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$100,000 Helps Jump-Start Park

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 6, 2008

PLANT CITY - Fueled by donations from residents - including $100,000 pledged by a well-known Plant City family - work will begin soon on Veterans Memorial Park at Courier Field, organizers have announced.

The "very influential, well-established and successful" donor will be identified at Monday's Plant City Commission meeting when members of the family will present the check, said Cassandra Banning, spokeswoman for the Plant City Armed Forces Memorial Foundations.

As a result of the generous donation toward the long-discussed project, the gazebo portion of the project will be named for the family.

"For someone to step up to the plate and say we're going to give $100,000, we're real excited about that," Banning said.

Additionally, Ed Verner, a Plant City businessman and developer who initiated the idea for the memorial, has put up $50,000, Banning said.

The latest pledge boosts to $275,000 the donations received in "this latest push" to raise funds for the project expected to cost $1 million, said Banning.

The sum is in addition to a nearly equal amount of donations and pledges the organization's chairwoman, Jennifer Closshey, announced at the Feb. 25 city commission meeting.

"It's rolling right along," Banning said of the project the committee has been working on for three years. The site plan approved Feb. 25 by city commissioners shows the memorial as the centerpiece of a redesigned Courier Field at the northwest corner of Wheeler and Herring streets.

The user-friendly park of more than 2 acres will have a 3,150-square-foot gathering area linked to the monument by a gazebo. The design featuring wide, brick-accented walkways is intended to complement downtown's historical look.

The initial phase of construction scheduled to start soon will include the gazebo, gardens, 8-foot-wide walkways, flagpole and lighting, Banning said.

The monument itself, intended to honor veterans of all branches of the military, could be installed during the initial phase, or it might drift into phase two, depending upon progress with its design and creation, Banning said.

"They're soliciting for an artist now," she said, adding that several have expressed interest in the creating the monument.

Artist Harrison Covington, a Plant City native, resigned from the project in December 2006, citing health reasons, one of two setbacks the privately funded monument project suffered over the years.

Selection of a suitable location started with 16 possible sites and dragged on for nearly a year. Progress has been smoother since May 14, 2007, when the city commission approved Courier Field for the monument, Banning said.

Future phases will provide walking trails, an arbor and fencing. The final phase will begin after the city adds parking on the southern end of the property to accommodate the planned expansion of Bruton Memorial Library.

That expansion said to be five years off will double the library to 40,000 square feet, requiring half of Courier Field be converted to 120 parking spaces. The park is north of the library, and the city will need to buy three buildings to accommodate the expansion.

"At a time when our military are scattered worldwide, this park with its monument, gardens, walkways and gathering area gives Plant City residents a place to come together and honor all of our veterans and show support for our active members of the military," the committee said in a recent statement.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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