Monday, August 16, 2010
Cleveland Park: A Review
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 5:07 AM
- Can you believe this awesome oak tree?
Location: You'll be stunned to learn it's right off Cleveland Street
Size of Park: Big
Crowds: None
Approximate Age of Patrons: My age
Topics of Conversation: Why a dog's $2,000 knee seems to be troubling her
Stray Dogs Seen: None, but there are lots of dogs in the neighborhood
Types of Vehicles in Parking Lots: Mine
Perceived Safety: We were there as church was getting out, so very high
Number of Gunshots Heard: None
Dog Friendliness: Pretty good
Number of pitbulls sighted: Mine
Accessibility: Good
Incorporation of Local History: Low, of course
Recommended Patrons: Everyone
- A local dog sniffs around one of the dugouts.
People, it even has a volleyball net and a pool (though the pool was not open).
I think this was my first park with a volleyball net.
It also has a community center.
Oh, and this beautiful huge old oak with knotty roots all tangled right at the surface. I would have taken that oak home, if it would have gotten in my car.
There are a few things about Cleveland Park that make you wonder. There are a couple of odd lumps in the park, one small, one medium, that don't really fit the surrounding landscape. They're the kind of lumps that make a gal wonder if Ellington Parkway is sitting over an old riverbed, because lumps like that next to a river would make you think they might be burial mounds. But, of course, there's nothing to tell you what they might be.
And the buildings are this strange Band-Aid color that is really unbecoming.
- A local dog ponders the larger Cleveland Park Lump.
The most hilarious thing about Cleveland Park is the number of signs that tell you it's Cleveland Park. Most parks have one sign indicating what park you're in. Some have one by each entrance, if it's one of the huge parks. But Cleveland Park has a sign for every constituent that Pam Murray is suing — and speaking of Pam Murray, it's got a sign with "Cleveland Park" and her name on it, too.
Whew, I laughed when I saw that. In small print, it tells you the park was established in the '60s, but to look at the sign, you'd think Pam Murray invented it.
Anyway, it's an awesome park and I would try to take credit for it too, if I had some reason. You can't help going to a park like that and feeling good about the people responsible for it.
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