With local match, MLK Park renovation is worth $24 million, and southeast Bakersfield needs and deserves it

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The National Park Service announced this week it will invest $254.6 million into 54 projects in 24 states for local parks – and Bakersfield has landed the fourth-largest single share.

The local beneficiaries? The residents of southeast Bakersfield. If there’s any one park in Bakersfield that has a negative stigma attached, it’s probably one of theirs  – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park on East California Avenue.

The city of Bakersfield is about to make an investment that they hope will turn things around to the tune of $24 million.

KGET learned this week that Bakersfield’s MLK Park has won a federal grant of nearly $12 million. It comes with strings attached – a local matching grant requirement that doubles the amount to nearly $24 million.

West Sacramento, Los Angeles County and Rock Hill, S.C., each won $15 million grants for parks within their jurisdiction, tied for the most of any applicant.

Rick Anthony, who just this month was promoted from Parks and Rec director to assistant city manager, one of three under city manager Christian Clegg, said MLK Park and the neighborhoods around it met one of the grant priogram’s key requirements – economic need.

“That ZIP code (93307) is exactly the ZIP code that they want to target,” Anthony said. “I don’t need to go into detail (about) all of the effects and disparities that are there, but everything from environmental to just economics, and I believe this park can be a catalyst for both. You build a part of this magnitude. I believe businesses are going to be more attractive to come – (for example) grocery stores. So that’s why I talk about that part being a game changer. There are so many other impacts that I believe us putting that investment in that community.

And a game changer is what’s needed. We found one middle schooler who said his parents are wary about letting him hang out at MLK Park.

“Our parents feel like right here (at MLK Park) is, like, a lot of bums and stuff, (including) crackheads,” said Imanol Rosuque.

James Allen, who was walking his dog in the park on Friday, said it’s kids like that that the park needs more of.

“Laughter, smiling, can bring communities together, help fight some of the crime, do what’s necessary for the kids,” he said.

Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales said the east side needs and deserves more and better parks, starting with a renovated MLK Park.

“It surrounds a disadvantaged neighborhood, and there are lots of families in and around MLK Park who deserve high quality amenities, just like every single resident in the city,” Gonzales said. “And for too long, unfortunately, MLK Park has fallen into disrepair, everything from the playground equipment, to the restrooms, which are a disaster, to the recreation center, which has had a lot of deferred maintenance issues.”

The disparity between the east and west sides, he said, is striking – and unfair.

“The west side of town, there are far more parks, far more frequently than there are on the east,” he said. “We have to ask why.”

The reason is that park standards started changing about 30 years ago. The per capita ratio of population to park acreage decreased dramatically, so that developers were required to build more parks. But older neighborhoods like east and central Bakersfield filled in those spaces, making efforts to catch up more challenging.

And it’s time, city officials say, to start catching up.

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