For years, county supervisors have wanted to build a park around the county administration building downtown but there was just one problem: that's where hundreds of county employees park their cars.
Supervisors solved that problem by hiring a firm to build a parking lot for staff on Cedar and Kettner Boulevard near Little Italy.
Ron Roberts , County Board of Supervisors: This is a very, very big first step if you will. In order for the park to happen here, we need to have parking across the street on other property we own so by doing a private, public development. That's going to enable the rest of this project to proceed.
Roberts says the park will have trails, a fountain that runs from Grape Street to Ash Street, open grass spaces, sculptures and quiet areas.
Roberts : This will be a regional park, it's not a neighborhood park. People will come here for all sorts of reasons. I see this as a focal point for major community celebrations. You'll have a big space where you can have very large groups. We'll have a law enforcement memorial here. That will multiply many times over.
The parking lot for staff is expected to be finished by 2009. That's when work on developing the park will begin.
