Cancer survivors' park suffering from neglect - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS - One of the city's newer memorials isn't getting the care many people would want.

13 Investigates found cigarette butts, unkept landscaping and damage at the Cancer Survivors Park, which is located along 10th street between Indiana Avenue.

Ronnie Warren, who works across the street at Wishard Hospital, said he often goes to the park for his lunch breaks.

"The last two to three years, there's been a lot of trash and homeless people sleeping there, blankets and lawn chairs," he said.

There are also plenty of cigarette butts at a park dedicated to those who've fought cancer.

"They don't let them smoke across the street [at Wishard Hospital] so a lot come here even though they're warned not to. It's disrespectful to smoke over here. That's for sure," he said.

Monday, Eyewitness News shot video of the park, including the tall grass, weeds and garbage. After calling Parks Foundation Executive Director Cindy Porteous to ask about the condition, we found crews at the park first thing Tuesday mowing, weeding and picking up the cigarette butts, but they couldn't fix the larger problems - the rust and decay throughout the structure.

We asked City County Councilor William Oliver for his assessment. Oliver sits on the council parks committee. He's also a cancer survivor.

Walking through the park, Oliver noted the rust on the inspirational plaques, the peeling paint on the overhead beams, the irregular cobblestones, broken spotlights and gaping holes in several columns.

"This is not good, not good at all," he said. "One would come here after a run for cancer and feel uplifted."

Oliver said he planned to address the problems at the park board meeting Thursday.

The park, dedicated in 1995, was one of the first in the country.  There are now 24 such parks in the nation. The Indianapolis park was funded through a $1 million gift from the Kansas City-based R &A Bloch Cancer Foundation. Indianapolis and other cities had to go through a rigorous application process and agree to terms of a contract.

The agreement included $100,000 for "perpetual maintenance."

The contract in part reads, the city shall, "at its expense, maintain the park in a neat, orderly and attractive appearance and operating condition, doing such routine work as planting, mowing, trimming trees and shrub replacement, trash removal and Indy Parks signage maintenance."

It says the "principal and interest of this fund shall be used solely to replace or restore major components of the park."

Vangie Rich, a spokesperson for the Bloch Foundation told Eyewitness News, "The park is no longer a place for support and encouragement. It needs to be maintained and it's the responsibility of the city."

Asked why it had deteriorated so much, Parks Director Stuart Lowry said, "It's a 16-year-old infrastructure challenge and like a lot of things there's been deferred maintenance over the years."

Lowry admitted, "It probably should have been addressed years ago." So why wasn't it, especially when there was money aside for that very purpose?

"That's a [Parks] Foundation question," he said.

The Parks Foundation oversees the fund, but Executive Director Cindy Porteous apparently wasn't eager to talk about it.

After setting up and later cancelling two separate interviews, Porteous finally agreed to talk on camera late Wednesday afternoon.

Porteous, who's been with the parks foundation since 2000, said, "I became aware of the problems in 2005."

She said a recent study showed repairs in excess of $600,000.

Asked why the problems weren't addressed as they arose, she said, "Fixing it is not easy. We know the issues, we have the dollars to do at least something but we don't know what the options are going to be."

Earlier in the week, Porteous estimated that $20,000 to $30,000 was left in the maintenance fund. Wednesday, she said it was $130,000, that no money had been spent and the fund had accrued interest over the last 16 years. Yet, late Monday, Eyewitness News was still awaiting the documentation showing that.

Porteous said she was now in discussion with the Bloch Foundation as to the next step - with one possibility relocating the park to another site owned by Indy Parks, noting the city was considering putting a rotary where the Bloch park now is.

That would require another investment and approval from the Bloch Foundation. Eyewitness News was unable to reach Rich Wednesday with follow-up questions. Previously she called the situation in Indianapolis "sad." Noting the park was once held up as an example, she said that was not the case today. She hoped the city would take the appropriate action and restore the park as a tribute to those who have and continue to battle cancer.