LANSING, Mich — Residents in south Lansing are raising concerns about the condition of Debbie Stabenow Park, sharing videos on social media showing trash and overgrown weeds in certain areas of the park.
"It's just hideous. I wouldn't bring my kids here for anything," said Stan Shuck, a neighbor who posted videos of the park's condition online.
Shuck, who says he has spent decades visiting the park formerly known as Washington Park, remembers when it was in better condition.
"It was a pristine beautiful park. Maintained from one end to another," Shuck said.
While the front section of the park is maintained, most of the trash and overgrown vegetation surrounds the former ice skating rink area.
In 2020, the city published a five-year parks master plan that included bringing the ice skating rink back to life, but the project hasn't moved forward.
"We do not currently have an engineering design or estimated cost in our capital improvement budget," said Brett Kaschinski, City of Lansing Parks and Recreation director.
Kaschinski explained that completing the project depends on the needs and priorities of the neighborhood, but acknowledged that immediate maintenance is needed.
"We do need to get some of the fence screen fixed and some mowing and weed whipping in there, just to keep the weeds down in that area," Kaschinski said.
However, Kaschinski noted that certain sections of the park are designated as "no mow zones."
"The western park where we used to have the pavilion, that's why we moved it because it was flooding all the time and we couldn't mow there, so we designated that as a no mow zone," Kaschinski said.
Kaschinski says cleanup in the area should be coming soon, which Shuck is looking forward to seeing.
"I would just like to see this entire park cleaned up and maintained like it once was," Shuck said.
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