NE Mpls. park wins a big federal grant
Minneapolis has been awarded $500,000 to enhance a Northeast riverside park in what a federal board says is a neighborhood that lacks its share of such amenities.
The National Park Service announced Tuesday it will award the money to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to add a playground, a "multi-purpose field," picnic shelter and restrooms to Sheridan Memorial Park.
In 1995, a group of WWII veterans worked with the Sheridan Neighborhood Organization to build a memorial to commemorate war veterans. It opened last summer.
Minneapolis was one of eight cities to receive a share of $3 million to enhance outdoor recreation facilities in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Others include Detroit and Madison, Wis.
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The grants are part of the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership, which is funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The money will help the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board finish a currently empty field on the north end of the park.
Board president Liz Wielinski said the grant will move the project to the next phase with the possibility of it becoming a universally-accessible park for people with disabilities.
"This has been a dream to get this end of the park completed for over two decades," she said.
Wielinski said the board has invested millions of dollars in neighborhood parks in north Minneapolis and chose Sheridan Memorial to provide amenities to an underserved demographic in northeast.
"Northeast Minneapolis is kind of that neighborhood that's left behind sometimes," she said.