Thursday, February 24, 2005

Support Booth Park restoration

Please attend Monday night's presentation, or contact City Commissioners to express your support!

A grassroots effort to make long overdue improvements to Booth Park will come to a head Monday night when a citizens committee asks the Birmingham City Commission to approve and fund its plan.

Approval of the design is likely, but funding is by no means assured. Several City Commissioners have expressed reluctance to increase spending on the project, even though the commission has never rationally discussed the appropriate funding level for the project.

Your support is essential to the success of the project. Nearly 200 residents have already signed up to participate in the community-built playground project integrated into the plan. And one family – one family! – has already pledged to donate $50,000 to the project.

You can do your part by showing up at City Hall on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. You need not speak; your mere presence will have an important impact.

If you can’t attend the meeting, you can call or email City Commissioners to express your support. Their numbers and email addresses appear at the end of this item.

The commission has already approved spending roughly $400,000, but that decision was based on a recommendation from the Parks & Recreation Board, which drastically cut a previous community-supported master plan developed in 2002.

In January, the Parks Board reversed its decision, with several members suggesting that the scaled-back plans were based on incorrect assumptions about how much money was available for parks improvements. The board unanimously recommended that the commission fund the citizens committee’s more ambitious plan.

City voters in 2001 approved issuing $25 million in bonds for the acquisition and improvement of city parks. So far, $15.7 million in bonds have been issued, and while much of that money has been earmarked, city officials describe the budgeting process as a “work in progress.”

For example, a significant amount of money is earmarked for further land acquisition. We might ask: Why spend millions to acquire more land if we can’t manage to make the most of the land we already own?
The Booth Park plan includes:

· A landscaped playground that incorporates many natural features with community built structures.
· A sledding hill and skating rink that double in summer as a natural amphitheatre.
· A shelter from rain and sun.
· A natural labyrinth garden.
· A series of lawn waves with dolphin sculptures.
· A significant corner feature with an urban plaza
· A widened sidewalk “promenade” along N. Old Woodward.
· Two bridges linking the park to N. Old Woodward and to the Central Business District.

We think the following are excellent reasons to approve the plans and fund the improvement. You may want to mention some of these reasons when you contact our City Commissioners:

· The improvement is long overdue. Booth – a major city park that borders downtown, the Gallery District, the Rouge River, the Holy Name District and that serves as the northern gateway to the city – was torn up more than 10 years ago for a major sewer project, and was never adequately restored.
· The price tag is reasonable. The cost represents less than 5% of the $25 million parks bond issue. The scaled back plan provided virtually no bang for the buck. This plan is worthy of our city, its residents, and of the park’s heritage and location. It costs no more than a reasonably affluent family spends on a single-family home in Birmingham. The city can afford to spend that amount on an improvement that will benefit the whole town.
· The community wants the improvements. They were called for in 1996 when we wrote the 2016 Plan. They were called for in 2001 when voters approved the $25 million bond issue. They were called for in 2002 during the initial design phase for Booth Park. And they are being called for again by the Booth Park design committee and all the many residents who have signed up to assist with the community built playground.
· We should make the most of what we already own as we consider spending millions on acquiring new land such as the Barnum Center and Roeper School.
· The improvement will enhance property values throughout the city, enhance our infrastructure, and make the city more attractive to future investment, thereby increasing our tax base.
· The Parks & Recreation Board, a diverse group of citizens that represents a cross-section of the city, unanimously backed the plan and recommended that the Commission fund it.
· The Commission will be purchasing not only a fabulous park, but a method for designing future improvements to our city. More than $25,000 in design fees has been donated to the city so far on this project. By funding it, the City will show its respect for community wishes and for design professionals willing to donate their time and expertise. It will also be contributing to the momentum that has developed on the project.

The following City Commissioners are expected to attend Monday night’s meeting:

Mayor Rackeline Hoff (248) 642-1957 rackyhoff@hotmail.com
Don Carney (248) 540-4317 dcarney@unalink.com
Tom McDaniel (248) 540-2677 mcdaniel_tom@hotmail.com
Dianne McKeon (248) 644-8929 djmckeon@aol.com
Scott Moore (248) 644-2875 sdm984@ameritech.net
Julie Plotnik (248) 647-4319 jap1103@aol.com

Thanks for your support!