LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The sun began to peek through the clouds and birds chirped in the air as people made their way into Woodland Park Tuesday morning, relieved that the rain had cleared out. One woman, Victoria Meyer, has loved parks ever since she was a little girl.
“I grew up in Cincinnati and I was a park rat,” Meyer said. “I am the oldest of six, we would pack our lunches, we would go to the park in the morning, we would have tennis lessons in the morning, we would eat our packed lunches, and when it got hot in the afternoon, we would swim. And then we would ride our bikes home.”
Now, Meyer is a co-director of the Parks Sustainable Funding ballot initiative, a campaign that hopes to add funding to go towards parks projects. The goal is to build new amenities, new playgrounds, and accessible and safe walking paths, all to better the quality of life for parkgoers.
The other co-director is David Lowe, who was nominated to the parks board in 2019 and serves as the chair of the Sustainable Funding Committee. Since being nominated, Lowe has heard plenty of tales he likes to call "park stories."
“I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned,” Lowe began, “and the dental hygienist was telling me a story about how she walks around her neighborhood park. And she kind of paused and her voice dropped a bit, and she said, ‘Not really sure why I still do it, my dog died a few weeks prior.’”
“And I think that story in particular, that moment, it demonstrated that parks aren't just families with kids, it's not just friends meeting for rec leagues. People use parks for a whole lot of reasons, and some of them are deeply personal.”
Both Lowe and Meyer hope that this initiative will allow the community to bond and memories to form.
“When I see families having a good time in the park,” Meyer said, “it just gives me some comfort, a real warmth in my heart to know this community is all connected through our parks like that.”
Lowe added, “Parks are the backdrop of so much of our city, so much of our community, so much of our connection with other people.”
Parks are more than a place. For some, they are a passion.
The Parks Sustainable Funding measure will be on the ballot in November. To learn more, visit www.parksfundinglex.com
