10 replies to this topic

[Parkdeveloper]

Here's our thread!

 

Longecity might not be overly enthused that we are taking advantage of their software to discuss our park redevelopment issue. However, hopefully they will recognize that our conversation will once again demonstrate the power of online discussion to increase citizen participation in their local communities.

 

Could anyone upload bueprints for the redevelopment?

 

Are they truly intending to regrade on the west end of the park?

Relocate the path?

 

Let the discussion begin!

[sthira]

Could anyone upload bueprints for the redevelopment?

Are they truly intending to regrade on the west end of the park? Relocate the path?

Let the discussion begin!

Sorry, no blueprints yet -- we're redeveloping organically, of course, from the roots. And yes, we are regrading a little on the park's west end, putting in bike trails and LEED-certified side venues for art concerts and performers (music, dance, painters, acro, silk, and cirque performances, jugglers, Rastafarian poets and peace-lovers of all abilities).

We're planting more trees, especially fruit trees for the homeless and hungry, and we're protecting the lovely groves we already maintain. We're continuing installation of slack lines between many trees to assist aspiring tightrope artists keep their balance tip-top.

We want more birds, obviously, and so yes to bird houses of all sizes and shapes for any species choosing to nest in our park. These are going up everywhere. And we're continuing our planting of small organic gardens -- fruits and vegetables are freely available throughout the park to one and all. Especially the bees. We want continue protection of bees while working to eliminate Varroa mites, and our sustained chanting of a clear-voiced Fuck Off, Monstanto.

Eat more berries is just one of our park mottoes, and of course, go vegan. We want cleaner water in the park, less polluted air, we dig that rich black healthy soil with so many worms and beetles (!) that our permaculture projects designed and maintained by 4H students have inspired. We want everyone who visits or chooses to live in our functional park to be happy and free.

Except white people: y'all stay out.

[Parkdeveloper]

sthira, I think I'll need you in my corner as you are better with words.

Looks like I could be voted out of the park.

 

This thread is trying to show the potential of using online resources to discuss a very local topic.

It would be helpful for those not directly involved in this to lurk, yet not post. 

 

A community meeting is scheduled in about a week and the park redevelopment is set to go within a few months.

Now is the time to discuss this: it will be too late once the bulldozers start up.   

 

The concern is that everything is set to go with this project, even while the community still has no

conception of what the project will entail. 

 

Blueprints anyone?

Edited by Parkdeveloper, 15 January 2017 - 06:59 PM.

[sthira]

Howdy park planning lurkers: we love y'all but please rethink "bulldozers." Bulldozers are not kind to Mother Earth, they're also fossil fuel pigs, and they're gonna clog healthy cells with fuck knows what evil particulates.

Stop bulldozing stuff: y'all good with Americorps volunteers? Sign us up: millions of underemployed, overeducated pure souls are out here awaiting commitment and pining to dig out and drag off into the compost pile all those invasives:
Berberis vulgaris, Cardaria draba, Agrostis gigantea, Dioscorea bulbifera, Frangula alnus, Isatis tinctoria, both Vincas minor and major, and oh Christ don't get me started on the invasive exotic insects that these SE Asian plants attract, the biting midges, the deer and horseflies, the Lyme diseased ticks...

The concern is that everything is set to go with this project, even while the community still has no
conception of what the project will entail.

Blueprints anyone?

The community's conception of the park project shall be designed to make it as LEED-certified as possible in every fepartment: hire cool people with sensible hats and no shoes to do the knee-grunge work, pay them happily with generous, kind hearts and some organic fresh f&v, (grown on site) and maybe hint a little friendly ganga (edibles, healthier on lungs) and some free yoga classes with pranayama -- alternate nasal-breathing techniques keep us calm -- and sutra chanting. Om Shanti: how about decent, clean, affordable housing and safe schools for our kids? With respect, we'll design and purify your park, alright, but first take away that awful bulldozer, and help us make the world a better place (before the fucking apocalypse anyway...)

[Parkdeveloper]

All right, so to get it out there, the park had a problem with arson: The kids torched the playground.

A little bit of weekend drinking.

 

 

These are good kids, they're our kids, and they're under a ton of stress from parents with high pressure jobs.

Might be getting a little bit beyond my petrol filled youth days, though we really have to step up for the kids.

They need to know that we're there for them, understand what they're going through and care about them. 

 

As the OP I don't want to hear otherwise.

 

The plan is to rebuild the park for about $1 million.

Our kids are worth it.

 

In my day if we torched our playground, we knew there'd never be another one (that's why we didn't torch it).

Times change. You torch it, they build you an even nicer one.

