Veterans memorial going up in Heritage Park
A proposed $1.2 million to $1.4 million veterans memorial will be built in Heritage Park, not Huntridge Circle Park as originally planned, the Las Vegas City Council decided Wednesday.
The council voted 7-0 to move the proposed memorial from the smaller Huntridge in large part because Heritage Park has more parking and infrastructure to support visitors.
"I feel the memorial would get much better utilization at the Heritage Park area," said Mary Joy, who identified herself as a mother and daughter to veterans and a Huntridge-area resident. "Huntridge is actually too small for it."
There was some resistance to the notion of moving the park, with critics saying the neighborhood along Las Vegas Boulevard just south of Washington Avenue has too much crime and blight to be home to the somber memorial.
Former Marine Ric Besmanoff cited crime statistics for the area near the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, which also has a high concentration of homeless people.
"Heritage Park is basically surrounded by these criminals," Besmanoff said.
Others said the park, located in the city’s "Cultural Corridor" zone, is a fine location, noting it is within walking distance of a Veterans of Foreign Wars post and provides ample parking. That is something unavailable at Huntridge Park, which is an island of grass between northbound and southbound lanes of Maryland Parkway just south of Charleston Boulevard.
"I think that Heritage Park is more suitable; it has more ample parking," said David Lopez, a member of the Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.
Although city staff and the Las Vegas Veterans Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit group charged with raising money to build the memorial, said Heritage Park was their preferred choice for the memorial, there’s still a chance it could land somewhere else.
Project organizers still need to do a more thorough review of Heritage Park and come back to the city for final approval.
In the meantime, the Veterans Memorial Foundation will intensify fundraising efforts and update artist Douwe Blumberg of De Mossville, Ky., on the new plans. Blumberg will create the memorial.
Mick Catron, president of the Las Vegas Veterans Memorial Foundation, said it will take about 2½ years for Blumberg to build the memorial.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.