‘Charles Flynn Riverfront Trail’
Pathway named after longtime Yuma Crossing exec director
Today Yumans are proud of the East and West Wetlands and the parks, trails, beaches and ramadas that line the Colorado River. They are part of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.
At the forefront of efforts to restore and develop the riverfront was Charles Flynn, who served almost two decades as executive director of the heritage area.
Flynn retired this past summer, and he and wife Ann Walker moved to Philadelphia, Pa., to be closer to their first grandchild.
Leaders and citizens have now recognized Flynn’s accomplishments and service to the community and the heritage area with the dedication of the “Charles Flynn Riverfront Trail.” The dedication ceremony and monument unveiling were held Nov. 9 at Gateway Park.
Tom Rushin, board member of the heritage area, called Flynn’s “legacy in this community unmatched.”
Bruce Gwynn, vice president of the heritage area board, recalled that when Flynn first arrived, he took a look at the river and couldn’t see it. Instead, he saw the remnants of a city dump and he wondered why it was that way.
Gwynn explained that Flynn found funds and leveraged them into more funds. Then, the bulldozers went to work and now Yuma has the “prettiest” river “and we owe that to Charlie.”
He also noted that Flynn ran into a roadblock when people said it wasn’t a good idea, but he didn’t let that stop him.
Yuma City Administrator Greg Wilkinson described Flynn’s approach as “out of the box” and said that his whole career in Yuma was about “getting things done.” He pointed
out that Flynn also led the redevelopment of the 16th Street and 4th Avenue intersection, now called Center Pointe.
Mayor Doug Nicholls noted that Flynn continued to move forward under several mayors and administrations, helping the community to rediscover its history and reclaim the river.
Flynn, who was back in town for the planting of the Gowan Grove in the West Wetlands Park earlier in the week, credited former mayor Marilyn Young and former city administrator Joyce Wilson for their determination to revitalize the riverfront.
“This community was hungering for this to happen,” he said. “Although we ran into obstacles, we were able to put a team together and move fast,” raising and investing $40 million in the riverfront and downtown.
The City Council approved a resolution during the Nov. 7 meeting in support of naming the riverfront trail after Flynn and installing 10 monument signs along the 3-mile path announcing the “Charles Flynn Riverfront Trail — Preserving Yuma’s Riverfront Heritage.” The heritage area covered the $6,275 cost of the signs.
A staff report noted that the city supported naming the trail after Flynn in recognition of his “hard work and dedication (that) transformed the riverfront into what it is today.”
The heritage area boasts the Yuma Territorial Prison and Colorado River state historic parks, the Yuma Crossing National Historic Landmark, two riverfront parks connected by the multi-use path, 350 acres of restored wetlands and an interpretive plaza. It is managed by the private/ public nonprofit organization, which today is led by Executive Director Lowell Perry Jr.
When Flynn took the helm of the organization, the riverfront was a “big mess,” according to Fred Phillips, a partner in the riverfront restoration efforts. “First time I visited Yuma to look at the East Wetlands, the Ocean-toOcean Bridge was condemned, Gateway Park was full of hobos and crime, and the East Wetlands was a thicket full of crime,” he recalled.
Now when Phillips goes to Gateway Park, he sees “families and community and events happenings, weddings and picnics, and then I hike to the East Wetlands and see endangered species and hordes of birders and hikers and people taking pictures under trees for the wedding. It’s an amazing transformation.”
At the time of Flynn’s retirement, Mayor Nicholls listed Flynn’s accomplishments and noted that they were not easy. Flynn led efforts to build a riverfront hotel conference center and federal courthouse, which called for the relocation of the U.S. Border Patrol, Arizona Game and Fish and Arizona National Guard.
Flynn assembled titles for leases and sales, master planned the projects and oversaw private investments and federal grants, under a “very meager budget,” Nicholls said. “Charlie managed it through the whole process,” while the majority of the work went “largely unseen by most of us.”
Flynn did it due to “his strong leadership, willingness to make the hard decisions and think completely out of the box,” the mayor added.
Brian Golding Jr., director of economic development for the Quechan Indian Tribe, said he was impressed by Flynn’s willingness to engage with the tribe. “Through Charlie’s leadership we were all able to work together well and make something that was seemingly impossible possible.”
Jim Cherry, former Bureau of Reclamation area manager, highlighted Flynn’s passion for developing the riverfront. “It took a passion to get all this accomplished with all the agencies and organizations involved. He stuck with it, he worked hard, and he recognized that each step of the way, all these people had to be brought along with him so that we can have what we have now.”
Kevin Eatherly, former Yuma wetlands project manager, noted that Flynn had a vision of what the riverfront could be and set out to achieve that vision. “The overarching vision was connecting people back to the river, the reason why Yuma was here to begin with.”