The BPNA - Parks Committees

BPNA and Benton Park

The BPNA has joined forces with the Park Committee in moving forward with the grant writing pursuits.

I am writing to you regarding Benton Park. You have either been involved with the Benton Park focus group, indicated interest on the membership form or you have been actively involved in the association.

When the Executive Board asked Charles Hooker when the next Parks Committee meeting would be, he stated that it was on the Saturday, February 3rd at 10:00am at the Strolling Bridge in the park. Well, it’s the dead of winter and it is cold! As such, I’m looking for a count of how many people are going to commit to meeting this Saturday. If it’s a small group, I’ll offer my house. If it’s a large group, I’ll have to find a suitable location. Either way, we NEED to meet.

The Executive Board has made the parks one our main goals for 2007 and I have already started on my campaign to champion this cause. With all the recent damage from the July storm and the November ice, the reflecting pool drained and the lagoon loosing it water in a crevasse, the playground deteriorating and the shelter building falling apart….Benton Park is in need of major assistance.

Under Charles guidance, the Parks Committee was already on top of the situation. They had already applied for a grant from the Whitaker foundation. Unfortunately, the grant was too much for just them to handle. They in turn returned our grant application along with a grant of $5,000 to have our application professionally wrote. The intension is to distribute our application to other institutes. With multiple institutes contributing, we may raise enough of the funds needed.

Charles has already chosen the Rome Group to write the grant application and the BPNA has paid half down already. The contract states that a development plan, fund raising effort and the grant application. More details about this as I get them.

This turn of events prompted the BPNA to commit $5,000 from its general fund to the Parks and we also received a generous donation of $1,000 from the Reinecke family. There is also another “anonymous” donation of $5,000 (that has not been approved by the general assembly) in the works. This all totals to $16,000 ($5,000 of which is dedicated to the grant writing) of working capital for the Parks Committee.

This brings us to the City and the 9th Wards funds. As we have been told, the price to the “fix” (not another patch) to the lagoon has always out priced the amount of money that Ken has been able to save. Knowing the streets, sidewalk, dumpsters, and lights need to be kept up, that the 9th Ward is bigger than just Benton Park and that there a 7 other parks outside of the Benton Park neighborhood. It is understandable why Ken can not just redirect all the ward money to just this one thing….no matter how important it is to us. But, we do have a little savings here. In the tune of about $600K.

Ok, we have a grant application being written. If anything, once we get that, we can template it for more grant applications. We have a couple of very talented neighbors who know grant writing and have expressed interest in helping. We have seed money of the grant for our “skin in the game”. We have a Master Plan…albeit 14 years out of date. We have city money to do “stop gap” financing. The only thing that we are missing is design.

Now granted the Rome Group has that as a task but, the park is a CITY park and the city has to approve all design works or you can have the city do the design work and then it’s already approved! All we need to do is outline what we want for the city (the more detailed the better) and they will create the design for us.

So, this all brings us to Saturday. We need to review the Master Plan, identify the parts that need updated and get started. We need to also identify, define and write-up our concept of the target areas. (possible ideas: shelter building, reflecting pool, lagoon, amphitheater in the depressed section, a dog park in the South East section, playground equipment, etc) Get these write-ups to the city so when they create the design, they will do it towards our wishes. Otherwise we end up getting a design the city wants.

Ken asked me to ask all of you to go down to Minniewood Park at S. Broadway & Meramec. They recently received new playground equipment and updated their shelter. As the city only has three choices for playground equipment, we need to look at the three they offer.

Are you excited yet? Will you help? Can we count on your attendance? Let me know as soon as you can! The City is on the move in regards to the ponds and we need to get our ideas in front of them sooner than later.

- Your President,
Todd Brandt
409-1437

All,

I contacted Charles and shared with him the news of how great the response has been to the last mail. He is very excited about the influx of new volunteers.

We will be meeting at my house at 2117 Arsenal St (between Missouri and McNair) at 10:00am.

I have about 20 color copies of the 1993 Master Plane.

Agenda:

Review the Master Plane
Making update suggestions
Outline 5 (or so) initiatives
Create some action items and timelines

I would like to end up with an updated Master Plan that has multiple project initiatives instead of the phased approach. This way, no one project will be dependant on another before it can get started. Then we can send out the list of initiatives and the institutes can pick which one they have an interest in funding.

- An Institute that is about children can fund the Playground initiative.
- An Institute that is about community development can fund the Shelter initiative.
- An Institute that is about nature can fund the Tree planting initiative.
- An Institute that is about music can fund the amphitheater initiative.
- An Institute that is about sports can fund the tennis courts / horse shoe initiative.

Whatever funding we receive, use the City funds to complete the gap in financing to complete that initiative.

Sound like a plan? I know a few you have other commitments and will be unable to attend.

