CityView Portal
| We are sorry but no more comments are being taken for this case |
| Return to CityView Portal |
| Submitted comments will appear below after staff approval. | |
|---|---|
| M Elise Huggins | 12/7/2009 11:46:47 AM |
| Please make sure you include comments sent via mail from the South Addition Community Council. | |
| Gloria Manni | 12/7/2009 9:53:09 AM |
| To: Planning and Zoning Commission Municipality of Anchorage Re: Draft Delaney Park Master Plan - Appendix D Case 2009-61; Hearing Date: Dec. 7, 2009 The Draft Delaney Park Master Plan proposes to administer the potential development new memorials in accordance with Appendix D - Delaney Park Draft Memorial Policy. However, in the of course of the public meetings held to arrive at the Draft Delaney Park Master Plan, the public demonstrated great interest in maintaining the character of the park and in participating to its development. To give a voice to the many park lovers, users, and the public in general about potential new memorials, I propose and recommend amending the Policy to insure public participation at the initial approval process. The recommended amendments are: a) The policy will establish a Delaney Park Memorials Task Force, consisting of five (5) members, representing the public at large and including at least one South Addition resident. b) Decision Criteria, item (2), Page 5; should read (new or amended text is underlined): “The Director of Park and Recreation will review written requests and decide if the request is within Department policy. If so, the request will be forwarded on behalf of the person or organization to the Anchorage Park & Recreation Commission and to the Delaney Park Memorials Blue Ribbon Task Force for preliminary concept review. Concurrently the Director of Park and Recreation will post the request on the Department of Park and Recreation’s internet site. The applicant will be notified in writing within 30 days of the resulting decision. If either the Director or the Commission or the Delaney Park Memorials Blue Ribbon Task Force rejects the request, the notification will include reasons for such rejection. c) Decision Criteria, item (3) Paragraph 1, Page 5; add the underlined text: “If the Park and Recreation Commission and the Delaney Park Memorials Blue Ribbon Task Force approve the preliminary memorial concept, the Director of Parks and Recreation will establish a formal Memorial Advisory Committee that will be composed of no less that five (5) members, of which shall include one representative from each of the following: Public Art Commission Urban Design Commission Park and Recreation Commission Delaney Park Memorials Task Force This committee will act in an advisory capacity … (etc)” | |
| Lori Schanche, PLA, ASLA | 12/3/2009 9:19:50 AM |
| This is not so much a master plan as a documentation of what is there with a fixit list of adding new benches, fixing the lawn and needed policies regarding memorials. To quote a nationally known landscape architect, Martha Schwartz whose comments are appropriate here –“this plan forgets the metaphysical and spiritual needs that humans have. These needs can’t be solved by functional diagrams, committees, or consensus. Public spaces designed in that way, with no offense, no disagreement so that everybody will be equally happy – have never been spaces of any memorability or importance. It is the role of the designer or an artist to give a soul to these spaces, and that has to come from the heart. Faceless, bland spaes, are most likley spaces nobody really cares about.” I am saddened that this park was designed by committee. This was a disservice to the park and the community. Instead of creating a plan for a major community park that could be a vital, significant public space, we are now choosing to retain a large undeveloped patchy lawn which signifies nothing except memoralizes a former airstrip. It will always be a former airstrip yet why does it always have to look like one? Place a memorial for it, but don’t retain the feel of it, airstrips are void and blank and faceless. The Park as it stands is a neglected space, and functions mostly to look at while driving by and an area to host a few ballgames and special events and poke a bunch of memorials in. In fact this plan only serves to complement that theme, it does not get poeple 'into' the park, but keeps us on the edges like voyeurs peeking in. The only thing missing is the keep off the grass signs. Its potential is huge, it could be Anchorage’s Central Park, a people place, with trees and fountains, places to stroll and gather, to sit and enjoy and watch others. Why are people so afraid to embrace life to create and enjoy such a space? Funds used to work with the committee would have been better spent by sending some of them to Washington DC where they could have visited the Capital park system – an area that has evolved over time and offers a wonderful, actively used open space interspersed with pathways, plantings, seating areas and memorials. Following are a few comments on the plan; Page 3 of the Plan – centers the outlet of a public plaza on a dilapidated bathroom building. Even if the bathroom is repaired does it really deserve the main attention in this area? Why does the MLK memorial not connect to the public plaza? These two memorials are ignoring each other, and the public plaza in the center could have been the link. A pathway between would allow users to walk ‘in’ the park and be part of it rather than be 'outside the park looking in' follow a walkway along the street. Page 4 – why not connect the park across H Street? What is the spotty grass being saved for? Once again the stodgy citizens of Anchorage have chosen to stay the course and refuse change. This plan is an unimaginative, uninspired, insipid solution which is heartbreaking and a terrible injustice for our community. | |
| Lottie Michael | 10/21/2009 5:18:27 PM |
| Please provide information on the proposed changes. | |