Oak Cliff residents pose before the pergola at Kiest Park in the 1940s.

Four years ago, Dallas voters elected to spend $250,000 to restore the pergola at Kiest Park, which was built in 1935 under the Works Progress Administration. But now that the city’s budget is getting nightmarish, there are attempts to divert those funds to other needs.

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The Friends of Oak Cliff Parks, the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League and others are pushing to keep the funds where voters chose to spend them. Wednesday, Aug. 25 is the last day to sign an online petition for the pergola funds. The park friends, who log thousands of hours a year maintaining our parks, are working to get National Historic Landmark status for the park, and restoring the pergola would be a step in the right direction.