I’ve written a lot about local government and I’ve always been struck by how people use children as an excuse for almost anything.

By Rebecca Wakefield
Columnist

No matter where you come down on the issue of public parks, it is a sad day when green space advocates and a children’s tennis program have to be on opposite sides. It’s a funny day when the same issue has a city commissioner’s staffer in complete agreement with the man running against his boss.

It so happens that now, both of these things are true. The city of Miami’s Bond Oversight Board is meeting today (November 10) to discuss, among other topics, the future development of Bryan Park. This is of vital interest to Steve Wright, senior policy advisor to Miami Commission Chairman Joe Sanchez. Wright has lately been splitting his free time between campaigning for his boss’s re-election and campaigning for the preservation of a square spit of land across the street from his home, on which a large, vociferous contingent of parents wishes to build a tennis center.

The park, about two acres hidden away in a quiet Shenandoah neighborhood, carries the burden of a name larger than itself – William Jennings Bryan Park. It is located at 2301 SW 13th St., yards from Wright’s door.

The park has been, depending on perspective, either a victim or a beneficiary of Little Havana’s fitful gentrification process. Where a few years ago the park was a swath of unfenced green with a couple of basketball courts that supposedly attracted the wrong sort of rowdy kids, it is now fenced and contains a small building with three tennis courts, picnic tables and a toddler playground.

At issue now is how much more grass should be given up to additional courts, a larger rec center and a parking lot. Bryan Park sports a good tennis program and parents like Carlos Almirola think it could be even better with more facilities. Almirola’s 13-year-old son has been playing tennis since age 5 and in his mind, there’s no downside to building something even more kids could use. “Everybody else has a tennis center in their neighborhood and we don’t have it,” he argues. “Before there was basketball courts and kids with drugs. It’s better now.”

But to Wright and his wife, Heidi Johnson-Wright (her day job is the ADA coordinator for the city of Miami Beach), the proposed renovation would destroy the green, open character of the park, disrupt the neighborhood with traffic and noise, and force a lot of non-tennis kids to find somewhere else to play. Both sides have valid points, which is testament to the fact that Miami itself has too few public spaces for all the activities its citizens have in mind.

Wright points out that the city installed an irrigation system only a few years ago that would go to waste if the fields were paved over. He believes the city is simply being cajoled by the tennis parents in conjunction with amateur tennis associations, which have lined up a promised $250,000 grant from the U.S. Tennis Association to help build the tennis center.

“We’ve been accused of being anti-kid,” Wright sighs. “But if you’re really about kids, tournaments mean nothing. This would be an elitist program of dropping off kids, when we’ve got Central American kids kicking around ragtag balls here. What do we need clay courts for?”

Ed Blanco, project supervisor for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, takes exception to Wright’s characterization. He says the current center is not adequate in terms of restrooms and providing shelter for children when it rains. “He and his wife are mounting a campaign,” he says. “I understand their concerns. It is true we are taking up some green space for this. We’re not taking it all.”

Blanco adds that the city has taken green space from parks before when necessary, such as for police stables in Lummus Park and a fire department trailer in Shenandoah Park. “We are first to say we don’t have enough parks,” he says.

Joy Boleda, a teacher and mother of a tennis kid, says the parents asked for three more courts because there are 100 kids enrolled right now and not enough space. “We’re not asking for something that will take the whole field,” she says. “They are selfish and they don’t care about kids. [What they’re saying] is a camouflage of excuses. We’re going to fight it to the very end.”

I’ve written a lot about local government and I’ve always been struck by how people use children as an excuse for almost anything, as if the phrase, “It’s for the kids,” is a talisman against any argument.

There’s no doubt that it’s a good idea to expand this tennis program under the much-lauded coach Noel Cubela. The more kids use city parks and get involved in activities, the better, period. But it is also clear that this is another case of individual politics trumping a larger vision, assuming there is going to be one.

The city is in the process of developing a parks and rec master plan “to generate a citywide vision of Miami’s 21st century parks and recreation system.” Yet, like the Miami 21 proposal in general, the intention to plan is undermined by an unwillingness to slow down all of the individual plans laid by property owners, developers, museums and yes, even tennis parents. Thus much of the planning process becomes moot before the ink is even put in the pen. It’s a reactive strategy at best, and fairly disingenuous.

Hugh Ryan, president of the Miami Shenandoah Neighborhood Association, says the city has not really considered a compromise with the neighbors. “People are trying to pit it as the neighbors are against kids playing tennis,” he says. “They are taking all the space here and using it for one interest. It’s a great program, just a bad location. There’s got to be room for everyone.”

The park is in Miami Commissioner Tomas Regalado’s district. He explains that he supported the renovation, but then when residents expressed concerns, he got the city and the two opposing parties together for a meeting. “The plans were too much in terms of no green space for the residents,” he says. “We reached an agreement with the administration, saying you’re going to go back and redo the plans. Everybody was happy. Recently the administration came back with the same old plan. I will be siding with the residents if they want to oppose that.”

Parents have sent many e-mails and letters to the city in support of the renovations. One parent’s e-mail to City Manager Joe Arriola generated this response from the manager: “We’ve try [sic] with very little success in convincing Commissioner Regalado to allow us to complete the project, we are ready to go but he keeps delaying the process maybe your group should talk to him and express your concerns.”

Wright proposes that the tennis program be split between Bryan Park and the nearby Shenandoah Park, which also has courts, or at least downsized. Oddly enough, he finds himself of the same mind as Luis Fernandez, a candidate for Sanchez’s job. “This is something that in principle I’m with him,” opines Fernandez. “A park to me means green. A tennis court implies concrete or a structure. The irony is that by creating larger tennis courts they are eliminating the green.”

Comments? E-mail Wakefield@miamisunpost.com.