Ribbon-cutting at Cochran Park. Photo by Renee Umsted.
Neighbors gathered Saturday to cut the ribbon on a new walking trail at Cochran Park.
The trail connects the alleyway to North Henderson Avenue, winding along the edge of the park, adjacent to Solar Preparatory School for Girls.
“You may say, it’s just a small trail,” Dallas Park and Recreation Director John Jenkins said. “But what the trail does is, it now creates that entire connectivity where neighbors, folks can walk together, get to know each other, get exercise.”
District 14 City Council member Paul Ridley said adding the connector “made so much sense” to facilitate access from one end of the park to the other, especially for people who mobility-impaired.
Funding for the project didn’t come from a bond. But District 14 Park Board member Rudy Karimi brought the project to Jenkins’ attention, and he quickly found a way to pay for the trail, Karimi said.
“What was delivered here was more than just this interior trail,” Karimi said. “What was delivered was hope — hope for this park, that we do deserve good things here, even in little parks, like little ol’ Cochran Park.”
In the future, Karimi said he wants to help neighbors advocate for other park amenities such as a pavilion, more interior trails or tennis improvements.
Years ago, longtime Cochran Heights resident Judy Sullivan led an effort to clean up the overgrown alleyway near the park. And more recently, Emily Gironda, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years, has been an advocate for getting the walking trail completed.
“This really has nothing to do with me,” Gironda said. “It has to do with my neighbors, who were coming out here even during the pandemic and actually wielding rusty shovels and moving dirt.”
Cochran Park trail. Photo by Renee Umsted.
