LONG-AWAITED MINI PARK DEBUTS
North Park celebrates public gathering spot 2 decades in the making
Nearly 20 years ago, North Park community leaders sought to create a link between the area’s residential and commercial districts through a pedestrian plaza and tree-lined promenade near the historic North Park Theatre.
On Sunday, at least part of that yearslong effort finally came to be.
State, city and neighborhood leaders gathered to mark the official grand opening of North Park Mini Park — a $5 million pocket park on 29th Avenue and North Park Way.
The urban park is located a block or so from the North Park’s commercial core along University Avenue. Around 300 people showed up for the ribbon cutting, music and games at the 21,780-squarefoot community gathering spot, which the city designates as a mini park.
“This may seem like a small project, but it is not small for this community,” said state Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, who was a San Diego City Council member representing North Park when the idea first surfaced in 2003. “It really was the community that kept this going.”
The new public space is more like a plaza or square than a traditional park. On Sunday, dozens of people laid out yoga mats on the pavement in front of a small stage for a free exercise class. Children clung to a spinning rope tree on one side of the park, while others played cornhole or explored chess on tables with built in boards.
Meanwhile, their parents and others sat on benches or planter boxes taking in the scene.
“I like to be in the community, and I think this is a place where you can be in the community and relax,” said Carlos Briceno, who attended the grand opening.
Why did it take so long to create? Roger Lewis, one of the original backers of the park plan, said the property was originally earmarked for the plaza in 2003 as part of a North Park redevelopment district.
But when redevelopment unraveled statewide a few years later, the park plan fell into limbo. It wasn’t officially resurrected on the city’s list of park projects for capital spending until 2012.
For North Park community leaders, the work isn’t done. During the process, the pedestrian promenade that would have connected the park to University Avenue was eliminated, mostly because of funding. Without it, there is no invitation to come down to the park from North Park’s commercial core.
Angela Landsberg, executive director of the North Park Main Street business association, wants