The Student Agenda: Barrio Nopal is finally getting a park
Residents of the Barrio Nopal Neighborhood on the south side have been asking for a park for 30 years ... Finally, they're getting their wish ... Tucson pushes pause on cutting pool hours.
For their final project, students in Caitlin’s reporting public affairs class at the University of Arizona School of Journalism were tasked with highlighting a local solution. This class turned out some great stories, and we’re showcasing the best of the bunch.
Today, we’re running a piece by Gracie Kayko.
The south side is getting a new park, with city officials, school leaders and community groups celebrating the win during a groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month.
Barrio Nopal Park is located at 311 East Elvira Road, near South Nogales Highway and East Valencia Road. The project started in 2018, when voters passed Prop. 407, a bond package dedicated to building and renovating Tucson’s parks.
But if you ask residents of the Barrio Nopal Neighborhood, efforts to a bring a park to the community really began more than 30 years ago.
Margie Mortimer, a volunteer at the Barrio Nopal Neighborhood Association, said children living in the community were the inspiration behind the park’s creation.
“That's one of the motivations, trying to keep our kids safe and in an area that they’ll have fun at,” Mortimer said.
Without a park in walking distance, children are often seen playing in the streets, Mortimer said, adding that it’s important that they have a safe place to play.
Barrio Nopal Park, which is estimated to cost a little more than $4 million and be completed by next summer, will feature walking paths, a splash pad, playground, shade structures, ramadas, seating, restrooms and more.
It will sit on almost four acres of land purchased by the City of Tucson from the Sunnyside Unified School District.
At the groundbreaking, Mayor Regina Romero said the park is near and dear to her heart.
“I believe in investing and reinvesting in historically underserved communities,” Romero said. “For far too long, this neighborhood has not been invested in.”
Romero said the Barrio Nopal Neighborhood has been underserved by every level of government and it’s been a passion of hers to try to change that.
Residents and officials are seeing tangible results from the city’s investments in Barrio Nopal, Romero said, which include fixing water lines, reworking roads and now, building a long-awaited neighborhood park.
One of the things we like to do at the Tucson Agenda is help young reporters get their names out there. Subscribe to the Agenda so we can keep helping them showcase their work!
The park will not only provide a safe place for kids to play and families to create memories, but the addition of trees to the area will also help lower temperatures in the neighborhood.
Romero said the Barrio Nopal area has higher temperatures every summer due to a lack of trees and shade.
The city will be planting 60 trees in the park, which officials hope will help alleviate some of the summer heat, said Parks and Recreation Director Lara Hemwey.
And there’s another benefit, according to Romero.
“Trees are shown to make people happy,” she said.
The trees will also help absorb greenhouse gasses, which Romero said is a nature-based approach to addressing climate change.
Ward 1 Council member Lane Santa Cruz said they started working on a vision for Barrio Nopal’s park back in 2007, when Romero was first elected to the city council.
“I hate that things take so long to come to fruition,” Santa Cruz said. “But it's the determination of neighbors, and continuing to push not only elected officials, but our parks staff, the school district, the county and everybody to come together to make this happen.”
Santa Cruz said they know many neighbors with children who were asking for a park, and now those children are adults with their own kids, who also want a park.
“Barrio Nopal, especially the south side, has been divested in for decades," Santa Cruz said. “Part of our work in office is to advocate and make sure that the people that have been left behind are the first in line.”
Neighbors were invited to submit suggestions for the park in two public surveys during the master process, so that city officials could understand what the community wanted. Santa Cruz said they’ll push to make sure that all the elements that were promised are delivered.
“There's a lot of studies out there that talk about how connection to parks and nature can relieve mental health stress,” said Parks and Recreation’s Hemwey. “So, what we hope is that it really will help make the community feel better.”
Not so fast: A plan to cut hours at Tucson’s city swimming pools this summer was rolled back last week, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla reports. Staff at the city’s Parks and Recreation Department were trying to balance their budget by cutting pool hours by 37%, but the city council balked at that idea at their meeting last week. They’re going to revisit the issue at their June 4 meeting.
Stay put: The Rio Nuevo board is trying to keep the Tucson Roadrunners hockey team from moving to the Phoenix area, Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock writes. The board has to sign off on the move and they’re going to discuss it at their meeting this week. Meanwhile, the team’s owner is trying to get an arena built in Phoenix, after a sale for the land
More bars: Yellow signs are popping up in the Sam Hughes neighborhood as developers ask the City of Tucson to rezone the area near Sixth Street and Tucson Blvd, KGUN’s Alex Dowd reports. Developer Ross Rulney wants the Village at Sam Hughes to have more flexible zoning and allow for a craftwork space, a bar, and a microbrewery. Neighbors say the Village at Sam Hughes already has three places that sell alcohol and parking is already difficult there.
Far from Easy Street: The Star’s Emily Bregel dives deep into the experiences of asylum seekers trying to navigate life while waiting in Nogales, Sonora for their chance to speak with U.S. immigration officials. Even for those lucky enough to have shelter and WiFi access to use the Biden administration’s mobile app for asylum seekers, they still face months of risk and frustration.
Dip your toes: Oro Valley officials are planning the next 10 years of the town’s water policy and they want local residents to share their thoughts, Tucson Local Media’s Dave Perry reports. So far, the overwhelming response has been to educate the community about water conservation.
It’s a drag: The Tucson Police Department is worried about more street racing this summer, KOLD’s Emilee Miranda reports. Racing and “takeovers” cause property damage, and often lead to injuries. Many racers are juveniles and now that school is out, police say they’re expecting to see an uptick in the summer months.
$225 million: The amount of general obligation bonds that will fund park improvements throughout the city of Tucson as part of the voter approved Prop. 407.
Thanks, Caitlin and thanks, Grace. People need community spaces.
How long before homeless encampments take over this new park as they have most parks in Tucson, making them unsafe for kids?