In The News

from The Telegraph
July 25, 2005

Park in progress
Work to revitalize Alton's Hellrung Park to begin soon

By LINDA N. WELLER
The Telegraph

ALTON - A former subgrade park once hid criminal activities, but an 11-step process to transform Hellrung Park into a family-friendly play area should begin in about a month.

Once that work starts, the subsequent phases will follow rapid-fire - some concurrently - in order to meet the June 2006 deadline stipulated in the $328,000 in grants the city received to partially pay for the $450,000 to $500,000 project.

Those grants are $228,000 from the state's Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) as matching funds, reimbursable after the work is completed, and $100,000 from the Metro East Park and Recreation District.

To add to the pot, The Siedlund Co. of St. Louis, developer of nearby Hampton Place and Hampton Place Extension in-fill housing developments, also provided $40,000 for park improvements. OSLAD also is committed to another $20,000 grant, and unnamed St. Louis donors have provided $10,000.

"This is an exercise in trying to do a project with the bare minimum amount of money," consultant Wayne Freeman, of Freeman Consulting of Godfrey, told the Alton Park and Recreation Board of Commissioners last week. "We are piecing the park project together."

The park is in the middle of Central Avenue, Union, Brown and East Seventh streets in the Mexico neighborhood. It is in one of three inner-city areas covered by the city's Operation Weed and Seed neighborhood revitalization program. Since private haulers and the Alton Public Works Department filled Hellrung with tons of dirt several years ago, it has settled and some weeds have grown. Officials quietly have been fine-tuning its master plan and obtaining the grant money.

Planned is a well-lit, approximately 10,000-square-foot skate park enclosed by a 4-foot-high fence; children's playground with adjacent seating wall; basketball court; small amphitheater /pavilion; 10-spigot play fountain and circular community garden.

"Everything is designed with the notion of keeping it secure," Freeman said. "The purpose of the whole park is to be visible."

He said the children's playground would be near an edge of the park, so the youngsters will be clearly visible and, therefore, safer.

To add to youths' feelings of ownership of the park, a wall by the playground will be adorned with fabout 120 tiles decorated by local children in a future community decoration effort.

At a yet-to-be-determined date, the youngsters will be able to sink their little hands into wet clay squares or etch words or pictures at Mississippi Mud Pottery. Once dried and fired, the tiles will be applied to the side of the park wall.

Freeman said the garden is designed to bring children and older people to the park to develop a sense of community; the adults would be asked to help keep a better eye on Hellrung. Neighbors have met with Freeman and city representatives to discuss how the park should be laid out and features they want in it; meetings will continue with skateboarders to firm up what equipment will be installed in the skateboard park.

The city is requesting bids for the first phase of the improvements. The work will encompass installing a modular retaining wall on the west end; removing and hauling away unwanted trees; turning over the top of the dirt to cover weed growth; adding 6 inches of topsoil and other landscaping.

"The trees help hold the hill together, and we don't want to risk the dirt falling," said Mike Drake, executive director of the Alton Park and Recreation Department, who said the slow process of improving the park has been "frustrating. "

That work could start at the end of August or early September and may cost $15,000 to $20,000, he said. The city is providing $90,000 for that work.

The rest of the work phases, in order, are: asphalt/grading/storm sewer drainage; concrete skate park pavement; skate park structures; spray fountain; plaza and plaza walls; playground; community garden; lighting; benches; and pavilions.

Freeman said he is applying for more grants and plans fund-raising efforts to meet the rest of the project expenses.

Among those efforts is a new brochure he designed and printed that urges: "Be part of the rebirth of Hellrung Park."

Illustrated with full-color photographs and its master plan, the pamphlet relates its decline over the past 30 years, saying, "Hellrung Park is poised for a rebirth" and calls the project "a community revitalization effort."

The brochure asks for donors to "buy" a brick paver for $50 or granite block for $500 that will be set into an entry plaza; pay for one of 50 memorial trees; or become one of 10 park sponsors who will be recognized on a 5-foot limestone marker at the entry for $2,500.

Those with deeper pockets can donate $5,000 to adopt one of the five park features; others can volunteer to help put up the playground, amphitheater or install the garden space.

lnweller@hotmail.com

Alton Weed & Seed Strategy
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