30773: Little Haiti gets its own park, at last (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Jul. 15, 2007
Little Haiti gets its own park, at last

For many of the youths growing up in Little Haiti, hope comes in the form of a 
park.
Most Sundays, teenagers hop in a minivan for the 10-mile trek to North Miami 
Beach, where they play soccer on a baseball field -- there's no place for them 
to play in their own community.
Finally, Little Haiti Park, nine years in the making, is expected to be open 
and ready for business by October.
''We need a park,'' said Rennie Carty, 17, a football player at Booker T. 
Washington High, who's now being recruited by college teams. ``If you get a 
child's attention about what's good, then they don't have to think about what's 
bad.''
The upcoming park, Carty hopes, will get other kids involved in sports.
When complete, Little Haiti park will include a soccer field, a practice field 
and covered seating for 750.
Nearby, a Cultural Center is being built. It will hold a Neighborhood 
Enhancement Team office that will give residents contact with city officials, 
gallery space, performance and rehearsal space and art work rooms that can seat 
250, said Ola Aluko, the director of capital improvements for the city of 
Miami.
The park's birth has not been without pains. Little Haiti Park was first 
proposed in 1998 by former Miami City Commissioner Arthur Teele. The project 
was stalled for years because of arguments over the park's size and cost.
In 2002, the city allotted $25 million to build the park.
Under Teele, the park was designed for 60 acres.
Then nearby business owners protested, not wanting to sell their land to the 
city for park space, so in 2003 the city reduced the size to 45 acres.
Today, the park is just starting to come to life: Workers have begun building 
the cement stadium seats. Light poles line the dirt and rocks that soon will be 
covered with grass.
But some Little Haiti activists are complaining that the park and nearby 
cultural center will be too small to serve the neighborhood adequately.
The city is now hosting monthly meetings so members of the community may get 
involved and tell Miami officials what they want in their park.
The park and cultural center will be located along Northeast Second Avenue, 
between 59th Terrace and 64th Street, a few blocks from Notre Dame d'Haiti 
Roman Catholic Church, the heart and soul of Little Haiti.
''Young people in Little Haiti need a park,'' said Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary, who 
also hopes the park will create a connection between the people of Little Haiti 
and the international Haitian community.
''It can be a place where teams can come from Haiti to play and practice with 
kids from the neighborhood,'' Jean-Mary suggested.
Jean-Mary also is hopeful the park can be a way to put a stop to the gang 
violence that threatens the community.
In May, Little Haiti registered the highest numbers of assaults, robberies, and 
property crimes in the county, according to Miami police records.
Police responded to 14 homicides that month.
''It's hard knowing the community you live in has a lot of failure,'' said 
Carty, who said he's too scared to leave his home most nights because of 
neighborhood violence.
Carty has witnessed the dangers of his neighborhood firsthand: A year ago he 
was shot in the leg, and in May, his brother's friend was killed by gang 
violence.
The teenager said he's seen six of his closest friends die violently.
''I try to keep sports in my life because you can go from one problem to 
another, then a fight and guns,'' Carty said.
Roland Jerome has been coaching local Haitian community soccer teams for more 
than 20 years.
''When kids are in soccer, they won't have time to spend in the streets,'' 
Jerome said.
Every week, Jerome escorts teams of neighborhood kids, ages 5 to 18, to Allen 
Park in North Miami Beach. There, they play soccer on a baseball diamond. 
Players struggle to remain inbounds on a field that leaves little room for 
onlookers.
Hattie Willis is a 16-year resident of Little Haiti and lobbied Arthur Teele 
about the park. She said she is concerned about the size of the recreational 
space but is happy construction is under way.
Said Willis: ``It's either get the park now or build prisons later.''


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