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Mike Tatum spent the waning hours of a Monday workday strumming a six-string on a concrete platform at Nevada City's Calanan Park.
A small group of men and women joined him in singing “Me and Bobby McGee” while they sipped bottled water and canned beer.
“This is a good place to rehearse,” said Tatum, 59, who performs at Chief Crazy Horse Inn the last Saturday of every month. “People interrupt you and fight and curse here, just like a real bar.”
Members of a new committee are trying to change that image of Calanan Park — again.
They'd like to see the little park at the foot of Broad Street transformed into a proud entryway giving visitors a first impression of town.
The committee meets Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Nevada City's City Hall to discuss improving the park. Some ideas include a smoking ban with enforceable penalties, sources of funding to upgrade the park and an inventory of the park's mining artifacts that can be protected.
Officials also have discussed piping in classical music.
Residents and city leaders have long complained that the park, which was deeded to the city decades ago, is a haven for illicit drug use, loitering and other nefarious activity. People cleaning the park have found syringes.
The park's layout of low-walled planters filled with hedges, trees and bushes and its poor lighting combine to give the park a closed-in feel that makes many people feel uncomfortable, said committee member and outgoing Mayor Barbara Coffman.
“In the 20 years I've lived in the downtown area, I've never had a problem (being in the park), but maybe opening up the park is a way we can make it better,” Coffman said.
Coffman favors a ban on smoking in the park, she added.
So far, no money has been committed to the effort.
The city has done some work to improve Calanan Park in the past year, including painting some of the railings that front Broad Street. Nearby merchants say deeper improvements are long overdue.
National Hotel bartender Debbie Farley often walks around, rather than through, the park if she's been to businesses on Commercial Street a block away.
“It's a pretty park, but it's a bad first impression,” Farley said.
“The city has made some efforts to clean it up, and they've done an admirable job,” said Jim Rudisill, owner of the LaCache jewelry store a few doors down from the park.
But Rudisill wouldn't eat his lunch there, many tourists simply keep walking when they see the park, he added.
Rudisill favors a no-loitering ordinance, an idea that has been met with resistance when raised in the past.
“It wouldn't bother me. I don't know how something like that couldn't improve the cultural climate,” Rudisill said.
Jesse Connor, who has lived in Nevada City nearly 40 years, said Calanan wasn't always perceived the way it is now. But people have the right to go where they want to, and the city lacks resources to police the park constantly, he added.
“The chief doesn't have the manpower to take it on,” he said of police Chief Lou Trovato.
Trovato uses two community service officers who help patrol the downtown with sworn officers. It's done in the spirit of community policing, Trovato said.
Resident Erin Thacker suggested bringing in folks assigned by the courts to do community service.
“I come here almost every day,” Thacker said. “The best way to clean up this park is to have people come here every day and clean it up.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
A small group of men and women joined him in singing “Me and Bobby McGee” while they sipped bottled water and canned beer.
“This is a good place to rehearse,” said Tatum, 59, who performs at Chief Crazy Horse Inn the last Saturday of every month. “People interrupt you and fight and curse here, just like a real bar.”
Members of a new committee are trying to change that image of Calanan Park — again.
They'd like to see the little park at the foot of Broad Street transformed into a proud entryway giving visitors a first impression of town.
The committee meets Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Nevada City's City Hall to discuss improving the park. Some ideas include a smoking ban with enforceable penalties, sources of funding to upgrade the park and an inventory of the park's mining artifacts that can be protected.
Officials also have discussed piping in classical music.
Residents and city leaders have long complained that the park, which was deeded to the city decades ago, is a haven for illicit drug use, loitering and other nefarious activity. People cleaning the park have found syringes.
The park's layout of low-walled planters filled with hedges, trees and bushes and its poor lighting combine to give the park a closed-in feel that makes many people feel uncomfortable, said committee member and outgoing Mayor Barbara Coffman.
“In the 20 years I've lived in the downtown area, I've never had a problem (being in the park), but maybe opening up the park is a way we can make it better,” Coffman said.
Coffman favors a ban on smoking in the park, she added.
So far, no money has been committed to the effort.
The city has done some work to improve Calanan Park in the past year, including painting some of the railings that front Broad Street. Nearby merchants say deeper improvements are long overdue.
National Hotel bartender Debbie Farley often walks around, rather than through, the park if she's been to businesses on Commercial Street a block away.
“It's a pretty park, but it's a bad first impression,” Farley said.
“The city has made some efforts to clean it up, and they've done an admirable job,” said Jim Rudisill, owner of the LaCache jewelry store a few doors down from the park.
But Rudisill wouldn't eat his lunch there, many tourists simply keep walking when they see the park, he added.
Rudisill favors a no-loitering ordinance, an idea that has been met with resistance when raised in the past.
“It wouldn't bother me. I don't know how something like that couldn't improve the cultural climate,” Rudisill said.
Jesse Connor, who has lived in Nevada City nearly 40 years, said Calanan wasn't always perceived the way it is now. But people have the right to go where they want to, and the city lacks resources to police the park constantly, he added.
“The chief doesn't have the manpower to take it on,” he said of police Chief Lou Trovato.
Trovato uses two community service officers who help patrol the downtown with sworn officers. It's done in the spirit of community policing, Trovato said.
Resident Erin Thacker suggested bringing in folks assigned by the courts to do community service.
“I come here almost every day,” Thacker said. “The best way to clean up this park is to have people come here every day and clean it up.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
