Re: [Mpls] Riverview site

[Clsartell]

Along with the other sound arguments made for preserving the Riverview site as a park, think of the educational value it provides as an urban river experience as well as the connection to other significant parks such as the North Mississippi Regional Park, Edgewater and Boom Island.

From MCNC's February 2000 newsletter and a series that ran in the Camden Community News on Shaping the Future of the Mighty Mississippi's Upper River Corridor:

There is only one Mississippi River. It is the most important natural water system on the North American continent. It is a complex ecosystem that is a major flyway for migratory birds and supplies the drinking water for 18 million people. Eagles, heron, beaver, falcons and a variety of other wildlife inhabit the upper river corridor.

An "urban river experience" should provide a connection to the natural features for urban dwellers to experience some of what it must have been like before white settlement. The rapid loss of rural open space and access to natural areas makes it imperative that we restore and preserve what remains. The upper river corridor offers us that opportunity. Any development we initiate should consider the down river effects on water quality and views and vistas.

If we continue to fill every inch of space with development, throw in a narrow strip of grass along the river - can we really call it a park? Will people know the difference? This is not the central riverfront. You can't have a significant riverfront park if it's not on the river. Preserving expanded areas of a natural landscape allows for more imaginative recreation and provides appreciation of the Mississippi for its intrinsic value as well as the environmental bonuses of protecting this great river.

This is one of the few opportunities left to create another rare jewel in the riverfront park system and make good on the promise to the upper river corridor neighborhoods by extending the shoreline to reconnect them to the Mississippi River.

Candy Sartell
Lind Bohanon