Not so fast
Mini-park is a fine idea, but . . .
By Gerald Ensley
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
The idea began as just a little footpath. A place for Marvin Weinberger's tenants at Ashford Club Apartments to walk their dogs. Maybe even a connection between Winthrop and McCord parks.
Now, the footpath is the Betton Hills Nature Center. There's a small amphitheater, a re-created Indian mound, a picnic area, a "ring of fire," fences, bridges, a formal entrance - and, to be sure, dog-litter stations and a water fountain for dogs.
And Weinberger, who has spent $200,000 to build the park, wants to give it all to the city.
Sweet deal, right? Hold your horses.
Weinberger's park is an example of the pitfalls that can accompany that often-praised goal: public-private partnerships.
On one side, you have a private owner who spent a boatload of money to benefit the community - but skipped the planning and legal steps required of public projects. On the other side, you have a local government willing to accept a donated park - but required to adhere to all the legal steps and protocols.
So while the park is ready to be given, the city can't take it.
That's not to say it won't all get worked out. But there are still i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed.
"I think what Marvin has done is really nice, really cool," said David Chapman, director of the Tallahassee Parks and Recreation Department. "But is he moving faster than we would like? Probably so."
Weinberger is a Philadelphia entrepreneur who has owned Ashford Club Apartments on Thomasville Road for a dozen years. Last year, he decided the complex needed sprucing up. He painted the buildings, remodeled the clubhouse, put in flower gardens and explored the back of his property for a location for a dog walk.
Lo and behold, he discovered an abandoned electric substation and a drainage ditch that went south to Winthrop Park and north to McCord Park. He talked to Betton Hills neighborhood historian Dean Hansen and learned that the ditch used to be a natural creek and the neighborhood once held an Indian village and perhaps a Spanish mission.
All that fired the imagination of Weinberger, an inventor who holds patents on six software products. He decided to build a sort of natural and historical theme park for the community that would link the two existing city parks.
He enlisted the help of his apartment-complex landscaper, Adlai Stripling, whose company has built all the trails, bridges, fences, Indian mound/amphitheater, etc. He recruited volunteers, such as the Boy Scouts, to help remove debris and put down trail mulch. He began envisioning programs around the stone-lined campfire circle where children would learn about native plants, ancient Indians and Spanish explorers.
"I like to do things with character," said the enthusiastic Weinberger. "My hope is that kids will come to the park and we'll awaken some kind of awareness. I'm hoping kids and their parents will realize our time represents only a tiny portion of the time this land has been occupied."
It's all very noble. But Weinberger never talked to anyone in the city about his plans - until he was under way. He has had only informal discussions with the half-dozen property owners whose land the park must cross to reach Winthrop Park.
The city, which likes the idea of connecting Winthrop and McCord parks, has not been unhelpful. It gave Weinberger permission to remove the abandoned substation and build a mini-Indian mound and amphitheater in its place. The city is surveying the property and contacting the other property owners to see whether they will grant easements to allow public access.
If any of the other property owners refuse, there would be no connection to Winthrop Park, although the city probably would still accept the rest of Weinberger's park, which already connects to McCord Park. Weinberger is convinced the other property owners will sign off. But Mark Beaudoin, city real-estate administrator, said that remains to be seen.
"So many times when we ask to acquire land for the welfare of the community, everyone is for it," Beaudoin said. "Then they go, 'Hmmm, maybe I should call my attorney. I'm not sure I want to give away something for nothing.' The proof is in the details."
Meanwhile, Weinberger keeps expanding his dreams for the park.
He plans to build a 65-foot-long covered bridge over part of the drainage ditch. He wants to encircle the ring of fire with large murals of Apalachee Indians, who occupied the Betton Hills area from 1000 to the 1700s. He wants to create a native-plant trail, marking each plant with signs. He'd like Mission San Luis to conduct programs at the park, which may have held one of several satellite missions whose exact locations were not recorded. He'd like the drainage ditch restored to its original state as a constantly flowing creek. He'd like the city to landscape an existing stormwater pond on the trail and buy an adjoining four-acre plat of private land and turn it into a wildlife sanctuary.
The city has no money for such projects - "This was supposed to be a free deal," Beaudoin said - and has concerns about vandalism, liability and programming for some of Weinberger's ideas.
"It might seem like overload. But Marvin has put his heart and soul into it," Hansen said. "Before, it was a place for bums to sleep and throw wine bottles. Now, it's a decent-looking city park."
The park is already being used. Recently, Edie Strickland walked her yellow lab, Duchess, while her three sons, Whitney, Blair and Luke, ran along the trail as part of a five-mile run from their home in Waverly Hills.
"It's just a fabulous trail, right here in the middle of town," she said.
The charms are not lost on city officials. But they're not sure when it can become a city park.
"We have to do all the things we'd have to do if we were buying it ourselves," Chapman said. "Parks usually take years from the time the seed is planted. It's not like that in the private sector. But it is in the public sector."
