Quaker Park is a small neighborhood park in southeast Emporia. A grassroots petition drive saved the park from being sold after the city commission declared it "surplus property" earlier this year. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector) It would be easy to overlook Quaker Park.
Located on the corner of First and Sylvan in Emporia, it’s less than an acre in size. It has trees and grass and a ball court and a weathered basketball goal, just what you’d expect of a neighborhood park in a working-class part of town. It’s a nice place to shoot hoops or play catch, but it doesn’t seem special.
It’s not the oldest park in town. Others are bigger and more beautiful and have better amenities, including a zoo and several disc golf courses. So it was no wonder that earlier this year Emporia added the park to its surplus property list, a sort of municipal equivalent of gathering up items for a garage sale.
Who would really miss Quaker Park? The city could rid itself of the burden of maintenance and provide land for a modest housing development. Then something surprising happened. Residents fought back.
I am reminded of the petition drive to save Quaker Park because of recent news from Wichita that the city is considering selling some of its parks to make up a projected $3.6 million budget shortfall by 2026. At a earlier this month, Wichita Mayor Lily Wu said she wasn’t advocating to eliminate some of the city’s 146 parks, but that all options were on the table.
The future and function.