara Linnes-Robinson suggested some physical improvements at the park as well. The park’s entrance is located in the middle of the block on Nicollet Avenue South between 40th and 42nd Streets East. “There’s not a crosswalk across Nicollet” leading to that entrance, she pointed out.

Also, the current Freedom Form #2 sculpture at the park “needs some attention,” said Park Board Public Engagement and Citywide Planning Manager Jennifer Ringold. She read a 2009 report by local sculptor Kristin Cherons, who concluded, “It was in very good shape structurally.” However, the sculpture has some graffiti on it, and Ringold says it would cost around $1,300 to restore it and add a new description.

Charles Mays suggested a fence also be installed around the monument. “I would like to see it in an area where it can be [more] visible,” he added.

Many expressed afterwards that the meeting was a very good start. “This was a meeting when people came together,” said Park Board Commissioner-at-Large John Ervin.

“I think it was a great meeting with a lot of really good ideas,” said Marie Denholm.
Ringold surmised, “I think tonight offered people the opportunity to have some emotional and some very relationship-building conversations in a way that they haven’t had in their community for a while.”

Dog park issue update
Formation of a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) to discuss a proposed Sixth District dog park was tabled at the January 5 regularly scheduled Minneapolis Park Board meeting.

“We realize that there were some community concerns that not all of the people who should be on that CAC were on [it],” noted Commissioner-at-Large John Ervin. “There was no representation from the Latino community or the parents of kids that play sports here [at King Park]. That’s why we pulled it, because we wanted to make sure that we have the right composition.”

Sandra Richardson of the Citizens in Action for Martin Luther King (CIA for MLK), a residents’ group opposed to a dog park at King Park, was among 10-12 persons who spoke against the plan during the park board meeting’s “open time.”

“I thought it was an opportunity for those of us who oppose an off-leash dog park in this location to set forth our opinions, the criteria behind it, and why we opposed [the proposal],” reported Richardson. “A number of people spoke directly to that, and for many of the park board commissioners, I think that was the first time they heard any of those views.”

“We wanted to hear [the dog park opponents’] input, and that was very helpful,” said Ervin.
“Both sides are compelling,” noted Sixth District Commissioner Brad Bourn on the pros and cons of the issue. “You have this very important, symbolic side which I absolutely agree with, and the people who want the dog park bring up a very compelling argument about where the amenities are that meet their needs.”

Currently, the Sixth District is the only area of the city that does not have a dog park. Opponents say they have nothing against a dog park in the district — just not at King Park.
“I think that the dog park issue is still a real volatile issue in our community,” said Mary Merrill Anderson.

Bourn strongly believes that both sides will now meet to discuss how to successfully settle the issue. “I ask that the leadership for the community group for a dog park at Kingfield and the Citizens in Action for MLK sit down and see if they can agree on a process that fits our requirement. If they can agree, I would be happy to sponsor that before the [park] board.”

The park board could’ve done a better job in handling the dog park issue from the beginning, he said. “I don’t think it was intentional, but when you have two groups passionate about two different things in the same room, it was hard not to create that kind of adversarial setting.”

The next two King Park legacy meetings are scheduled for January 27 and February 15; both sessions are scheduled for 6:30 pm. The next Minneapolis Park Board meeting is scheduled for January 19 at its North Minneapolis headquarters.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.