What is National Park(ing) Day you may ask, and that's just what I was wondering when it came through an email today. I was intrigued so I linked through to the 'Conserving Land for People' website. Essentially the goal is to celebrate parks in cities and promote the need for more parks by creating temporary public parks in public parking spaces. National Park(ing) Day is Friday, September 19, 2008.
Okay so we are not a big city devoid of greenery and open space, but it got me thinking just the same. Here on the Plateau we have open space all around, should we be concerned about parks? I think we should. The economy might be weak now but our building moritorium is soon to be lifted and the building boom will be ON. As our downtown grows will small pockets of greenery be preserved or better yet implemented into design plans. I wonder about these things.
How great would it be to have a small kids park downtown Enumclaw with monkey bars, tire swing and the whole deal. The logging memorial is wonderful and Rotary park is truly a blessing, but how long do either hold the attention of a 5 year old?
... and what about Enumclaw's development of a city wide equestrian theme? Wouldn't it be cool to see hitching post and horses calmly munching grass waiting for their loyal owners to finish their beer at the local 'saloon'. I mean really what's an equestrian theme without a few trails leading into town and designated "hitch your horse" areas.
What do you think? Start letting your city (whether Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Buckley or Burnett) know what you'd like your town to look like. They'll never be able to satisfy our needs if we don't speak up.
September 9, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It all sounds very utopian. There are plenty of other parks with monkey bars to drain the City budget during these lean economic years. Plus, if you look at the skateboard park, this tells you that government should not be involved in the entertainment business.
Jean,
Perhaps as we recover from our economical situation in this County, State and country... these ideas will be looked at, expanded and improved upon. I think horses downtown might prove to be a traffic hazard and waste removal an issue however... A new restaurant within or around the area where the City is planning an equestrian theme that will accommodate horse and riders sounds great and very inviting. I think it would promote and entice the MANY horsemen and horsewomen in our community to regroup and participate in other events at this site. Insurance might be the big hurdle for something like this. It would take just one spooked animal to ruin a well thought out plan. I think your idea is lovely and it makes me long for the day when I was a kid in 4-H showing my horse in the western pleasure category. There are pros and cons to this, but I like the positive spin and the pull your suggestion puts on my storage of wonderful feelings regarding a simpler lifestyle. Hey...we could issue "horse diapers" to the horses and any collected waste could go into a community composting site! Yep... I love a positive spin. Blessings!
Thanks for the comments. I hope more people will get involved in voicing a vision no matter how "utopian" they may seem. If the city wants an equestrian theme I really think that theme needs to be embraced and explored and perhaps even a little extreme. Bottom line, we need tourism and the B&O taxes tourism generates.
Horses downtown...there will always be valid reasons not to have them, but there are also many reason why we should try. It's just a matter of details and finding solutions.
Post a Comment