OK to build in one park but not another?

The Wichita City Council may sign off on a proposal today to let the nonprofit group El Zocolo build a new community center in the southeast part of Evergreen Park, at 25th Street North and Arkansas. With the go-ahead, the group could finish its fundraising, toward a goal of leasing the land from the city and getting construction started. This worthy idea of a multifunction community center, which has been discussed since August 2004, is long overdue for resolution. Still, the park board’s objection to seeing the center built in North Woodland Park on West 21st Street was based on its well-founded belief that the city has too little parkland as it is. The new proposal would offset the loss of green space by tearing down the La Familia center in North Woodland Park and rededicating some city-owned riverbank elsewhere in the area. Still, why should any proposal to build on any parkland suddenly be acceptable?
Posted by Rhonda Holman

3 Comments

  1. Sum1
    Posted March 21, 2006 at 4:38 am | Permalink

    Why wasm’t the park board worried about when they took the most scenic section of Linwood part and turned it into a school?

  2. Ben Huie
    Posted March 21, 2006 at 1:24 pm | Permalink

    I have mixed feelings on the issue. On the one hand I hate seeing the loss of open space. However, I can also see this as an enhancement for the community served by the park and the facility. It seems that the Board balanced these issues well in this case.

    North Woodland, being on the banks of the River, is a different situation than Evergreen.

  3. JWink
    Posted March 21, 2006 at 5:56 pm | Permalink

    Somehow I think it should be located somewhere along 21st Street, west of Broadway and east of Waco in the commercialized section of 21st Street. Do city buses run down 21st Street? And on Broadway? Public transportation might be important.