Neighbors working to honor park’s driving force

In 1934, Tony Valentino scored the winning touchdown for his high school, carrying the football 55 yards for a team victory. Always involved in sports, he grew up playing pickup games with the neighborhood kids on the streets of New York and later played high school and college ball.

In 1934, Tony Valentino scored the winning touchdown for his high school, carrying the football 55 yards for a team victory. Always involved in sports, he grew up playing pickup games with the neighborhood kids on the streets of New York and later played high school and college ball.

In 1986, he moved to Bellevue’s Cherry Crest neighborhood and brought his active spirit with him. Over the years, Valentino became the driving force behind the reconstruction of what is now the Cherry Crest Mini Park, providing a safe place for neighborhood kids to play.

Valentino passed away on May 31 at the age of 93. Neighbors gathered together at Cherry Crest Mini Park to pay tribute to the man who was responsible for bringing positive change to the community.

Valentino’s grandson, Hal Heinz flew his family out from Minnesota to celebrate his grandfather’s life.

“This park meant a lot to my grandfather and it means a lot to our family,” Heinz explained, as he watched his two kids, Kayla and Victor, play on the park’s swing set. “I brought Kayla here before she could even walk.”

Valentino’s house sat adjacent to the original park on 127th Street. The park’s land was consumed by a one-million-gallon water storage tank and overgrown blackberry-brambles, not much of a park according to Valentino.

Wanting to encourage the neighborhood kids to go outdoors and play, he decided to approach the city with a proposal for reconstructing the water tank’s location, repositioning it underground and building the new park above it. His persistence and numerous letters paid off.

In a collaborative effort between the Utilities Department and Parks and Community Services, a new park was designed, replacing the one-million-gallon water tank with a three-million-gallon water tank reservoir that would sit underground. The new design added the necessary space to build a tennis and basketball court on top of the tank in addition to a kids’ play area, a swing set and large sand box. A drinking fountain also was added, thanks to Valentino.

The Cherry Crest Mini Park officially opened in the fall of 1999. Valentino and Ed Mortensen, a friend and previous caretaker, were named honorary inspectors at the park’s grand opening ceremony.

“The neighborhood knew they needed a new park but it really took Tony’s constant persistence to make it happen,” Mortensen said, who fondly thinks of Valentino as an adoptive father. “He put a personal face on the project.”

During the last years of his life, Valentino approached the city numerous times, presenting the idea of installing a public restroom for the kids to use while playing at the park. His neighbors recall him saying, “Little ones can’t run home fast enough to use the bathroom. This park should be for the entire community, not just for those children who live next door to the park.”

Neighbors are hoping to gather funding for a public restroom by submitting the idea to the Neighborhood Enhancement Program. The program allows residents to select high priority projects including park improvements for city-funded construction in their neighborhoods.

“Tony brought a sense of community to this neighborhood,” said Parvoneh Navas, a neighbor of Valentino’s for the past nine years. In his honor, her two children have hit the pavement to gather signatures in hopes of renaming Cherry Crest Mini Park.

“We thought Valentino Park had a nice ring to it,” she said, adding that the park is an amazing place. “Everybody’s kids play there. He will be remembered for always fighting for the kids and fighting for the community.”

Aiming for 100 signatures, the petition to rename the park will then be presented before the Parks and Community Services Board. In addition, Heinz and neighbors would like to see a bench put in the park in memory of his grandfather.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@reporternewspapers.com or 425-453-4602.