‘A fitting tribute’
New children’s park honors legacy of slain police officer Daniel Webster
Michelle Carlino-Webster joked that if her husband were still alive, he probably would be jumping on the trampoline at the new park that now bears his name.
“It’s a happy thing. Dan would really love this park,” Carlino Webster said Tuesday morning during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Officer Daniel Webster Children’s Park, near Wyoming and Copper NE.
Webster, 47, an Army veteran, was shot during a traffic stop Oct. 21, 2015, as he tried to handcuff a suspect near Central and Eubank. He died about a week later.
“This is a nice way for me to pick up a little bit of joy in the sad months that I’ve had,” Carlino Webster said.
In attendance at the ceremony were dozens of fidgety kids who couldn’t wait to try out the new playground. Once the ribbon was down, many of them dashed over to the slide and other equipment. Children with disabilities also joined in the fun.
“He’d be very humbled to see this,” Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said.
The park was built to be inclusive, and to accommodate children in wheelchairs and those on the autism spectrum.
Two ramps allow wheelchairs to roll to the top of the play structure, said Gregory Miller of MRWM Landscape Architects, the company that designed the park. There also are nooks for children who prefer a small, secure space.
Miller said the design encourages varying degrees of involvement from children. Colors are clustered with cool colors on one side and warm colors on another, and there are interesting things for children to touch.
The park is also designed to challenge children at all levels and to have them playing side by side.
“I think it’s amazing,” said Taura Mangone, a fourth-grade teacher at Hawthorne Elementary. “Our kids need something like this in the neighborhood.”
The entire park is 4.5 acres, with the first phase covering 1.6 acres. This phase cost $1.2 million, with close to $751,000 coming from City Council discretionary funds pledged by former City Councilor Rey Garduño and current Councilor Pat Davis. The rest came from general obligation bonds and impact fees.
The contractor on the project was Lee Landscapes.
“This is a community effort,” said Garduño, who came up with the bulk of the funding for the first phase.
“This is amazing. It surpasses the hopes and wishes many of us had.”
The land for the park, behind the old armory on Wyoming, was donated to the city by the federal government. The city plans to install grass to the south and west of the playground in the next phase of the project.
Eden said the park is a fitting tribute to Webster.
“He just loved this community, loved working Southeast (Albuquerque), loved working with the kids,” he said. “Having this honor his legacy is the best thing that could happen … . It’s going to bring people together.”