The Abridged version:
- After more than five decades of caring for an empty lot in West Sacramento, a husband and wife were recognized with the naming of the park in their honor.
- The City of West Sacramento bought the lot in 2020 and has completed upgrades and plantings.
- West Sac Play donated $20,000 toward Triboli Park, recognizing how the small outdoor space gives residents a chance to “sit, play and enjoy the park.”
More than 50 years ago, Lennie Triboli’s father told him not to clean up trash from the empty lot in their West Sacramento neighborhood of Westmore Oaks.
“‘If you do that, you’ll be doing it forever,’” Triboli said, quoting his father.
The son cleaned up the abandoned lot anyway, despite the advice.
“Because I wanted it to look good,” Triboli, now 88, said, “and it’s our contribution to the neighborhood.”
The elder Triboli was right. Care and maintenance of that empty lot has become a decades-long effort for Lennie and for his wife, Kitty, who is 81. More than five decades later, the property is now known as Lennie & Kitty Triboli Park.
‘The pile kept getting bigger and bigger’
Lennie Triboli was a student at Christian Brothers High School when his family moved from Sacramento to West Sacramento in 1955. The vacant lot at the corner of Fernwood Street and Meadow Road was an unofficial dumping ground for people in the area.
“They would come at night without us knowing,” Triboli said, leaving “newspapers, oil filters, parts of furniture. You can’t believe what was in there, and the pile kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Lennie Triboli’s initial efforts to clean up debris evolved with his career. After high school, he worked for the California Division of Highways (now Caltrans) before hiring on as a groundskeeper for the Department of Water Resources. His area of expertise was planting and irrigation for the Bryte area levee system, which is now part of West Sacramento.
His passion for planting and groundskeeping benefitted his West Sacramento neighborhood as he gradually transformed the vacant lot into an acceptable outdoor space. He made a deal with the owner of the empty property to tackle the high weeds; if the landowner could keep the weeds down, he would mow the lawn on a regular basis.
Those were the days before water meters, and several neighbors agreed to run hoses to the empty lot to keep the grass green. Other neighbors pitched in by trimming the wild Bermuda grass with an edger.
Lennie Triboli said he didn’t mind the physical labor at the time. “But I was younger then,” he said.
While working at the levee, he met a woman named Kitty. When she was born, her family lived only four blocks from Lennie Triboli’s family home. At age 3, she moved with her family to Fair Oaks, where they had some acreage along with cows, pigs and chickens.
“Nature was my salvation,” she said.
By 1971, Lennie and Kitty were married and living in the family home with Lennie Triboli’s father. Kitty Triboli pitched in from the beginning of the relationship. (She also went on to have a long career in chemistry with the Department of Water Resources, including as the first woman to work with a team of men on a boat as an engineering crew technician, she said.)
“One thing about her — it’s really great — she said, ‘Well, just show me what to do, and I’ll go out there and we’ll do it together.’ So that’s what we do,” Lennie Triboli said.
His wife’s eyes lit up as she followed their inside joke. “I’m his minion,” she said.
Small parks can make a real difference
The Tribolis said they didn’t expect recognition for their efforts. They were surprised several years ago when West Sacramento City Manager Aaron Laurel hinted that the city might purchase the property and take over its maintenance.
“He said, ‘No promises, but you can just sit over there in your chair and look.’ And I told him, ‘I am not a sitter,’” Lennie Triboli said. “He said, ‘Oh, we all know that.’”
The city purchased the empty property for about $120,000 in 2020 and began upgrades, including the installation of power and irrigation systems, in 2021. The sign with the couple’s names was also installed in 2021. Due to the property’s small size, about 0.2 acres, it is considered a “pocket park.” The park currently consists of a few trees and a sign bearing the Triboli name.
West Sacramento Director of Parks and Recreation Kate Smith said the city is considering additional features “such as benches, pathways and other amenities.”
Care of the property does not end with the city. This July, West Sac Play, an organization led by mothers in West Sacramento, donated $20,000 to the City of West Sacramento for amenities at Triboli Park. Jaclyn Powell, representing the group, said the organization focuses on “smaller projects at existing parks, like shade structures and water stations, that make a real difference in how families actually use those spaces.”
Powell said West Sac Play’s goal reflects Lennie and Kitty Triboli’s efforts: “Give residents a place to sit, play and enjoy the park.”
A space for trees, people — and even a fox
The Tribolis planted a few trees that have grown with their 55-year marriage. The Canary Island pine was carefully chosen for its drought tolerance. More recently, they added a couple of crepe myrtles. One or two trees were removed over the years due to disease.
A neighbor planted a tree, an unidentified species, for its medicinal value.
Lennie Triboli “took a chance” he said, by planting two redwoods, which are not native to the Central Valley. One of those redwoods remains the couple’s favorite part of the small park.
“Because I think that was the first one I planted,” he said.
The trees in the park are just as important to the state as to the Tribolis and their neighbors. Shelly Kaiser, with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, makes regular inspections of parks and other public properties to check traps for insects, specifically four species of moth, whose presence could affect trees and regional crops.
“We’re trying to determine how and where these insects are because they’re invasive,” said Kaiser, who performed a check of Triboli Park in early October. “We want to make sure that they do not become established and affect our ability to import and export food.”
Just a few minutes later on this October day, a neighbor called Kitty Triboli to report a more welcome, rare sighting.
“She said, just a moment ago, we had a big red fox out here,” Kitty Triboli repeated. “I’ve never seen a fox here, ever, ever, ever. Coyotes? Yes. We’ve got raccoons. We’ve got opossums. Rats, of course, mice. But a fox!”
Another occasional visitor keeps its distance.
“There are times when a great horned owl makes that tree, if not, the home, at least they visit, because every once in a while, I find owl pellets underneath,” she said. “Oh, then I have to get into them and identify the little femurs of the mouse he caught.”
‘There’s joy in your heart’
The park that bears their name isn’t the Tribolis’ only community effort. Over the years, they have painted over graffiti and cleaned up garbage under nearby freeways. They have gifted a neighborhood daycare center with art supplies. Lennie Triboli has played piano to entertain residents at care homes.
As much work and dedication as they’ve put into the community in the last five-plus decades, the Tribolis think anyone can do the same in any neighborhood.
“Our church always teaches us to be service-minded, community-minded,” Kitty Triboli said.
“It makes a strong community,” her husband added.
Their work pays a unique dividend.
“There’s joy in your heart,” Kitty Triboli said. “When you can make something look really beautiful that had been a mess, there’s joy.”
