City Council member David Burgess grew up playing in the park on Allison Avenue. Later on, he helped keep it up when it was under the care of the Masonic Lodge and then Citizens for the Improvement of Chandler.
But then he saw the condition of the park deteriorate. Burgess said there was no life in it. Where kids would spend the weekends playing basketball or playing on the swing sets, no one was going anymore.
“People would have cookouts, birthday parties. We would even pop fireworks on the 4th of July,” he said. “So, the life of that was gone.”
It was this that led him to talk to City Manager Jason Orr and fellow council member Robin Crouch, whose ward the park is in. They met at the park along with members of the Washburn family, who also helped take care of it. The park wasn’t even being mowed regularly, he said.
“And so I had talked to Jason… it’d be good if we can turn this whole area into like a walking park. Where people can go and walk, exercise, walk their pets,” he said.
The park - which was recently renamed Reed Park after Rev. James Reed - is set to receive a facelift. City Manager Orr said the plan is to initially build a parking lot, fullsize basketball court and a family-size pavilion where people can gather for picnics and cookouts.
He said the city currently owns a couple of blocks running along Allison to 15th Street, with its eye on future expansion.
The city is discussing plans to do a trail that runs from Reed Park all the way up to the buffalo by City Hall.
The city is working with a planning firm that has a task order drawn up that is on the next City Council agenda.
Orr said it would authorize them to start planning the parking lot and designing the site layout. They’ll then bid out construction on the basketball court and pavilion.
The plans are a long time coming, though part of a larger, more comprehensive plan to look at the city’s parks overall with the planning firm, Kimley-Horn.
“One thing that they’re evaluating right now is the parks inside of city limits. Are those parks meeting the expectations of citizens and needs of future citizens as we grow and expand as a community,” he said.
Council member Burgess said Reed Park will give people another option outside of Rainbow and Tilghman parks. It’s one block off Route 66 and will give families a place to come together and for people to walk and exercise.
“I wanted to show some love for the park,” he said.
Rev. James Reed of Central Baptist Church, whom the park is named after and is the longest-serving Black pastor in the community, was surprised and happy to hear the park bears his name.
“When I was told, I was lost for words, to tell you the truth,” he said. “As you get older, you learn to appreciate a lot of things, especially when people think something of you and want to do what they’re talking about doing. I honor it.”
The reverend said he would even come down and shoot one basketball at the park once it was done.
“I can’t run to the end of the court, but I can shoot a basket,” he said.