See you tomorrow! Bring pen, paper and a lot of ideas.
-Todd

BPNA Meeting Notes:

All,

For those of you that could not attend, you miss a very productive meeting. This meeting is one of many that are going to get scheduled throughout this year as the park is poised for major renovations! As it seemed that the 1st Saturday of the month is going to be designated a "work days", we will be establishing a monthly meeting schedule as soon as I can pin Charles down on a day.....I'm going to shoot for the 2nd Tuesday of the month. (The 1st Tuesday is the General meeting and the 3rd Tuesday is the Executive Board meeting). Please try to make any meeting you can.

I will be setting up an online survey asking a few questions about how people perceive the park regarding the following issues:

- Current Park use.

- Most enjoyable Park activities

- Perceptions of Safety

- Issues the make the park feel unsafe

- Desired Landscaping and facility improvements

- Desired Maintenance and Security improvements

- Desired park facilities for children and young people

This will give us the ability to see how people are utilizing the park and how they want it improved. Granted, the current members with emails is only 175. So, I'm including the Benton Park West President: Eric Winters in this email. Hopefully he will help us get more input in our survey as Benton Park West uses Benton Park too.

Its a VERY exciting time for Benton Park. Be sure your a part of it!

-Todd

Parks Committee

Meeting Notes: 02/03/2006

Attendance:

Dan Guenther	Chris Rowley	Todd Brandt
Gale Ormiston	Nancy Galvin	Joe Bishop
Bill Hart	Charles Hooker

The meeting was a little slow to start. As the weather was a little on the cold side, the tree planet outing was cancelled. Dan went over to Cherokee Park to ensure that no one was over there waiting. Charles and Nancy made a quick run through Benton Park and collected a couple of bags of trash. Charles did not stay for the meeting but, did give a couple of updates on a few topics and set the next work day for tree planting on 02/24/2006 (although he will not be able to present due to prior commitments) if bad weather, then 03/03/3006.

The meeting began with an overview of the Master Plan from 1993, accomplishments that have been achieved in recent years and talked about the current activity that occurs in the park (both good and bad).

Master Plan – Mission Statement: It was generally agreed that we should update the mission statement with our current plans to incorporate our desire to recreate the historical restoration in reviving the, now lost, Victorian looks.

Master Plan – Existing Conditions:

General Problems: This section is generally still accurate. There were a couple of items that can be moved to the “completed” listed, like the repair of the Gold Ball Bridge Railings.

- Erosion Control - Still an issue. Especially between Jefferson and the tennis courts.

- General Cleanup and Fix-up -Still an issue. We are making a ‘shot list’ of items, that we will present to the Parks Department, that we think would be easy / quick hits. A.) Paint the balls on Gold Ball Bridge gold. B.) Paint/repair trash cans. C.) Request more frequent schedule of emptying the trash cans. D.) Repair the water faucet in flower garden.

- Repair Bridge Rails – Completed. We are taking this as the repair of Gold Ball Bridge in 1996.

- Paint Existing Structures, Etc. – Still needed.

- Need more coniferous Trees – We think this should just be trees in general, not just cone-bearing ones.

- Need Improved Passive Security – Still an issue. We talked about more lightening. Not more of the current security poles lights but more “Victorian” style lightening. Also, tree trimming to increase the canopy, eliminating potential hiding spots.

- Need Activities/Structures to Promote use of Park – See next topic.

Potential Activities: We reviewed the potential activities by comparing the list of items to events that are currently held in the park. Of the ones that we could not directly link to events, we discussed new events that would for fill that listing.

- Socials i.e. Ice Cream – BPNA Picnic - viable and fits the Victorian style.

- Exhibits i.e. Arts and Crafts Fair - Chalk Art – Talked about increasing membership participation and possibly adding local artists exhibits.

- Block Parties/BBQ - NNO - A suggestions was to organize an event during National Night Out.

- Musical Gatherings – There is more about this in the Concept section but, concerts and movie nights are proposed in (what will be) the stage / natural amphitheater.

- Reunions/ Receptions – House Tour - Still viable but, the shelter (specifically the bathrooms) need restored.

- Sports Tournaments – Viable with the restoration of the Horse Shoe Pits and the Tennis Courts. We made a great connection with Cherokee Rec Center in a January meeting and with the coming of the Fleurs-de-Lis, both of which will create more utilization.

- Paddle Boat Races – We are putting this on the back burner do to liability, staffing and storage.

- Remote Control Yaugts - Who can afford them?

- Bocci / Hacky Sack / Frisbee Golf Contests – All viable. Need organization and volunteers.

- Fishing (Pay for what you catch) – As this is free (when there are fish in the lagoon). Lets not change that.

Master Plan – Concepts:

General Overview: During a general discussion, it was evident that the Shelter/Playground, Reflecting Pool and Rec Center was the area that needed the most attention. Not only was this were most of the planned activities will be held but, this is also were the most of the undesirable activities is occurring. We also talked about recreating the “Arching Arbors” that once adored the park of old.

Point of Interest 1 – Reflection Pool: Knowing that Charles has commissioned the Rome group to work on this item, we only talked about concepts that we would like to see incorporated in the finial design.

