Lance Lavizzo, the self-proclaimed mayor of the Liberty Park basketball court and city itself, has fond memories of coming to the park for pickup games with friends.
Lavizzo is known for organizing street basketball tournaments all over Salt Lake County through the organization Hard n' Paint, but it was during one of these meetups a little over a decade ago that he had the idea to give the aging court the renovation it needed.
"We were talking about what we could do with the space and what we could really bring to it," he told KSL.com, recalling the moment.
Getting it done, however, turned out to be a completely different story.
It ultimately took a lot of time and work and meeting the right people. Yet, all that time and work paid off Thursday, as Lavizzo watched Salt Lake City, Utah Jazz and a few corporate sponsors celebrate the opening of a brand new mural-based court.
"This is like 100% manifestation. I talked about it in 2012, and it came to life," he said, as Utah Jazz star Keyonte George ran in for a layup about 20 feet in front of him. "I'm super overwhelmed with joy of seeing all this."
The court is now open to the public, but it's far from the only change planned for the city's oldest park. A few other park upgrade projects are slated for the park in the coming years.
Building a new court
It took some time before Lavizzo found the right person to get his idea in motion. He can't remember exactly when, but he believes it may have been about seven years ago he met then-Salt Lake City Councilwoman Amy Fowler and explained his vision to her.
The idea went through a few ups and downs from there, but Fowler helped him get added to the list of Capital Improvement Program projects. These are city enhancement projects residents, neighborhoods and organizations approach the city leaders about that may have otherwise never even been considered.
The Salt Lake City Council directed nearly $100,000 for a new court in its 2021-2022 fiscal year program budget along with dozens of other mostly resident-generated plans. However, the city also found interest from the Utah Jazz and Delta Air Lines to build it into something more with a massive mural.
"(This) is what community is about," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. "We came together — not just the city and one person with their vision — but partners across the city for our kids, our community members."
Construction began in the fall and resumed earlier this year, while Utah artist Lindsay Huss was commissioned to design the mural which covers the entire court. Her hand-painted piece, called "Not Just A Sport," features elements of street basketball culture with nods to music, sneaker prints and movement. It's capped with a Jazz logo painted at center court.
Lavizzo is thrilled with the final product that took a little more than decade to come together. He hopes those who use the court from now on will find inspiration from it to follow their own passions.
"Honestly, I just want to spark the brains of the youth," he said. "That's what I hope happens from this court ... (I want people) to see what I did, see how it came to be done and go do what they got to do to do what they want to do."
More park changes
More projects are coming soon to Liberty Park. Thursday's ceremony also came a day after city officials released a final concept plan for a new playground just north of the new court. Renderings will also be displayed at the Special Olympics Utah Inclusion Festival at Liberty Park on July 18.
The playground will maintain the same footprint as it has since 2002, but it will feature items that makes it more accessible for people of all ages and abilities to reflect new standards and needs, said Tom Millar, planning and design division director for Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands. The concept is the result of about 1,500 responses from community surveys over the past year.
"A lot of the infrastructure that has been naturally degrading for 20 or 30 years is getting renovation," he told KSL.com.
About $2 million from the $85 million general obligation bond that residents approved in 2022 was directed to the project. Construction will begin next year with the goal for it to be complete by the spring of 2026.
It's the biggest project on the horizon, but there are a few other projects either underway or also in the planning stages:
- Its historic fireplaces are currently undergoing renovations.
- The Tennis Center courts will be resurfaced this fall.
- An engineer and original artists are still working on a plan to convert the Seven Canyons Fountain into a "dry feature."
- The Liberty Park Greenhouse could be renovated soon, as well. There's a $124,000 request toward that project in the current fiscal year Capital Improvement Program budget that the City Council will likely vote on next month.
City officials didn't plan on all of these projects happening within a short time period; community and city funding requests just happened to align that way. The city will also begin work on a parkwide vision plan in the coming months that will outline potential projects in the future, especially as the park inches closer to its 150th birthday in the next decade.
“It’s kind of serendipitous that they’ve all come to fruition at the same time,” Millar said. “We know it’s not all we need to do. There’s more to the park we need to update.”