Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Phillips Mildred Shute Park: A Review
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 9:40 AM
- Note the beer bottle in the bottom of the photo. That was just one of many.
Location: At the end of Fain Street, back behind the projects on Lafayette
Size of Park: Very small
Crowds: Just two moms walking their kids to church
Approximate Age of Patrons: Mom and kid age
Topics of Conversation: "Hurry up."
Stray Dogs Seen: None
Types of Vehicles in Parking Lots: N/A
Perceived Safety: Very low
Number of Gunshots Heard: None
Dog Friendliness: Eh, a dog could poop here, but not much more
Number of pitbulls sighted: None
Accessibility: Fine
Incorporation of Local History: Please, they don't even have a sign identifying the park
Recommended Patrons: As I saw it today? No one.
Mildred Shute Park sucks. But unlike many of the parks I've been to, the sucking seems to be a collaborative effort between the city and the neighborhood. There's not a sign identifying the park. The grass, like almost all of the grass I've seen at parks in poor neighborhoods is too high. And there was garbage everywhere. On the playground equipment and in a big pile in the grass.
- More garbage.
Also, I have to tell you, seeing a bunch of beer bottles scattered in the grass made me feel like the park was probably a pretty unsafe place to hang out if you weren't up to no good.
The equipment seemed to be in good shape and the benches were nice.
It's just depressing. The whole neighborhood feels kind of crammed in the elbow of I-40 and the park feels crammed into it. There are no good views, there's no tree worth looking at, and there's garbage everywhere. I think the park was supposed to help give the community a little breathing room, but frankly, I think that whole part of town is going to have to be reimagined in order to not feel so stifling.
One little park being used as a garbage dump can't do it.
I don't know who Mildred Shute is, but this park isn't much of an honor to her memory. Unless she was a beer-bottle hoarder, in which case this park is a perfect testament to her legacy.
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Still debating the adjective merits and spelling of "assholish" (should you really leave the e out?). LOL. Love your park reviews if not your experimental grammar.
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The street adopted the name Mildred Shute Avenue in 1999. Julius Sloss should know who Mildred is given that he sponsored the legislation that enacted the name change: http://www.nashville.gov/mc/ordinances/ter…
I really wish you had a Google Maps link in your park reviews to the exact location. Your description is very vague, which end of Fain street? What cross street is it at? "behind the projects on Lafayette" doesn't help much. I hope you'll take this into consideration for future reviews, because I love reading them but I never have a clue where you're actually talking about.
lost?, check this:
http://www.nashville.gov/parks/locations/
They have maps and addresses.
so what, I'm hoping to codify the spelling of 'assholish' without the 'e' before it goes in the dictionary by using it so often that my way becomes the right way.
