Neighbors settle park issue with Commissioner

Last week, the neighbors who live near Merrie Christmas Park, in the South Grove, had a rude awakening, they saw orange netting surrounding the area in the park where their children play soccer. It turned out that District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and the City had other plans for the shaddy, neighborhood park -- they were intalling outdoor workout equipment, as they have in other parks in the City.



The neighbors were not happy with this idea. Firstly, they claimed that no one notified them of the plans and secondly, they didn't want the equipment. Merrie Christmas Park is a tranquil, passive use park, as opposed to a park like Kennedy, which is an active use park. They didn't feel the equipment would fit in.

So after gathering 247 signatures on a petition and after threatening to fight off the installation and bulldozers, it all came to a head yesterday afternoon at the very park, where neighbors met with Commissioner Sarnoff (left) and Mayor Tomas Regalado (below). The mayor showed up an hour before the planned meeting time of 5:30, and a few neighbors were able to explain their situation to him, he had not been part of the original meeting and he just showed up out of concern.



His suggestion was that the neighbors form a neighborhood association, so that there is a point person that the city can reach out to in the future. After the mayor left and Commissioner Sarnoff arrived, he agreed that that was a good solution.

Up to 150 people crowded around the Commissioner to discuss the issue, which came to a fast ending. No workout equipment will be in stalled in Merrie Christmas Park. Comm. Sarnoff said, "I take full responsibility for putting the workout equipment here," which actually wasn't installed yet. He said that the equipment that was planned for Merrie Christmas Park will go to other parks in the city, maybe Douglas Park or Bayfront Park. When asked how those neighbors would feel about that, Sarnoff said they would appreciate it, even if they were not notified in advance, as was the case here.


Comm. Sarnoff then discussed the issue of adding additional parking spaces on LeJeune Road, so that visitors didn't have to park in the neighborhoods, but by a show of hands, the majority of the people in the park yesterday were within a block or two of walking distance and most of the others who drove there, were only there for the meeting, so adding parking may not really be needed, but it is still being looked into. An arborist will see how parking can be accommodated while protecting the large banyan trees in the process.


Basically it was an open and shut case. The neighbors spoke, the Commissioner listened. While a few neighbors spoke up and felt that maybe workout equipment around the perimeter of the park would work, they were told it would not, that that had been looked into. Others were upset that it came to the stressful situation and that they were never notified to begin with. The Commissioner agreed to make sure that everyone was put on his mailing list and the neighbors actually started forming their new South Grove Neighborhood group right on the spot, with people adding their names and emails to a list formed right then and there at a picnic table.