City rethinks child care site City rethinks child care site (November 18, 2005)

Neighbors force council to examine other Rengstorff Park locations

By Jon Wiener

Facing ever-mounting opposition to the location of a planned child care center in Rengstorff Park, the city council moved to reopen the discussion over the location of the building Tuesday night.

At the end of the public comment period, which was once again packed with neighbors speaking against the project and complaining that they did not receive any notice from the city, Mayor Matt Neely took the rare step of proposing that city staff come up with a list of alternative sites within Rengstorff Park's boundaries.

Council members voted unanimously to back the idea, which some of them were angrily dismissing as recently as September.

"I don't think we can do that in the face of the opposition that we have and risk tearing the community apart over this," said council member Mike Kasperzak. Along with Neely, Kasperzak had shown the most resistance to his colleagues' sometimes idle suggestions to look at other sites for the center.

The move not only blunted neighborhood opposition but warded off a potentially heated debate at the council level -- at least until staff returns with its findings in January. Heading into the meeting, two council members who had voted to approve the project were signaling their desire to move it to another location.

Tom Means and Laura Macias both told the Voice that they originally had voted for the project because they wanted to take advantage of a 1 percent loan from the Packard Foundation, and thought the project area was an underutilized part of the park. But neighborhood outcry forced them to rethink that position.

Neely said he hopes the council can refocus on increasing the availability of child care.

"It was going to continue to be divisive," he said of the location. "And it was not going to further the major effort, which was to get child care to low-income communities."

Neely, who said at the beginning of the year that improving child care in the city would be one of his major goals as mayor, has been a staunch advocate of the project. He said it was important to keep the project in or around Rengstorff Park in order to keep it accessible to the low-income families that live nearby.

The center will offer spaces to 104 children, and set aside 30 spaces for low-income residents receiving state or federal subsidies. The rest will be at market rates.

A follow-up motion by council member Greg Perry to consider other possible locations for the center, such as the city-owned parking lot behind the Tied House, failed 3-4, with Perry, Means and Matt Pear voting in favor.

After the vote, most neighbors reacted positively but chose their words with care.

"We're extremely pleased with the council's willingness to reconsider," said Camille Marder, president of the homeowners' association at Parkview West Apartments.

Others were less diplomatic.

"It stinks," said Barbara Goodwin. "We want them out of the park altogether."

Potential alternative locations for the center include a parking area for the new senior center as well as the temporary senior center, currently slated to become community gardens once the new building is complete. Neighbors raised both sites as potential alternatives at a public meeting with city staff last week.
Perry stirs the pot

Neely had responded to a barrage of complaints by sending staff members from several different departments to hold a public meeting with neighbors at the temporary senior center. Eighty residents of Parkview West Apartments and nearby areas showed up to learn more about the project and voice their problems with it.

Parks commissioners John Inks and Ivan John attended, but did not speak. Council member Greg Perry, on the other hand, grabbed the microphone before he left and encouraged those assembled to keep up the pressure on the city. He also said that city staff was not telling residents the whole story about the project.

One woman spoke about the need for affordable child care, while several child care center operators questioned the impact a new center would have on their businesses. But most of the speakers said they were more concerned about the location of the center than its existence.

The audience at the meeting, though at times requiring Spanish and Russian interpreters, did not appear to be a representative sample of the surrounding area. City staff had sent notices only to residents of Parkview West and a mailing list compiled from citizens who have spoken at public meetings.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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