Friends of Madison Park

[Michael Fleenor]

An organizational meeting of the “Friends of Madison Parkâ€Â￾ will be held on Saturday, March 1st at 3 p.m. in the lower level meeting room at the Madison Branch Library. A group of interested neighbors is organizing to work with our Councilwoman, Mary Louis Madigan, the Fitzgerald Administration, and the Parks Department to revitalize Madison Park. Any interested neighbor, business owner, or church or civic group is encouraged to join our efforts.

Madison Park, in the historic East End of Lakewood, is the second largest park in the city. With its proximity to the Madison Branch Library, the Madison Village Commercial District, and a number of diverse residential neighborhoods, Madison Park has the potential to be one of the City’s most utilized and vibrant parks. Today, the Park is a hodgepodge of poorly planned spaces with aging playground equipment and benches. In fact, some equipment was damaged or unsafe and has been removed. Mayor Fitzgerald has already convened a teamâ€â€￾including the Parks Department, Community Development, Human Services, and the Police--to consider recommendations for Madison Park, but also wants the input of residents.

The goal of the Friends of Madison Park group is to be able to work with the City to plan improvements to the park, plan events and beautification projects, implement a safety plan for the park, undertake grant-writing and fundraising efforts to supplement the City’s investments, and help be stewards of this important community resource. If you are interested in assisting, join us on the first. If you have questions, call Michael Fleenor at 216-529-1790.

[Chris Trapp]

Great Michael!
I'm really excited to hear about the formation of the Friends of Madison Park. I agree - there is much potential for the park.
I'll see you at the organizational meeting.

[Brian Pedaci]

I suggest playing polka music over loudspeakers 24/7 to scare away the hoodlums.

[Lynn Rodemann]

I am really glad that people are interested in Madison park.. I am as well I will see you at the meeting on Sat!
Lynn Rodemann

[Mark Crnolatas]

I suggest a police officer there full time to start with, just to establish that this great park is not a hang-out for thugs.

Mark Allan Crnolatas

[Stephanie Toole]

Maybe some of you park planners will think about the TEENS who aren't THUGS and would like a safe place to play BASKETBALL, SOCCER, or even a good old fashioned game of BASEBALL up at Madison Park. Heck anywhere in Lakewood for that matter.

That won't most likely happen because it seems that anytime there is more than two teens walking it's a GANG of thugs! And everyone runs scared from them.

As the mother of FOUR teens.....FYI, there are HUNDREDS of wonderful TEENS in Lakewood looking for something constructive to do OUTSIDE in the FRESH air that involves these types of activities.

[Mark Crnolatas]

I agree. I was raised and played there as a child, and hung out there as a kid, and pre-teen, played there, swam there all the time, and loved it.

I hope our little girl will have the same fun with us, as I did with my parents when little, then pre-teen etc, there too, in a similar great environment as I had back when.

Mark Allan Crnolatas

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Mark,

not to jump on your comment because I agree with what you're (I think) trying to say.

BUT;

the "THUG" that hangs out at the park is probably doing nothing illegal so therefore a police officer won't help you at all. Would you want the city, who is cutting city hall jobs because there's no money, to hire one police officer and pay his/her benefits and retirement to enjoy every day in the park and tell teens to get off the swings and to stop running around-- when it takes LPD 3 minutes tops to respond to a phone call?

While I wholeheartedly agree that this park should be monitored closely so that it's safe and enjoyable for everyone, I don't think that hiring a police officer is the right idea, fiscally.

When I was a youngster, oh, between 5-10 years ago, I would be up at Webb Park playing EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. we'd have football games, baseball games, tag, manhunt, you name it going on. It would be 30 of us at a time having a clean, good time. Now whenever I drive past that park I don't see a soul using that park.

Teens are very smart nowadays. They know how to get away with things. Chances are if they're doing something that's punishable, they're either at Kaufman Park or the valley because both are tucked away. The Observer did a story on a bunch of kids that were supposed to be cleaning up the park or something about two years ago. I laughed when I saw that, because those kids were supposed to graduate a year ahead of me, but ended up getting held back after I graduated.

It's not because they were so busy keeping Kaufman Park clean that they couldn't do their homework . . . .

and if anyone knows about teens it would have to be Mrs.Toole! Like she mentioned, she has four, and they are all respectable young guys. If it's anyone that has an idea of what kids want to do in this city it would be her.

[Stephanie Toole]

Thank you Ivor for you kind words. Being a mom(or dad!) is hands down the hardest job one will ever have.

