NASHVILLE - Dezmond Robertson, a 14-year-old living at Edgehill Apartments public housing, spends much of his free time riding bikes and playing with friends in the Edgehill Community Memorial Park, a wide-open green space next door.

But the city-owned park, community gardens and former Murrell School are slated to be sold off to a developer who would likely use it for dense development.

It's one of three properties that would be put up for sale to balance the city's budget for the coming fiscal year that begins July 1, if given final approval. Officials believe it could fetch $13 million.

"I can come here and play and stuff when I get bored in the house," said Robertson, who was disappointed to hear about the city's plan during a community meeting Wednesday evening. "There's another park but it's messed up. Everyone comes to this one."

The park is also a historic site where folk art sculptor William Edmondson lived in the early 1900s. His home no longer exists, but it once stood next to the now-closed Murrell School for special-needs students.

Edmondson was the first African-American artist to be given his own show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The son of slaves, Edmondson taught himself how to sculpt using discarded building materials in the 1930s. His pieces are shown in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Edgehill community members and other concerned residents gathered Wednesday at the nearby Progressive Baptist Church to honour him and share stories about the beloved park and gardens. They also held a vigil with lighted candles near Edmondson's home site.

"We wouldn't think about taking a bulldozer to the home of Thomas Edison," said Tennessee State University professor Lee Williams. "These spaces should not be erased from our memory."

Residents have worked with the city over the years to improve the land with financing for a playground and to expand the community gardens, said Brenda Marrow.

"The mayor's office has given our youth council a $500 check for inter-generational gardening and stuff like that," Marrow said. "I just don't know how it is, after all these partnerships, that they're going to make a decision and leave us out."

But Mayor David Briley's office quickly issued a statement backing away from the plan, after Metro Councilman Colby Sledge said he wouldn't support the sale of the land.

"The mayor's office has been in touch with Metro schools, MDHA and Councilman Colby Sledge about the future of the Murrell School property," Briley stated. "Once the operating budget process is finished, we'll start a robust community engagement process to talk about what needs to happen. We're committed to working with everyone to find the right answer for Edgehill and for Nashville."

Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency has proposed buying the land to build new Edgehill Apartments. MDHA spokeswoman Jamie Berry said the agency always prioritizes green space and community engagement in its plans.

"If we acquire the property, it will be part of our Envision Edgehill Apartments planning process with our residents and the community," Berry said, in an email. "Green space is one of our goals in all of our Envision processes."

Sledge said he would like to redevelop the park with better amenities for the community. He proposed balancing the budget by selling a bus maintenance garage owned by the school district off Nolensville PIke and Woodycrest Avenue.

"For some reason I can't explain, we park school buses on 11-plus acres, on top of a hill that overlooks an amazing view of downtown, in a mostly industrial area that is seeing some residential and mixed-use development," Sledge said, in a written statement about the issue. "If the administration would be willing to offer that property, instead of the Murrell Schools site, I would be happy to support it."

Some argued that the Edgehill park sale proposal is one in a long list of Metro oversights in areas important to the African-American community.

The city's move to sell off land near Civil War-era Fort Negley to a private developer was widely condemned last year. The fort was built by slaves and freed slaves, and many of their graves are believed to be under the area the city was hoping to sell to a developer for a mixed-use project. Briley announced early this year a plan for a park there instead.

Still, there are other sites, including a proposed Belmont University private athletic facility would eat up part of Rose Park used by the community,

"This neighbourhood today could be your neighbourhood tomorrow, said Mark Schlicher, who is making a documentary film about Edmondson. "So we have to insist on transparent planning and community-based engagement that saves, preserves and enhances civic spaces. Don't sell them away to private developers."

During the community meeting, one man carefully tended to his crops in the community garden. Ishaaq, who doesn't use a last name, has grown vegetables and fruits there for eight years.

He grows grapes, watermelon, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and tomatoes, and gives all the produce away in the neighbourhood where he grew up.

"For me, it's a way of serving the community," Isaaq said. "I was kinda rotten growing up, a criminal. So I come here and do this. It's beautiful."

News from © The Associated Press, 2018