Robbinsdale Seeks Feedback on Park System Improvements
Robbinsdale is seeking community feedback with a survey on the future of its parks. That includes considerations like park name and function.
The survey’s feedback will help the parks department decide how to move forward with the system over the next 10 years.
Recreation Services Manager Matt Bazyk said the department is holding a survey to learn how Robbinsdale can improve its park system. He said the department has a few ideas, but the community’s feedback will help.
Bazyk said of the department’s biggest priorities is diversifying what they offer, especially with its changing population.
“Right now, we have a lot of playgrounds for kids, a lot of ballparks for sports people, but not a lot of stuff in between,” Bazyk said. “We’re looking for other recreation opportunities– if that’s natural spaces, if that’s ‘third spaces’ people have to go to outside their residency.”
Kids swing at Sanborn Park, one space that the parks department plans to improve over the next 10 years.
A ‘third space’ is any other location outside someone’s home and workplace where they can gather. Parks often function as that space for people.
Bazyk invites residents to send in their feedback through the Parks Master Plan survey. That survey is accessible here.
City staff posted QR codes throughout city parks as well.
Naming the Future
Bazyk said Sanborn Park is the department’s top priority for improvements. This comes as the Human Rights Commission’s process for renaming Robbinsdale parks is at the forefront.
Sanborn Park was originally named for the Sanborns, who developed a large portion of Robbinsdale. The University of Minnesota’s Mapping Prejudice project found that properties developed around the park contained racial covenants. The Robbinsdale Historical Society’s website describes those covenants as: “discriminatory clauses [that] were inserted to prevent people who were not white from buying or renting homes.” Many call for the park to be renamed because of that history.
The Robbinsdale HRC established a process for general park renaming. The city council approved the process. Joanna Brookes, the city liaison for the HRC, said the group is hoping to do more outreach for potential park names.
No formal names are in the works yet, but one popular suggestion has been “Philando Castile Park.”
