If you listen to Magee Mayor’s Youth Council member Andy Baurele, and you should, you may find out that Magee is missing the mark on capitalizing on a real jewel, McNair Springs Park.
The bad news is that the park continues to get worse despite a number of recent park restoration projects.
A couple of years back SCA student Cooper Carrico as a senior project organized a county coalition with the goal of bringing the park back as a destination.
A group of over 100 volunteers turned out to clean, restore and rejuvenate the park. However, the property was not maintained after that and it fell back into a derelict state. The following year the city subcontracted weekly maintenance of the park. This primarily consisted of cutting the grass.
Money was raised for projects, and Keep Mississippi Beautiful got involved, but, again, the park was not maintained as it should have been.
So along comes Andy, who got involved in a Mayor’s Youth Council project to improve McNair Springs, and he began to envision its potential for the community.
His concern started when he went to the park and cleaned the main stream, which pours through a concrete waterway from an underground source. He was able to clean all the leaves and grass and pretty much return it to its original state. But the crews who were cutting the grass blew leaves and grass cuttings back into what he had spent his time cleaning and improving.
Andy’s May 24 presentation to the Magee Board of Aldermen outlined some of the issues he saw that he felt needed to be corrected, one of which is the roof at the pavillion that needs to be replaced. The city had advertised for bids but never received the bid format they needed to let the project.
The restrooms were in a sad state of repair and cleanliness, according to Andy’s report. At the adjacent baseball field, the dugout roof was damaged, and the mayor reported that one of the coaches had volunteered to replace it. Damage has occurred to the press box and the scoreboards in the park. The vegetation between the field and the creek needs to be cut, and Baurele advocated that “no littering” signs be placed at the park.
Additionally he presented the board with some suggestions for the park that included creating nature trails and soliciting businesses to sponsor benches in the park. He suggested that landscaping be done near the parking area.
His report explained that the purpose of these recommendations is to encourage people to utilize the park. He suggested events like Saturday Night Singings, talent shows and other activities like appreciation cookouts for people like first responders and other public and private events.
Andy also suggested that improving the park may give churches the opportunity to host activities there.
The main issue is that the city needs to take care of what we have, and that seems to be a bigger issue than the city is willing to tackle.
