Many Moody Park residents put down roots in the neighbourhood - and seldom want to leave.
The Record asked a number of area residents to share their favourite things about living in the Moody Park neighbourhood.
"Especially now, it is lively," said Carol Cheremkora, a lifelong resident of New Westminster and a 26-year resident of the Moody Park neighbourhood. "In the summer time, in our yard, we hear the ball games, the soccer games, we see the lineups at the pool. I love sitting in my garden and hearing the kids."
The neighbourhood has made great strides in the past decade, in part because of the efforts of residents like Cheremkora.
Cheremkora is a former parent advisory council president at Lord Kelvin Elementary School, where she later worked as a community school coordinator.
In the mid 1990s, the neighbourhood was feeling the effects of prostitution activity and drug dealing.
Community stakeholders, including citizens, parents, schools, council, police and Century House, met and brainstormed ways to improve conditions in the neighbourhood and the park. Actions taken included lighting improvements and the creation of events like Neighbourhood Day and Arts in the Park. Those events allowed the community to take ownership of the park that had started attracting drug dealers and others up to no good.
"I love the neighborliness of my street," says Christopher Bell, who's lived a stone's throw away from Moody Park for 15 years. "People go by, we know one another. We laugh, we chat."
Bell, a past president of the Moody Park Residents' Association, says the park is the heart of the neighbourhood.
"That anchors everything from my point of view," he said. "You are always going through it, when you are going to Dairy Queen for your ice cream cone or Peanut Buster Parfait."
"Personally, for me, I like the fact that it has nice yards, big yards and lots of trees in the yards. People preserve their trees. There are lots of birds, there is lots of shade in the summer time," says Coun. Chuck Puchmayr. "It's refreshing to live in an area where people preserve their trees."
Puchmayr also appreciates the neighbourhood's proximity to the park, and the uptown and 12th Street commercial areas. He's pleased with changes that have taken place in the 12th street area to make it a more inviting area and created a sense of a safer neighbourhood.
"It's a really comfortable feeling when you walk down to 12th Street," he said. "I saw the whole transition from the ginseng brandy epidemic, the prostitution, picking up condoms in the lane all the time, and syringes. That seems to have abated, hopefully forever. There are some really good initiatives happening with our police service that are really paying dividends there."
Years after raising his family in the Moody Park neighbourhood, Coun. Bill Harper still enjoys his visits to the park.
"Number one is the new pool, which we use quite a bit with our grandchildren," he said. "It's one of the most fun places for me. It's a great park."
Harper, who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1979, appreciates the neighbourhood's walkability and proximity to shopping in the Uptown and 12th Street areas.
"It is a very friendly neighbourhood," he said. "I am amazed how friendly people are. We know all the neighbours."
Ratrunners in the Moody Park neighbourhood haven't dampened Vance McFadyen's passion for his longtime neighbourhood.
"I find it very calm despite the ratrunners. The bumps and all the devices they put in didn't really stop it," he said. "Overall it's a very quiet neighbourhood."
From his home, McFadyen can hear the "hooting and hollering" at baseball games at Moody Park and Friday night football games at Mercer Stadium.
"It's all good," he said. "It's nothing to complain about - life is happening."
Other highlights of living in the Moody Park neighbourhood include the area's many gardens and annual block party.
Accessibility to pretty much everything from bus stops to the park to shopping is one of the features of the Moody Park neighbourhoods, says the president of the Moody Park Residents' Association.
"It's relatively flat to do all that," said Andrew Baker. "I think it is an overlooked part of the city. Moody Park includes the towers and the uptown. I don't think people would know that."
Dean Gibson doesn't live in the Moody Park neighbourhood, yet he likely spends more time there than many of its neighbours.
As the city's director of parks, culture and recreation, Gibson has an office overlooking Moody Park.
"There are so many things that I like about this site. The level of activity and the interest from the immediate neighbourhood I think is the biggest thing," he said. "I often tell people you can go down to Queen's Park tonight at 8 o'clock tonight and there would be a few people around the park - and most of the folks in Queen's Park might be there because of the activities going on a ball field or in the arena. Otherwise the rest of the park is pretty quiet. You could come here at 8 o'clock tonight and there would be more people here tonight at that time, then there are right now in the middle of the afternoon. That is not an anomaly because we have had three or four weeks of nice weather - it is like that every summer here. The way that the local neighbourhood embraces this park comes out and celebrates being with each other and positive wholesome recreation, that is the thing that makes this park very special and different than just about any other site in the city."
