This coming Tuesday, Mayoral candidates will be participating in a forum hosted by The Metropolitan Business League. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the state of Monroe Park will come up as a topic, but it should, for both incumbent Mayor Stoney and City Councilperson Kim Gray (who sits on the Monroe Park Conservancy board!) are responsible due to their inaction. Both of them have failed the public on this important issue. Perhaps they care more what the VCU administration wants.

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President Todd Woodson once again asked that elected leaders be accountable and do the right thing by terminating “the Conservancy”‘s lease on the park.

Dear Friends

A year and a half after a complete 7 million dollar plus renovation, Monroe Park’s pathways are unusable. The Monroe Park Conservancy, who has a lease on the park for $1 a year, CHOSE to not follow the master plan which the City paid over $700,000 for, and along with design firm 3North and City Capital Projects Supervisor Donald Summers, proceeded to remove all public restroom facilities, destroyed the historic tree canopy, installed faulty bollards (many are now gone), defaced the WWII Memorial and installed superfluous signage which detracts from the parks natural beauty.
In spite of leaving the park an unusable wreck, the “conservancy” still holds the lease which as their website states- “can be terminated at any time”.
The most recent form 990 for the Monroe Park Conservancy lists liabilities of over $200,000.00.
Once again, I respectfully request that this lease be terminated and the park- our City’s oldest and most historic, be returned to the management of our wonderful Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. A plan must be crafted to reinstall the restrooms, fix the pathways, replace the bollards, fix the WWII Memorial and restore the historic tree canopy. The taxpayers are out over 4 million dollars here and are on the hook for at least another 2 or 3 due to mismanagement by the “conservancy”.
Please consider this reasonable request.

Sincerely,

Charles T Woodson

Let this be a lesson- When neoliberal privatization schemes go bad, the public is left with the mess. It’s very telling how certain local commentators and media outlets are still silent on this debacle while some of us in the community have put our necks out by speaking out about it from the beginning.