From:
s f
Date:
Dec 02 04:54 UTC
Short link
The Park Board hasn't posted documents yet for Wednesday's meeting, but
one of these is a study item report for the completion of Bluff Street
Park (aka Gasworks Bluff) - the land at overlooking the bend in the
Mississippi in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, downriver from the
I-35W Bridge. The plan is to convert the area to a butterfly meadow,
all natural plantings, with a few paths, lots of deciduous trees,
benches and picnic tables for visitors. Wildlife habitat will be created.
This land was acquired by the Park Board in the early 1990s to link
Central Riverfront Regional Park to the River Gorge parkland. Unforseen
but now a reality, this stretch of parkland can also connect the bicycle
crossing built into the new I 35W bridge with MPRB riverfront trails.
The site was a coal gasification site for decades so site clean-up
complicated the acquisition.
For most of this decade, this site has been threatened by its
desirability - since 2000, housing developers have, now and again,
suggested that the Park Board sell the site. Neighbors quietly
organized to save the parkland and reached out to the Minnesota Design
Center and Groundworks Minnesota and developed a detailed park plan.
They have also reached out to the National Park Service and the Tree
Trust and found support. They presented their plan to the Park Board a
few years ago, were politely told thank you, and things have been at a
standstill ever since.
Now, Comm. Vreeland is encouraging the MPRB to start developing this
park section - the planting phase might be completed for less than
$50,000. Initial funding for this would come from the Park Board
Flatiron lease proceeds, the contractor on the 35W Bridge rebuilding.
Many thanks to Rosemary and other West Bank volunteers who have been
working on this for years! Congratualtions! I can hardly wait for the
plants to grow so I can come enjoy this new park. I imagine sitting in
the sunshine, listening to the insects and birds, watching a blue heron
take off from a nearby nest, with monarchs all around, and perhaps a
hummingbird if the blooms are right. I'll have my camera handy. Or, I
might head there for the first snowfall, when the flakes are huge and
wet, and watch the prairie plants and grasses fill up with snow as the
flakes melt into the river water - and I will be sniffing hard for the
last smells of wet earth and fresh and died plants before the hard
winter freeze. This will be a sensational park - sort of like Eloise
Butler East - except much smaller with a different kind of prairie
plants. It is really exciting and I hope that discreet plant labels
will be included in the plan so that home gardeners can visit the site
for inspiration.
Behind the scenes, some credit goes to Park Watch. (Note: I am a
volunteer researcher for ParkWatch but I haven't worked on the Flatiron
or Skipperliner research). Three Park Watch volunteers, Arlene, Edna,
and Liz, uncovered the data, analyzed the data, and shared it with
reporters. They've taken some flak for this. But they did discover
about $300,000 in lease proceeds that had not been presented to the Park
Board Commissioners. Now that the Commissioners know about these
dollars, they can decide the best way to spend them. Thank you Comm
Vreeland for asking that a portion of these funds go to a riverfront
park that has been ignored for 15 years.
One slight hitch: this is being presented to the Park Board as a study
item, a report to be filed. Better to be an action item - referred to a
Committee for consideration and further action. Since the original park
plan was adopted about 20 years ago, I don't know if the project needs a
citizen's advisory committee (to hold public hearings) or a Park Board
public hearing. Whatever, let's get going on this so that planting can
start next spring. I urge you to contact our citywide Commissioners Tom
Nordyke, Mary Merrill Anderson, and Annie Young with a message to move
this forward. Email addresses are:
**mmerrillanderson@minneapolisparks.org*
<mailto:mmerrillanderson@minneapolisparks.org>
***ayoung@minneapolisparks.org* <mailto:ayoung@minneapolisparks.org>
***tnordyke@minneapolisparks.org* <mailto:tnordyke@minneapolisparks.org>
*Links for you -
The staff report should be available from this page tomorrow:
http://minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=37
As staff reports go, this is an excellent one with a summary of site
history and a graphic plan of the plantings and tree groves in the
park. Also now available at the Park Watch Public Library in the Dec
3rd folder for planning (8 MG download, sorry).
http://homepage.mac.com/parkwatch
FYI,
Shawne FitzGerald