Cover Story

By Alyson Sheppard

Staff writer

A group of girls playing tag run beneath the shady oak trees and moss-covered lampposts of Washington Square Park. Nestled between rows of restored historic homes, the park is frequented by joggers, bicyclists and tour buses in the Oakleigh Garden District.

The park’s sidewalks run from the street in, leading visitors through a manicured lawn to the park’s centerpiece: a dilapidated iron fountain in a pool of stagnant water. Five bare iron pipes are collected in the middle, which spurt out short streams of water. Exposed white PVC pipes and other rogue iron pipes fill the surrounding pool.

Walter “Stoney” Chavers, president of the Oakleigh Garden District Homeowner’s Association, says the local residents would like to remodel this fountain to improve the overall aesthetics of their park situated at the corner of Chatham and Augusta Streets. But after requesting funding from the city of Mobile and believing there is none allotted for their project, the community has resorted to raising all of the money privately.

“Do we want to pay for it? No. But are we committed to making it better? Yes,” Chavers said. He said they understand the city is limited to how much money they can give them, but he sees this fountain restoration as a necessary and constructive improvement.

The homeowners want to return the fountain to its original appearance in 1908. They would need to add four iron statues of boys riding dolphins to the inside of the waterspout. The statues and plumbing needed for the project will cost $20,000.

“Everyone thinks the city should pay for it, but everyone knows the city cannot afford it right now,” Chavers said. He says if the local community can raise half of the money, a private donor has promised to match the funds.

The Washington Square Park is not the only city park in need of capital improvements.

District 7 Councilwoman Gina Gregory said in her district, Langan Park on Zeigler Boulevard has a lot to repair. It needs to have the lake dredged, erosion corrected, pavilions power-washed and painted, restrooms overhauled and asphalt resurfaced. She has no idea how much it would cost.

“I’d love to see the city’s capital investment budget have enough money in there to take care of what we need to take care of,” she said.

She said the Parks and Recreation Department knows what needs to be done, and according to Parks Superintendent Dan Otto, she is right, because dredging Langan Park made his list of the most pertinent city park issues.

Also on his list were upgrading all of the city’s playground surfacing material, fixing the tiles in Spanish Plaza and replacing the Parks and Recreation Department’s headquarter building.

Otto said the park needs are so great right now they could not even submit them all to the city.

The problem: not enough funds

Mayor Sam Jones says the city tries to spread funding throughout the parks as best they can.

“We have some parks that need major capital improvements,” he said. “The parks will continue to improve and we’ll continue to address needs as they come.”

In response to the Washington Square Park fountain project, he said: “Well, people think the city should pay for everything.” He says the capital budget is not large enough to pay for every improvement community members want.

Otto said it is “surprisingly common” for communities to initiate their own park projects in Mobile, and many of the large playgrounds in the area got their start that way.

“It’s not unusual at all for the private sector to get involved in a project,” he said. “Then the city will typically donate some funds. Sometimes more than others.”

Mobilians are not the only ones paying for their parks. Across the Mobile Bay, the residents of Fairhope created Fairhopers Park entirely from volunteered time and money.

“They never asked for a nickel,” Fairhope Director of Parks and Recreation Ed Boyett said. “They were trying to do something to help the city.”

About 12 years ago, a group of Fairhope residents approached the Park and Recreation Department and together they came up with plans for the park. The residents then built it themselves without any interference from the city because they wanted the park to be a representation of themselves. The city has since taken over grounds maintenance.

“Our parks are a community effort,” Boyett said. “We would not have what we have without [the volunteers]. Sure we’d still have the parks, but would they be as good? No way.”

According to his estimates, around 800 people a year raise money and volunteer their services for the parks, playing fields and the other 28 recreation facilities there. One-eighth of the department’s current $800,000 budget is donated.

The current Mobile Parks and Recreation budget for the city is $12 million, and $3.85 million is allotted for maintenance. But with 84 parks in the area, some places are not getting everything they need.

Cooper Riverside Park on South Water Street has undergone recent renovations and Robert Bostwick, director of the Cultural and Civic Development Department and new overseer of Cooper Riverside, says the park is in good shape, other than bathrooms that are not functioning due to the lack of electricity.

“The only thing I wish and hope we could do is fix the bathroom issue,” he said. “We need to run permanent power there. You can’t flush the toilets without power.”

He said efforts to run power to the bathrooms have been hindered by the potential condominium project that may land on the waterfront. Currently, portable bathrooms are in place at the park.

Cooper Riverside also is having a problem with people, presumably homeless, “camping out” there, District 5 Councilman Reggie Copeland said during the June 24 city council meeting. Bostwick said he still isn’t sure what the situation is there.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to tell me what it is too,” Bostwick said.

The answer: not enough parks

Mayor Jones believes he has a solution to increasing the current parks budget so problems can be fixed sooner – build a new park.

“The fact of the matter is, we do not have enough parks,” he said. “We need a major green space and fountain in downtown Mobile right now.”

He and commissioner Mike Dean have proposed building a Mardi Gras-themed park on the site of the old Mobile County Courthouse on Government Street. The 2.7-acre park will possibly have a clock tower and a fountain that shoots water choreographed to music, among other features.

Mayor Jones believes the park will increase tourism in the area and increase money entering the city, therefore freeing up more money to budget for the Parks Department.

“We’ve gotten a lot of positive comments [about the new park] especially from people who frequent downtown and merchants downtown,” he said.

The county commission approved the park in 2002 and it is estimated to cost $4 to $6 million to build. But Jones says none of that money is expected to come from the present Parks budget, and no funds were allotted for it in the new, 2008 budget. Instead, a special mayoral committee will raise the money from private donors.

Barbara Drummond, spokesperson for the mayor, could not provide an answer as to where the funding would come from if not enough money was raised, because she said the mayor is certain they will have enough.

So far, $1.3 million has been collected, all from the trust of former Mobile Press-Register publisher Bill Hearin, who wanted a dedication to Mardi Gras in Mobile. Future maintenance, however, will be included in the same Parks budget as the other city parks.

Mayor Jones was unable to say how much future maintenance of such a park would be.

Councilwoman Gregory said she thought including maintenance of the new park in the current system would put a strain on them to adequately maintain the parks already here.

Chavers of Oakleigh agrees, saying he is not opposed to the Mardi Gras Park, but he thinks it is more targeted at tourists than residents, seeing as not many people live in that downtown area where it will be located. He is concerned that the new park may take funding away from other Mobile parks that are already in need of funds.

“I would like for us to take care of the parks we have first,” he said.

The Birmingham company in charge of planning the park will complete rendering within the next two weeks and the mayor will present the plans to the county at that time.

Neither a cost breakdown nor a construction timeline is currently available.

Mayor Jones will be hosting a community meeting with anyone concerned with the current situation of Mobile parks on Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Mobile Gas Auditorium.

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