However, this time using non-burnable materials.  

 

I guess from here on out, we'll have to talk about the park without geographic specifics.  

 

sthira, if you might have any helpful suggestions that might guide our kids to feel the joy in life, then they would be greatly appreciated (Perhaps some binaural beats, visualization exercises, breathing techniques, lucid dreaming?, I find these to be helpful to move out of the bad into the good). We need to show our kids the path to enlightenment. No more of this Lord of the Fire nihilism, kids do not need substances to feel the positive energies of the universe.  

 

Dropping another million here or there really does not solve the underlying problem. Of course, it is the easiest thing to do. What we need is to find happiness for these kids.

 

 

Edited by Parkdeveloper, 15 January 2017 - 09:24 PM.

[sthira]

So you're rebuilding the entire park, or just the playground? Is this an urban American park, or is it out in the soul-destroying 'burbs?

[Parkdeveloper]

We're still at the suggestion stage.

There are a whole bunch of things that could happen.

 

That is what I am afraid of.

If they were to start moving the path around it could become much more dangerous.

​As it is now there are very good sightlines for those walking into and out of the park.

The streets on either end of the park have a steep downgrade so cars can pick up a fair amount of speed.

Without clear line of sight, it would be much riskier. 

 

Perhaps they might even think of putting in a community ice rink?

 

 

I am not sure whether the park is technically in the soul-destroying burbs.

It feels more urban than suburban, though perhaps the kids might see it as soul-destroying (hence burn down the playground).  

 

{Very insightful comment sthira. Thank you for not pathologizing our kids. There really is no point in that and it in no way contributes

to understanding the drivers of youth psychology.}

 

Part of the problem is that our neighbourhood a generation or two back did not have the financial resources to create a child friendly community. Nearly every square inch of our entire block has been developed. The community has recently been locked in a fierce battle to protect one of the last remaining sections of grass in the community. It probably would have been worth a billion dollars to develop it, though then we would be stuck living virtually entirely surrounded by concrete and development. At some point if you do not say no to development, you wind up in a community without even a blade of grass: it becomes unliveable.

 

The only reason that our park was not developed was because it is part of an extensive river system. Yet, now development is even occurring all along the watershed. Even still the Canada geese still fly directly overhead of the park as they follow the old water route to their summer and winter homes. Our city plan now calls for intensification of development along all our major arterial roads. This will make the natural lifestyle needed by wildlife and kids even less obtainable.

 

There is a community on an adjacent branch of the river system that has massively huge financial resources. They managed to protect the entire waterway and have preserved an entire intact habitat. Wealth is good for the environment. I suspect that their kids are not burning down their play forts.    

 

I will have to wait until tomorrow to repost as Longecity only gives us 5 daily posts when we first start posting. 

 

 

 

Edited by Parkdeveloper, 15 January 2017 - 10:02 PM.

[sthira]

So is the park along a waterway? If so, would you be able to use some money to build accessible kayak and canoe launching areas?

The kids burned down the playground, that's what kids do. Who's not a pyromaniac when you're a hormonal 14 y/o? Is there any way to involve the arsonists in the planning and construction of new areas? Involvement of the local community in all areas will gives us pride and ownership of green space. Instead of spending your budget on expensive outside architects and park planners, can you use the talents, skills, and passion of those who live there and who will actually use the park daily? A beautiful new park will up the housing values of the entire neighborhood, and people will volunteer their services and talents for this. I know that firsthand in my own urban community.

One aspect that makes a park a success is involvement in local community, but another is that people love to watch other people. People-watching is one of the great joys in life, so try to plan for this.

What's the bulldozer for? Entice folks to do what the bulldozer does on their own, with their own hands and smiles and high-fives at a pleasant experience well-done.

Edited by sthira, 15 January 2017 - 10:11 PM.

[sthira]

We're still at the suggestion stage.
There are a whole bunch of things that could happen.

That is what I am afraid of. If they were to start moving the path around it could become much more dangerous. As it is now there are very good sightlines for those walking into and out of the park. The streets on either end of the park have a steep downgrade so cars can pick up a fair amount of speed. Without clear line of sight, it would be much riskier.

Who is "they" (i.e. "...If they were to start moving the path around...")? Why move the path around if it might increase risk to pedestrians?

Regarding speeding vehicles, can you slow traffic with stop signs and speed humps? Can you install "Stop For Pedestrians" signs in the middle of the street? You'll notice these signs are as plain as day and are enforced in the rich neighborhoods; but in the poorer neighborhoods pre-gentrification, they don't exist. So people just sorta cross the street wherever and whenever traffic is clear: as if our poor lives don't matter to city planners as their rich lives. This racism ends now.

