These days Harrell Park in Carrollton is more an eyesore than a playground.  While progress is underway at 15 other New Orleans parks that were used as FEMA trailer sites, Harrell sits in limbo.

This park is named after Alfred Harrell, Jr.  He is a NOPD cadet killed during the New Year’s Eve 1972 sniper shooting at the downtown Howard Johnson Hotel.  Harrell’s mother said it’s disappointing the city is taking so long returning the park to the kids.

“It's a sad thing. I can't see how the city could go through this trouble of doing a wonderful job with this and they just renovated it not too long ago and now they're just going to let it all go to waste,” said Glenna Harrell Burgess. “They still have children in this area.”

“Before the hurricane, we had so much fun,” said Matt Jones, a 10-year-old boy who played there. “When I came back home, I was like, what happened to the park. Down there we had the swings. In this big field, you could see we had football practice.”

Harrell Park housed Sewerage and Water Board employees after Katrina, so it's the Board's responsibility to get with FEMA and come up with a plan to bring the playground back on-line. A Board spokesman says there's a reason why it's taking a little longer to see movement at this particular park.

“The fact that it has the track that it has and the fact that it has a constructed track, by a track architect, it takes a little bit more effort and little bit more folks getting together and drafting up plans that are conducive to the park,” said Robert Jackson, a spokesman for Sewerage and Water.

The Board is expected to meet with FEMA next week to finalize plans that are nearly complete.  

“Once we have this meeting next week,” Jackson said, “we should know and have a time set. In fact, we plan on as soon as we get construction going to have a calendar up, letting them know when, how soon the playground will be up.”

“It's a memorial to my son. I really would like to see the Harrell Park put back again,” Harrell Burgess said.

“My message is could the fix the park as soon as possible,” said Matt Jones

The Sewerage and Water Board hopes to clear the trailer park pipes and power lines, lay new sod and reopen at least part of Harrell Park by the end of summer.