People's Park open again

Decked out in a white tank top and shorts, Yvonne Williams basked in the sun early Tuesday afternoon. Slightly reclining, she kept an eye on her 3-year-old daughter, Mara, who frolicked in the grass.\nOnly a year ago, she wouldn't have considered taking Mara to Peoples Park, which was an asphalt slab littered with obscene graffiti, broken glass and cigarette butts. A popular hangout for the counterculture and teens, it had a reputation as a place to go for illegal drugs.\nBut families -- splayed out on blankets -- gathered to munch on brown bagged sandwiches Tuesday. An elderly man tried to nap in a lawn chair, taking in the smell of the freshly planted sod and the sounds of Kirkwood Avenue. A mother in overalls sat on a park bench, breast-feeding her infant son. Local businessmen in suits and ties sipped Starbucks coffee.\nAfter about a year of renovation, city officials reopened Peoples Park with a noon ceremony earlier that day.\n"We were not maintaining the park," Bloomington Parks and Recreation Operations Director Dave Williams said. "It was thought of as not a safe place, not a place you'd want to go. We want to restore it as community gathering place, a safe and comfortable place."\nWilliams heaped praise on the added greenspace in the new design, which features a circular walkway at its center. While the centerpiece limestone sculpture remains intact, the park has a different look. Brightly colored murals line the wall of the adjoining building, and the park has twice the seating -- although none of it's in the shade.\nThat bothers W. Owen Powell, a former regular at the park. But Powell, who wore a black skicap over his shoulder-length hair, found himself otherwise pleased with the renovation.\n"It's nicer than I thought it'd be," he said. "It could use a kiosk and some chess tables -- we need flyers."\nPowell, who moved from North Dakota to Bloomington a decade ago, has hung around the park for nearly nine years. He fancies himself "unsavory."\n"This has always been a place for disenfranchised misfits to go without being hassled," he said. "It's always been a place where the dangerous freaks can hang out. And we will continue to."\nIn 1998, the park department pulled together a steering committee to overhaul the park. Construction on Kirkwood delayed the project, which cost nearly $120,000.\nCity Councilman Chris Gaal, D-6, voted for the appropriation.\nTuesday afternoon, he sat in the shade of a budding tree, polishing off a greasy vegetarian quesadilla.\n"I've been coming here since I was in grade school," he said. "It's the nicest I've seen it, and I look forward to coming here in the future."\nThe park awaits a few finishing touches, such as tile mosaics and lighting. But park officials have pledged to maintain it, so that families feel more welcome.\n"It's a good place to grab lunch and sit outside," Williams said, while listening to the blues licks of folk musician Gordon Bonham, who kicked off an inaugural Tuesday lunchtime concert series. "I hope it will stay clean and I hope people will respect the property"