Dear Concerned Friends of Bicentennial Park, I just received this email from Dave Knecht, the City Council Chairman and Neighborhood Resident. The city council meeting when the Bicentennial Park resolution will be discussed is THIS TUESDAY!!! This took me a bit by surprise as I thought it would be in December.
Please read the email below; it has a lot of interesting information. The resolution he talks about is a short document which will prevent Bicentennial Park from ever being developed into housing. It will also give us $10,000 more to buy a playground. This additional money will be very useful because the nearly $9,000 which we raised through everyone's hard work will buy very little playground equipment. Please email this to everyone you know who is concerned with the future of Bicentennial Park and encourage everyone to attend the Provo City Council Meeting on November 23rd at 7:00 p.m. at the City Offices at 350 W. Center St. The address list of this email consists of all the email addresses that I have. Please either call others or email them. Thank you for all of your continued help! Katrina McKnight Park Activity Coordinator ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Katrina, The next meeting is this coming Tuesday at 7pm. Since the "Resolution to Protect Bicentennial Park" is the first item on the agenda, you won't have to wait long. The 15 min. given to the public for comment/questions will not be the appropriate moment. We will open the issue to the public after I introduce the resolution. The more people you can bring the better. This is an important moment in the future of the park and the neighborhood. Some on the Council will argue that they are not comfortable with the wording of the resolution, perhaps because it is too restrictive. That of course is what we need to make sure that nothing else happens in the park, like more housing. I believe the neighborhood needs this resolution to put their minds at ease. After the petition drive there are many residents who are worried about the city's future plans for the park. Only a clear statement of intent made by the Council will do the trick. The Mayor will point out how the city bought the old County Jail to prevent it from becoming a private jail, which opened the door for a new elementary school to be built next to the old jail. While the Mayor can argue that a previous Council gave him the green light to due whatever with the park as part of the overall jail deal, that was four years ago. The Mayor at that time 1999-2000 made the case that the city needed flexibility to market the old jail and all of the other surplus properties, including parts of the park, in order get their investment back, and that any part of the park built on would be relocated on the other side of Slate Canyon Drive. The neighborhood is clearly better off now, than when we had a jail in our midst. Yet much has changed in the last 4 years. The fire on the mountain scared off the one developer who was interested. Instead of usable property on the hill we now have a retention basin. Also, the old jail is now the home of Atlantic Engineering, and will be till the iProvo internet system is built. And last, but certainly not least, the new homes and condos that have been built around the park have changed everything. Your ownership of the park, as shown by your recent efforts, give you a stake in it's future. I respect that. Come with whoever you can bring and make your case to help the rest of the Council understand that this resolution is needed. Yes it will be taking us back to the original plan for the park (before 2000), and yes it means the Mayor no longer has flexibility to sell part of the original park, but that is what is wanted and needed by the new neighborhood. Share this e-mail with whoever you can. If you have more questions, I will do my best to help. Dave Knecht --- "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dave, Thanks for writing me back. So what can I do when we do come to the > meeting next month? I realized after the fact that I should have given a bit > more introduction since the mayor perhaps had not heard of our efforts at > Bicentennial Park. Should we get up at the beginning of the council meeting > again? When you discuss the issue will you let us get up and talk? We want to > let him know that we want and need the park and there are no politics > involved. What do you advise? By the way, do you have the date of the next > meeting? > > Thanks, Katrina *** Have you checked out http://provocitizens.net/ lately? _______________________________________________ to unsubscribe from News list go to: http://provocitizens.net/mailman/listinfo/news_provocitizens.net
