On February 1st, the often avoided Williams Park was turned into a cultural bastion for a festival known as Localtopia. The damp grass was stamped with the eager soles of St. Pete citizens imbibing Florida Craft Beer, enjoying live music on the seldom used Park Stage, eating honey singed BBQ and fueling up with Kahwa double shots. Williams Park is the barrier that divides the polarized Burg. Crowded bus shelters, disgruntled and uncomfortable vendors and students, heavy traffic and an unfortunate need for police have made the park more resembles a ward. 

Williams is a bubbling blister on the ankle of the Sunshine City. We know the issue but the remedy gets muddled in politics, taxpayer money and a pervasive homeless issue. Our Love for the Burg has us looking outside of the Bay and beyond the panhandle and see how other states have handled decaying sectors. Fast approaching is the summer farmer’s market which takes over Williams Park every Saturday from June until August. While the brief summer institution paints the park in a brighter light, the disproportionate amount of use makes the market feel like a bandaid for a bullet wound.

Such measures as placing a wrought iron fence around Williams in the fashion of European public parks and a full time police officer canvasing the area have been proposed. Public officials hoped that with a constant guard and gate encompassing the park St. Pete citizens would be more open to spending time there while eliminating some of the seedier activities Williams is known for.

Others wagered that the live music featured at so many local bars and restaurants ought to find a more frequent home at the park and in adherence with that make a concerted effort to hold/focus more local festival at Williams. With organizations such as Critical Mass populating the grounds on a monthly basis with eager cyclists the image of Williams is certianly getting better. 

When we take a look at the renaissance influencing the parks systems in the Northwest in cities such as Seattle we can see glints of hope. Their public department has created a small task force solely dedicated to downtown happenings.

Through local government involvement downtown businesses are incentivized to participate and creatively contribute to public events. Due to business and government support of the parks system Seattle public schools have come to make use of the parks for field trips and camps. When this triangle of support converges the entire image of the area is reinvigorated.

The city has dedicated a multitude of sports activities including Disc Golf, Rugby, Lawn Bowling, Soccer and Skate Parks. These sorts of innovations aren’t exactly new to the Burg. Many of our parks are equipped with fit zones and soccer nets. Perhaps there is a need for these kinds of amenities to be consistently distributed to all of the parks.

The city of St. Paul, MN, noted as the most livable city in the U.S., institutes similar measures to maintain their parks. A Design and Construction task force is designated to focus volunteer and full-time effort on preserving the natural sanctuaries throughout the city. St. Paul also uses an electronic proposal form which provides citizens/organizations with a professional form to articulate their idea. The form requests the estimated cost, timeframe for construction and completion and other such specifics. The construct of the request allows the citizen to think concretely about their grievances and proposals and gives the parks department a more actualized understanding of what the community wants.

*Photo by Playle

The terrain/layout of St. Paul isn’t quite like the Burg’s but it may benefit a park like Williams if there were simple, electronic proposal form wherein the community and city officials can communicate with one another. There is a city wide desire for a kind of transparency when it comes to divisive issues such as this.

Years ago there was talk in St. Pete of relocating some of the bus stops at Williams Park. Back in 2011 we covered the conversation in an article that you can check out here. There was thought that by lessening the depth of people around the park and diminishing the bus congestion that typically ties up traffic downtown Williams would be more visible and spark a heightened interest in lounging at the park. Due to a financial and political tie up the talks fizzled and Williams remained in the shadow of Buses, Police vehicles and loiterers.

There are outlets in St. Pete where such grievances can be aired. This article’s purpose is to ignite ideas in the Burg on how to solve the Williams issue. The easy part is rambling off a slew of complaints, the matter now is how can we effect change? What do you think? What would you like to see happening at the park? Let us know in the comments below so we can, as a community, push to better our city and the parks that represent it.

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