Feature Story

By Peter Teske

Lagniappe staff

Just about everyone has some sort of pipe dream. I, for example, have always wanted to own my very own island in the South Pacific. Accordingly, there’s got to be someone out there whose only desire in life is to become the pilot who unselfishly flies his rich journalist buddy to his private island without ever being allowed to get out of the plane. I even had a friend in grade school who wanted to…. never mind.

And then there are people with less lofty, far more feasible goals, like our mayor, Sam Jones. He just wants a Mardi Gras-themed park somewhere in downtown Mobile.

Well, when Rob, my dictator, I mean editor, heard this he thought long and hard and eventually ordered me to spend the night at Cooper Riverside park to get some perspective. “NOO,” I pleaded!

Master Rob was trying to teach me a lesson (without whips this time, luckily), and that lesson was that Mobile shouldn’t be getting any new parks until the city begins to take care of the ones they already have. I wish I could counter that.

So, after a rather sticky, and stinky sleep next to a van down by the river, I woke up with a sense of purpose. A real man on a mission, I was. What I learned in the coming days is all right here, placed appropriately after this unnecessarily long lead-in.

I agree with Mr. Holbert. The city should be taking care of its parks. Rick Rambo, director of Parks and Recreation agrees too. So does parks superintendent, Dan Otto. Well then, let’s do it!

Wait a minute. Apparently, it isn’t that easy.

Many obstacles stand in the way of getting all of our parks in tip-top shape, according to Rambo.

“We don’t have a full complement of workers now. We have job openings, but the private sector obviously pays more money. If you know how to drive a tractor, any trucking company in Mobile will hire you for a lot more,” said Rambo. “It’s great to have a job market like that, you know, just not for us.”

Also a proven and formidable challenge is working with the less-than-ideal amount of money Rambo’s department is allocated each year.

“It is always a matter of money. That’s just a mayor/council decision. They divvy up the funds the way they feel is most appropriate. Let’s face it, we’re always going to be last. I can’t compete with policemen, firemen and garbage,” Rambo said.

Setting aside personnel and budget issues, our proximity to other affordable recreational opportunities, like the beaches and rivers, keeps a good number of citizens oblivious to the state of some neighborhood parks, says Rambo.

If the area didn’t have so many excellent distractions well within reasonable driving distance, like many cities in the Mid West, we might not have overlooked green spaces inside city limits. The beach and nearby rivers, while serving as an incredible luxury, could also be at the heart of another problem for the parks and recreation department. If people aren’t aware of the condition of parks like Cooper-Riverside and Crawford-Murphy, they certainly aren’t as likely to become active in helping to fix these problems.

While not a total solution, four words come to mind: Friends of the Park.

“We don’t have anything city-wide. We’ve got several Friends of the Park type things going on for specific parks, though. Lavretta Park is a good example, a lot of the construction out there was done by an outside group,” Otto said.

A more current example of private citizens forming such groups can be found amongst a sect of Mobilians dedicated to their canine pals. “As a matter of fact, there was a group that met recently to form a sort of ‘Friends of the Park’ to construct a dog park in Mobile,” Otto said.

Also aware of this was Rambeau, who recalled looking into the price of building such a park for the group. At a cost of roughly $65,000, Rambeau said this group is trying to raise the money on their own, but the Parks and Recreation department will do all it can to assist in making a dog park in Mobile a reality, he said..

So should Mayor Jones start his own Friends of the Park group? He might be less successful than your average Joe simply because of his line of work, according to Rambeau.

“I have found that usually when citizens start something like that, more people will actually get involved than when government starts it. That’s what happened out at Lavretta Park. If we (Parks and Recreation) had gone out there and started a fund-raising group to do that park, I promise you, the corporations and the people that gave money, they would not have done it,” said Rambeau.

After projects like Lavretta are complete, groups generally continue to raise money for improvements and upkeep. This won’t be the case when the Arlington Point site near Brookley Field is complete. While, the Alabama State Docks is forking over the money to build the park, they will then place the land into the City of Mobile’s hands after completion. Rambeau doesn’t see maintenance as a problem despite hard times when it comes to finding someone to mow the lawn.

“I think it’ll be sort of a passive park, no basketball or tennis courts for example,” Rambeau said. “We’ll just absorb it like we do and ask for the additional people needed for maintenance.”

So what does any of this have to do with Mardi Gras Park? Well, if Mayor Jones’ future dreams become reality, there’s going to be larger budget issues at Parks and Recreation. And, if the present lack of Friends of the Park groups is any indication, Mobile might have a few more neglected parks casting their shadows on the Bienvilles, Spanish Plazas and many of our other reasons to take a stroll on a sunny day.

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