The Westport-Roanoke Community center gym.
The Westport-Roanoke Community Center could become more of a community gathering place, residents told a parks department consultant this week.
The department is looking for input into ways to improve services and programs in the community centers, and the center at 3601 Roanoke in Roanoke Park is one of them.
The Westport-Roanoke facility, originally opened in 1963, recently underwent a $1.25 million facelift that included an updated pottery room, reception area, bathrooms, new furnace/AC and security system. The center is available to rent for meetings, wedding receptions, birthday parties, family reunions and dinner parties.
Residents who attended the community forum on Wednesday, May 8 said they would like to see the center used more frequently as a free community meeting space. People from the Volker neighborhood said they held neighborhood meetings at the center before it was renovated. Folks from several neighborhoods said they’d saw more potential for the center to be used for events that bring together the four surrounding neighborhoods: Volker, Valentine, Roanoke and Coleman Highlands.
One resident said the park was not very well maintained until a volunteer effort to restore the park began a few years ago.
They also said the department should find ways to reduce trash that sometimes piles up in the park and add more trash containers.
Another popular theme was the need for activities for young parents and children that would allow them to get together in the park.
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