Liberty Park Improvements Under Way

Thu., Dec. 24, 1998

By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com (509) 459-5454

Lingering fall weather gave the city Parks Department a chance to start work on improvements to Liberty Park.

In recent weeks, several old willow trees were removed from the center of the park. They are being replaced with new lawn and picnic tables.

Sidewalks and light poles are being installed.

The improvements are part of a combined effort of the East Central Neighborhood and the Spokane Parks Department.

“It will be a great improvement for Liberty Park,” said Taylor Bressler, park maintenance manager.

Earlier this year, the steering committee in the East Central Neighborhood put up $75,000 from its annual allotment of federal community development funds for the park work. Bressler said the city has spent about $30,000 of its own money on the projects.

A new access spur to the Ben Burr Trail was built from the parking lot on the west end of the park.

An old asphalt water basin that Bressler described as a “water feature” in the park was removed and filled with dirt. The basin, which dates to the expansion of Liberty Park in the 1960s, had not been used in years.

The trees that surrounded it provided screening for street kids, who occasionally slept there. The site also had been used by drug dealers, Bressler said.

Dirt to fill the basin came from the Habitat for Humanity duplex development at Sixth and Pittsburg.

Bressler said his crews plan to let the dirt settle through the winter and then plant it with grass in the spring. Picnic tables will be installed in the area, he said.

“We really opened that area up,” Bressler said.

New lighting with underground wiring is being installed to increase safety and security.

The new sidewalks will be accessible for handicapped persons.

The improvements at Liberty Park follow other park work in the East Central neighborhood.

Bressler said the neighborhood recently helped with a cleanup along the Ben Burr Trail, which runs from Liberty Park east to Underhill Park.

Last year the city removed small timber and limbs from trees at Underhill Park to make that park safer and more usable. He said the natural areas along the hillside of the parks provide a unique opportunity for people to hike and explore.

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