- Madsen Park in Salt Lake City, once closed over safety concerns, is being revitalized.
- Volunteers carried out the first of major improvements, building a new playground and completing other improvements.
- Future plans include more amenities like a dog park and more trees.
SALT LAKE CITY — Before he became a city leader in 2021, Salt Lake City Council Vice Chairman Alejandro Puy was a concerned Fairpark resident, and Madsen Park was one of the problems that irked the neighborhood.
Madsen Park's playground was worn down, and the rest it was just as aged. It also wasn't uncommon to find scores of people experiencing homelessness scattered across the 85-year-old park, and it became a crime hotbed along with other issues along the North Temple corridor.
"It was a park that was neglected by the city," said Puy, who lives about four blocks from it.
The conditions became so bad that Salt Lake City eventually chose to temporarily close the park while it tried to solve its problems. Initial efforts to improve the park have worked since it reopened, as it's less troubled than it once was.
And now, the first of two big park transformations is complete. Over 100 volunteers gathered at the park, 9 N. Chicago Street, Friday to quickly assemble a new playground and conduct other improvements before cutting the ribbon on their work. Bigger changes to the park are also planned for next year
Puy says he knows some people will say it's just a few improvements to a small park, but those changes mean everything in his community.
"For this neighborhood, this is huge for us," he told KSL.com. "This is just monumental because they've seen over the decay of the decades, and now they're seeing that someone cares."
Improving Madsen Park
Madsen Park had some amenities, including a playground, but it was old and at the end of its lifespan. It was also a park that many residents skipped while crime and homelessness created issues along the North Temple corridor.
However, with several new developments opening over the past few years, and many more either under construction or in the works, Salt Lake City identified Madsen Park as one of several parks it wanted to improve through funds collected through an $85 million bond that residents approved in 2022. Those desires increased after leaders scrapped a plan to relocate the park elsewhere, which had been considered as the city explored solutions.
Salt Lake City also applied to the national nonprofit Kaboom, which helps communities plan and build new playgrounds, as it sought additional assistance.
The city had worked with Kaboom before, including on a new playground at Taufer Park in Central City constructed last year, but Madsen Park also sounded like the perfect project site.
Kaboom seeks out projects involving parks that might have long been forgotten or areas that may never have had a park at all, said Peter Christophersen, a project manager for the organization. It focuses on underserved communities, including ones that have dealt with redlining or other barriers that prevented playgrounds, contending that every neighborhood should have access to a playground.
"There are lots of research and studies done that show the positive benefits of play — emotional, psychological benefits," he said, as volunteers raised a swing set behind him. "The playground is where kids learn to take risks; they also learn to play with friends and get along and have different experiences."
Children were included in the design process, as were residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. They were asked to design the park they wanted. Most of the funding came from a grant sent by the banking company Morgan Stanley. Most of the volunteers also came from the company.
Teams were split up across the park, planting new trees on its south end and repainting the basketball court at its north end. Many people were assigned to hauling in wood chips or assembling playground equipment, wrapping up their work in time for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new park amenities will open next week after they've had a chance to settle.
"It's really a community effort," said Sariah Toronto, chief operating officer for Morgan Stanley Salt Lake.
More changes to come
Madsen Park would have received an upgrade regardless because of the bond, but the additional assistance helped speed up the process and allowed the city to add more features to the project, said Dustin Wiberg, a park development project manager for Salt Lake City's Public Lands Department.
"It's really, really helpful to help leverage some of that cost and share some of that cost because we always want to do more with the money we have, but especially with costs and inflation, sometimes you get less over time," he said.
A second phase, planned for next year, includes a new dog park on its west end, as well as some new concrete table tennis and corn hole stands, and more trees, shrubs and flowerbeds. The changes, Wiberg said, should help provide the types of amenities residents wanted out of Madsen Park, while also giving them more natural shade — something the west side has historically lacked.
In the meantime, Kaboom requires that the city conduct monthly inspections and annual audits to ensure playgrounds are maintained. With all the growth happening around the park, Christophersen hopes that Madsen Park becomes a community gem.
"We're building this playground not just for the kids who will use it next month but the ones who will move in here in a few months," he said.
