I attended the last Park Board meeting. The two topics taking up the most time on the agenda were log rolling and the schematic design of the U of M boat house on Park land. Despite the time spent on these items, the Board should have spent more time examining some of the most basic and important questions for decisions protecting the public interest. (Annie Young and Vivian Mason were not at the meeting.) Log rolling: no one asked the total cost, the amount of time that Park staff would spend on the project or the amount of money to be made by promoters. Motion passed U of M Boat House: This is a project that has been in the background for years and even more on the back burner until a recent U moratorium on new projects expired. The Athletic Director, U staff, and women athletes on the rowing team were in attendance and there was a power point about the design of a building on Park land on the East River Flats. I believe this was the first public presentation of these plans. There has been no chance for public review or input. Motion passed. This proposal would have obvious benefit for the U of M and women's sports and it's definitely a cool thing to have these boats and crews on the River. It's a beautiful sport and fun to watch from great park locations on the river. But this is not the only place to build this building. The current location of the temporary facilities are on U land by the steam plant. I can envision a really cool building built into the existing topography, kind of built into the slope, like the steam plant. Just because the U is a public institution doesn't mean the Park Board should automatically give away land to them. What is the value of the land? And what kind of deal makes this worthwhile from a Park perspective? The U has promised some public benefit (they'll do some stuff for the public). But I agree with John Erwin that there should at least be some hard wired benefit. His suggestion would be to have the U staff a position to help manage and improve green space on Park Land as part of the deal. They have not agreed to this. The MRPB is in good bargaining position and they should be negotiating for compensation of some kind for this incredibly valuable land and not let the U off the hook just because they show up with a slick power point and deserving athletes. Do a land trade, deed the land to the Park Board that houses the current facility in exchange for the land that the U wants on the flats. And I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the master plan for that area below Coffman Union, calls for ripping up the shoreline and replacing it with poured concrete and cutting down trees to create a circular park node. This would be gilding the lily, destroying the natural beauty of a very special place to create a more formal park.The projected cost of this master plan is $ 6 million dollars. I don't mind investing in water quality improvements which would infiltrate water from the parking lots and storm water runoff. But there is no way tax money should be spent on destroying that natural shoreline. Thanks, Scott Vreeland Seward _www.scottvreeland.org_ (http://www.scottvreeland.org) I think the Park Board is on the wrong track with its direction of permitting more buildings and impervious surface and less green space and natural shoreline on Park land. ( Restaurants specifically built on Park land as enterprises, a private stadium on public land, a private yacht club on a city lake, Naegle and partners trying to build a private "Fort" on public land- and sticking the MPRB with $ 2.5 million in debt) REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
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