Hamilton park named for Steve Timmer dedicated
Jun. 18—One of Steve Timmer's goals was to have a park within 10 minutes of everyone in Hamilton.
About three out of every four Hamilton residents are now within that national standard threshold, including those Hamiltonians near the recently dedicated park on Gordon Smith Boulevard. Until Friday, it was what Timmer had called a "park desert."
Timmer and his successor, Hamilton Parks Conservancy Director Adam Cornette, presented the park idea to City Council in April 2022. In a turn of events, the council and the parks conservancy board told the then-recently retired director that 716 Gordon Smith Blvd. would be known as Steve Timmer Park.
During that meeting, Council member Carla Fiehrer, who also sits on the conservancy district's board, told Timmer they came to this decision, in part, because "we just think it's just so worthy of you."
Friday's dedication ceremony wasn't a surprise for Timmer, but dozens of people attended the dedication to show their appreciation for the man who helped found the Hamilton Parks Conservancy District in 2015.
"Throughout his tenure at the HPC, Steve's passion and vision of what the parks in Hamilton could be was evident through his continued desire to do better and improve each park regardless of its size and location," said Cornette. "Steve's legacy lies much deeper than simply improving the parks, but within the impact of those improvements had on their surrounding communities."
Rather than deciding to add an amenity to a park, Cornette said Timmer would debate how that amenity would improve not only the neighborhood but also access and use of the park.
"This park represents more than a simple expansion of the Hamilton park's system," he said. "It represents safety, accessibility and an improvement in the quality of life for those neighbors that share this community."
Timmer said he wouldn't have had this opportunity without the support of others, including Hamilton residents Ed and Judy Shelton, because without them donating the property to the district, "it wouldn't have happened. They were fabulous about it since the day I called them."
It was also the Hamilton Community Foundation's efforts to donate $100,000 to the park development, it also would not have been likely to happen. He added that the foundation was also "critical in the success of the Hamilton Parks Conservancy" as they provided annual funding to the district every year he was director.
"We had a lot of good partners, and over the years we were able to make things like this happen," he said, naming his staff and the city of Hamilton.
