Brentwood Bans Running in New Park

Brentwood’s newest park is set to open November 8, but rules prohibiting running in the park are being questioned by the community.

The Marcella Vivrette Smith Park is part of over 320 acres of the historic Ravenswood Farm, and was acquired by the city for development as a park after the passing of Marcella and Reese Smith a few years ago. To date, this is the city’s biggest land purchase and the first park to include hiking trails in Brentwood.

“We are cautious about what we would like to do with those trails,” said Kirk Bednar, Brentwood’s city manager. “Natural trails have a lot of trip hazards and could be liability on our part. We aren’t completely saying no forever. We may revisit the rules at a later time.”

Richard Kenmuir, a Brentwood runner, has created a Facebook Page called Runners for Ravenswood in order to create awareness of the rule in the hopes of changing the city’s mind about allowing runners in Smith Park.

I believe that runners and hikers can coexist and enjoy the trails together. I believe that runners are unique, we respect other trail users, we love our trails and we love our environment,” said Kenmuir in one of his first posts to the Runners for Ravenswood page. 

Kenmuir is meeting with the city commission this week to discuss the no running rule, and is going to start an online petition to allow running in the park.