That being said, one of the biggest draws for us when we chose to move to Lakewood 18 years ago were all the parks and playgrounds. There were many and they WERE AWESOME! Sadly this would not be a draw to my husband and I were we to look into moving to Lakewood now.

How awesome for my older to boys to have had the opportunity to walk around the corner and play hours of baseball up at the old Hayes lot. Hitting 'rubber' ball pitch after pitch, hour after hour, with friends from the neighborhood. Zack did not become a decent baseball player because he played on umpteen travel teams. He in fact never played travel baseball, instead he spent hours up there swinging the bat, fielding balls, all from his peers. Unstructured and unscheduled childhood fun!

Same goes for the famous, and now forever gone, 'cages' up at Harding. Parents don't need to spend $400-$600. on their child to play on an AAU basketball team. Driving them all over northeast Ohio. Our kids need safe, decent basketball courts right here in LAKEWOOD to play on sun up till sun down with their friends. Sadly there is not ONE basketball court left in Lakewood. Where do you expect these teen and young adults to play?

I am not minimizing the problems with the courts at Madison. Even my two college age boys would not play at them the last year or so they were still up. Those weren't LAKEWOOD TEENS/YOUNG ADULTS causing the problems. Yet, a constructive outlet for them was removed without any input from them. They would liked to have seen 'something done' to ensure safer, quieter courts at Madison Park too!

While I commend the Rec. Dept. for it's efforts to offer 'scheduled' open gyms(for a fee though), there is something to be said for picking up the phone and getting a bunch of friends together on a whim to head to some courts, ball field, etc. and just playing. No coaches, no umpires, no refs. Free, fun, fresh air...exercise!

On the Friday after Thanksgiving this past year, while I was at the LHS track working out, there were no less than 40 college age guys, 18,19, 20 years old, home from college and together again up there with the biggest, best pick up football game. On a whim, put together by Lakewood teens. It was cold and wet and they sure looked like they were having a blast!

Just my two cents....

[Justine Cooper]

Thanks Michael! What a great and worthy meeting! I would LOVE to see Saturday outdoor air markets like they do on W. 25th filled with artists and others. Even for affordable fees like they do in Cleveland, the city could make some money from this and provide the city with the best outdoor market! If W. 25th and Crocker Park can do it, Lakewood can do it. I will make sure all MAMA members know of this meeting too, since they have a vested interest in keeping Madison clean and thriving! Thanks!

[Michael Fleenor]

Justine:

Thanks for letting MAMA members know about the meeting as we will definitely be looking to merchants for their support!

I appreciate the ideas and thoughts shared by everyone. I personally have not seen "thugs" hanging out at Madison, but I have young children and we are typically there in the afternoon. Although, we really haven't visited Madison much in the last year because of the condition of the play equipment. We have been driving to Kid's Cove at Lakewood Park or one of the smaller parks with newer play equipment. That's why I'd like to see things improve at Madison. It's a shame to have a park in walking distance that we could visit in conjunction with the Saturday morning "My Masterpiece" art classes at Bela Dubby or an afternoon trip to Madison Library, and not be able to use it.

I could see people hanging out at Madison at night--like Kaufman--because of the way it is somewhat hidden. I enjoy the fact that Lakewood is not a "planned" community (like Shaker or Cleveland Heights) and was developed over a longer period of time by many different people, giving it a more unique and funky character. The downside of this is that many of our parks, like Kaufman, seem to be an afterthought, stuck behind the storefront, across the parking lot, down the hill by the railroad tracks. That is why I think moving Kaufman closer to Detroit or acquiring some buildings to make Madison or Cove parks more open and accessible might be a good thing. Obviously, this is a bigger issue than our "Friends" group will take on, but is something the City might tackle at some point.

[john crino]

how was the meeting? i was planning on going but could not get there.
good turnout? what is next?

[Justine Cooper]

Sorry that I did not make it as other commitments came up! Please let us know what direction it is taking and what we can do to help!

[Michael Fleenor]

We had a great turn-out for the first meeting on Saturday--21 people! I want to thank everyone who joined us, especially our Councilwoman, Mary Louise Madigan, who was so helpful getting this first meeting organized and arranging for City representatives to be present to talk about plans for Madison. I was especially impressed that we had several people present who work for the Lakewood Parks Department who came on a Saturday afternoon just because they care about the park.

The City has funds budgeted to purchase some new playground equipment. The Friends group will be assisting the City to choose equipment, identifying other needs in the park, and raising funds to supplement the City's investment.

The next meeting is Saturday, March 29th at 3 p.m. and will again be held in the Lower Level of the Madison Branch Library.