TOLEDO (WTOL) - Navarre Park in east Toledo is a old park, with a old name. Dating back to the city’s first pioneers, Peter and Robert Navarre.
Now the old park is getting a new future and some folks couldn’t be happier, Like Terry Breymaier, an east Toledo community leader and descendant of Robert Navarre.
“I came here for teen town in the 1950′s, I played tennis for Waite on the tennis courts, I swam in the pool and played baseball, I can’t be more excited for the East Toledo Community," said Breymaier.
Community and business leaders came together Thursday to announce they have the money and the motivation to revitalize this historic park, after receiving generous donations from the Toledo Refining Company which resides adjacent to the park and St. Charles Hospital.
Their combined donations of $70,000 will be matched by the city of Toledo to add more improvements to the park in the near future including new infrastructure, picnic tables, benches, inclusive playground equipment and a general cosmetic makeover.
Mayor Kapszuckiewicz thanked the businesses for their contribution.
“This is an anchor park in East Toledo and a very important part of the neighborhood, I want to thank Toledo Refining Company and Mercy Health for stepping up to improve the community,” he said.
The mayor said this could be a model on how public-private partnerships can work.
Peter Ujvaji Toledo City Councilman for east Toledo said the improvements should make the park a “destination” park for families.
“A lot of activities and changes that will draw people back to into the park. That is what the whole idea is it should be a Central Park for East Toledo," said Ujvaji.
The city has added new tennis courts, and a new swimming pool in recent years and the park does feature a senior center built by the WPA in 1938 and also is the home of the East Toledo’s Historical Society building. But the park is still in need of more to bring it up to date and make it more attractive. A crumbling bike path is evidence of one issue, and there are plans to construct new playground equipment and perhaps a new shelter-house.
The improvements to the park come at a pivotal time for east Toledo. While many of the neighborhoods continue to suffer from high rates of poverty, crime, blight and poor public perception, there have been some brighter moments of promise for the “05” zip code as a new Metro Park gets underway on the riverfront, new apartments are being built and community leaders continue to engage many residents to tackle neighborhood and social issues.
Jodi Gross of the East Toledo Family Center sees this new project at Navarre Park as yet another building block towards community improvement in East Toledo.
“This is outstanding, because they are going to be able to use the tennis courts, the swimming pools, the picnic tables. Things they are already using, but now with the improvements, that will be all the much better," she said.
Gross envisions the new Navarre Park as a safe place for families to gather and the project itself will help bring new people into the efforts to make positive change.
“We need to be proactive and not reactive. Positives are good for east Toledo.”
