LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After a long time coming, Tyler Park is finally seeing renovations. The groundbreaking on the project took place in May. But the park now won't be fully revitalized as brand new, because the funds ran out.
The Tyler Park Neighborhood Association is stepping in to try and raise the money on its own.
The association is racing to beat construction crews, with only a month left to try and secure the rest of the funds needed to complete the park's restoration.
"There's a lot of construction going on in the city right now, and the bids just came back higher than they had originally budgeted for," Shawn Reilly said. "It turned out we were short about $125,000 in terms of funding for the second set of tennis courts."
Reilly, and other association board members, have already raised $30,000 in the last three weeks.
The Olmsted Conservancy and the city originally funded the $1.1 million project. Without the full funding, the decision was made to remove the set of four tennis courts from the list of repairs.
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"There wasn't going to be funding for the set of four so they decided to focus all of the resources on the first set of tennis courts and then the playground, the spray-ground, and the bathrooms," Reilly said.
The tennis courts that funding doesn't cover anymore have weeds growing on the court, rust on the nets, and large cracks.
"We get people from all over the city playing on these courts," Reilly said. "There will be people waiting around to get on the courts, even in the bad shape they're in."
Reilly described the courts' condition as "terrible." Meanwhile, renovations include new playgrounds, a splash pad, a wheelchair ramp, and other new updates.
Unless the association can raise the $125,000, the court's condition won't change.
"That cost will go up after the crew leaves because it's much cheaper when they're already here," Reilly said. "So It's really the urgency of now. we don't have a lot of time."
The association plans to continue its fundraising efforts through neighborhood events and a larger community push.
"We're actually really excited about the construction of the park, all of the improvements we're getting and surprisingly, we're also really excited about the fundraising effort. It gives us the chance to really get out in the community, talk to everybody, talk to everybody about the park. so it's been a really positive experience and I think it's brought a lot of the neighborhood together."
Construction is set to finish by the beginning of October. If the association can't get the money in time, it plans to continue fundraising so the courts can be revitalized in the future.
If you'd like to donate to the effort, visit the Tyler Park Neighborhood Association fundraising page.
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