LEWISTON (NEWS CENTER Maine) — The city of Lewiston is continuing its efforts to make improvements to Kennedy Park.
The upgrades are part of a restoration project that started 10 years ago.
City Administrator Ed Barrett says Kennedy Park is one of the busiest parks in the state. Built in 1865, it's also one of the oldest.
Ten years ago, a master plan was created for the park. Since then the city has been picking away at improvement projects like the swimming pool, playground, skateboard park and restoring and refurbishing the gazebo.
This week starts another phase of upgrades: new sidewalks, walkways and benches.
Kennedy Park has been in the spotlight recently after several violent incidents this summer.
Within two weeks of each other, two people were murdered. In June, Donald Giusti died after a fight outside Kennedy Park where witnesses say he was beaten with a brick.
In July, Kimberly Dobbie was stabbed in broad daylight outside of a laundromat in front of her twin boys.
Barrett recognizes it's been a summer of bad publicity for the park and the city itself. He's been hopeful these violent incidents were horrible circumstances and not the start of a trend.
"With increased police presence and police activity, I think, fingers crossed, we've turned a corner and seeing things calm down and back to normal," Barrett says.