THE DREAM

In the late 1990’s, a small neighborhood group obtained funding to build a terraced school garden at the boundary between the school and the park. While digging in the new garden, the volunteers became deeply disturbed with dismal state of the ‘park’ inches away, and decided to focus on improvements. It was 1999 and the Friends of Bella Vista Park was born.

Friends of BellaVistaPark (FoBVP) began to work on ideas to renovate the park. BellaVistaSchool teachers asked students for suggestions. Interest snowballed. The group asked the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to partner with them.  By Summer of 2001 TPL helped raise $1.7 million to re-design the park, with donations from private grants and foundations, city and state funds, corporate donors, and a $500,000 federal grant from the National Park Service’s UrbanPark and Recreation Recovery Program.