Part of the problem is that our neighborhood a generation or two back did not have the financial resources to create a child friendly community. Nearly every square inch of our entire block has been developed. The community has recently been locked in a fierce battle to protect one of the last remaining sections of grass in the community. It probably would have been worth a billion dollars to develop it, though then we would be stuck living virtually entirely surrounded by concrete and development. At some point if you do not say no to development, you wind up in a community without even a blade of grass: it becomes unliveable.

God love you ❤️

The only reason that our park was not developed was because it is part of an extensive river system. Yet, now development is even occurring all along the watershed. Even still the Canada geese still fly directly overhead of the park as they follow the old water route to their summer and winter homes. Our city plan now calls for intensification of development along all our major arterial roads. This will make the natural lifestyle needed by wildlife and kids even less obtainable.

Can you pitch to enlist local and national environmental groups to help contribute resources? The Nature Conservancy, for example, or your local Audubon, Sierra Club branches? Can you receive funding from state government, like from your Department of Natural Resources? Some agencies may not offer much money, but sometimes these can lead to volunteers networks that are itching for new projects to help make the city nicer. There really are wonderful people out there connected to great organizations that fly way under radar.

Sorry if I'm writing too much really obvious shit here; it'd be helpful to know precisely your location. But I certainly understand privacy concerns.

Edited by sthira, 15 January 2017 - 11:39 PM.

[Parkdeveloper]

The park was along a waterway. In living memory people were able to paddle along it as a recreational past time.

However, with time and development the waterway has disappeared. The park itself is at the low point in a valley and

was where the old river/creek ran. Further to the south and north the river banks are more dramatically evident. I suppose

that through development the sides of the creek were leveled. As it is now the waterway has been transferred underground

into an engineered drainage system.   

 

This is a very constructive comment concerning those involved in burning down the playground. What sprung to mind when I gave

this some thought was that the playground actually had no other age appropriate activity for the 14-17 years who torched it than

to burn down the playground. I suppose that we might just fit the definition of the suburbs: there is no self-evident activity for

our 14-17 year olds to do within a 30 minute walk of our park.

 

The idea of reconciliation also strongly resonates. All the criminal justice system would have contributed to this event was punishing

those involved: it is an operant conditioning system which never uses joy to sculpt behavior. Involving the entire community in designing the park is such a great idea. As it is, the likely reason that the park is being redeveloped 3-5 years ahead of schedule is that those responsible for burning down the original playground have now been relocated for their further educational development.

 

Yes, there is mention of including extra benches for parents to observe their children and others in the park.

 

I am not completely sure about the bulldozer (I only suggested bulldozer as a possible piece of machinery). There will likely need to be

some sort of heavy machinery to move the playground into place. It would be a great community project if this could be done as a make it from a box type playground, though given current liability concerns park planners and others almost certainly need to be involved.

 

 

There is a certain amount of Nimbyism involved. The path as it is now ends near a driveway. Some would be interested in moving the path from where it is to someone else's driveway (NIMDWism?)  The problem with doing this is that the path is now in the safest place

for pedestrians leaving the park. If it were to be moved to either side of the park, then the traffic on the street would no longer have a clear line of sight as many cars park towards the sides of the park. Cars pick up a fair amount of speed and try to pick up speed when

going down and up the grade on one of the streets with the path. The concern is that the wrong choice will be made about the pathway based upon a democratic process that does not actually involve the people. The blueprints for the park have still not been disclosed! This

must have been worked through to the millimeter years ago.

 

They are thinking of signage, though speed bumps are no longer used because of the needs of emergency vehicles. The park is in a residential area so the traffic is not typically overwhelming.

 

 

Thank you very much for your thoughts sthira.

 

You were able to guide the conversation away from the pathological perspective to constructive ways of bringing harmony and reconciliation back into our community. I had thought that our park redevelopment might only relate to specific local features of our community, though your comments have shown that there are universal factors that are also involved.  

 

 

      

      

 

Edited by Parkdeveloper, 16 January 2017 - 05:47 PM.

[Parkdeveloper]

The grown ups are back to their old tricks.

 

The kids burned down the playground, so make sure there is nothing for them to burn or do in the park.

Last brainwave was to take away the benches so they would have nowhere to sit.

 

This seems to have only escalated their behavior. Two weekends ago they started tossing around construction

pylons. Just starting to worry that a simple solution is being pursued that only appears to have intensified 

the response. It is always somewhat amusing to see how really smart adults can be outsmarted by their

even smarter toddlers.

 

I am thinking sthira's idea of finding the love here could be very helpful.