The results are in: Overton Park users want a safe, litter-free park with better parking and an updated playground. Users also overwhelmingly support the creation of a nonprofit conservancy to manage the Midtown park.
In late June, a group of park preservationists, ecologists, business leaders, and others launched the Speak Up for Overton Park campaign to gauge interest in forming a conservancy and to determine priorities for the park’s future. The results were released today.
“We saw this as a way to say, let’s take a few steps back and get an idea of what the community wants,” said Josh Horton, a volunteer with the Speak Up campaign.
In the fall, the group will present a conservancy proposal to the Memphis City Council, and if created, Horton said the conservancy could use the needs survey results as a “punch list” for which issues to tackle. Besides safety and cleanliness, user also indicated interest in protection for the Old Growth Forest and greensward, more community activities, restrooms, a fenced dog park, foods carts, and bike and pedestrian trails.
For a full report, go to the Speak Up campaign website, or for a quick glance, click on this PDF link for an infographic. OvertonParkSurvey-Infographic.pdf