- Planting of giant lily pads

- Retain the single jet fountain but, add a natural stone base for the water to cascade down.

- On the sloped perimeter, add sporadically placed natural stone outcropping to serve as both planting and seating areas.

- Within the sidewalk area, place four benches on the cardinal points.

- Between the sidewalk and pool, dedicate this whole area as a flower garden.

- Add Victorian appropriate lighting.

Point of Interest 2 – Shelter: Again, this area is part of the Rome group’s commission. We agree to keep the existing points of;

- Improve building appearance to reflect park, Upgrade to meet ADA requirements, More appropriate surface treatment. Soften but improve security

Our conversation built upon these general suggestions.

- One idea (and the most desired) is to restore the shelter bathrooms and rebuild the cage as a Police sub-station.

· Access to both sides of the park are restricted to either Lemp or Jefferson, if the police were stationed at the shelter building, they would have immediate access to both sides of the park.

· These would also place our public security “at rest” were it would do the most good; protecting our investment in improvements and secure the safety of people using the park.

- Another idea, suggested before, was to create a coffee / snack stand out of the cage area.

- In thinking of ways to ‘soften but improve security’ was to remove the cage and leave the roof. This would create an open but covered picnic area.

- Picnic tables should remain out under the North overhang and/or under the shelter (if the cage is removed).

- Restore the BBQ pits to encourage family use (kids in playground, picnic tables out, and pits usable)

- Replace current hard surface on the West side of the shelter and install “Chess/Checkers in the Park” style seats and tables that you find in Washington Square, NY

- Repair the drinking fountains

- Restore the horse shoe pits on the North side of shelter.

- Upgrade playground equipment

- Replace gravel under playground with rubberized surface.

- Shaded park benches for parents to watch their children at play.

Point of Interest 3 – Depressed Section: The plan currently has the restoration of the Lily pound and a bandstand gazebo in the middle of the depressed section. We felt that it would a better utilization of this area by;

- Scratch the lily pound and Gazebo.

- Build a raised stage at the base of the strolling bridge. No structure, as this would cover the wrote-iron grates.

- Add electricity under the strolling bridge to:

· Back light the gates.

· Availability of power for open air concerts and outdoor movie night activities.

· The natural slop of the terrain would serve as sitting area.

Point of Interest 4 – Tennis Courts: We currently have a new hard surface and nets.

- One of the net poles needs repaired and the chain link fence could stand some updates (at least painting).

- The area between the courts and the sidewalk on the Jefferson side needs erosion control.

- Work with Cherokee Rec Center to create Tennis Course.

- Work with United States Tennis Association (we have a contact) to create a tennis program.

Point of Interest 5 – Hecker Monument:

- Plant a flower bed around the base.

- Create a boxwood walk to monument.

Point of Interest 6 – Main Lagoon: Although the lagoon needs major repair in its current state, we were following the assumption that this will get a total rebuild at sometime in the near future.

- Replace the “water gun” with two new water fountains. One in each side of Gold Ball Bridge.

- Recreate the island that used to be in the lagoon. Either by real or artificial (floating).

- Sporadic sections of railings and benches.

We also talked about the other Parks:

- Cherokee Park:

· New trees being planted

· The shelter building getting updated.

- Carnegie Park:

· North side getting either “climbable” sculptures or a dog park.

· South side getting the soccer field permanently established.

- Fremont Park:

· Follow-up on how the dog station pole is doing.

· Playground equipment review

· Ball field review.

Focus Group Meeting Notice:

How Much is “Your Park” Worth to You

How much more valuable would the park named Benton Park be if it welcomed you with renewed and safe recreational areas for children and adults, picnic tables and unbroken benches, restrooms and water fountains, a rebirth of trees and bushes and a waterway that neither leaked or was cluttered with unsightly litter. While the rehabilitation of the Benton Park unused houses continues to improve our neighborhood “our park” has not had the same attention. I have heard the saying from several Benton Park residents that every house that is rehabilitated improved increases the value of my home. No argument exists that a more attractive, family usable and safe park would not be beneficial to everyone who lives in Benton Park.

Your park received its last renovation in the 1950s. The Association paid for a master plan to be completed in 1993, (website link here) and the planners identified issues that still exist in 2006. You, resident of Benton Park, are being requested to provide your personal input on making Benton Park more worthwhile to you. When you completed your application to join the neighborhood association you checked a box stating an interest in your park.

Benton Park Neighborhood Association coordinated by Charles Hooker will be submitting a proposal for funds to renovate our park within the next few months and we need to hear from you - How to make the Park more worthwhile to you. Broad citizen participation will enhance the proposal. Remember no citizen input has been provided since 1993, a generation in the lifetime of Benton Park. As a member of the Association you know the importance of membership participation. Planning the future of Benton Park needs the same enthusiastic innovative participation that is currently going into developing the Association garden.

Focus Group: Planning the Future of Our Park called Benton Park
November 14, 6:30 – 8:30
Epiphany Church 2811 McNair:

It would be helpful if before the meeting you

	Read the 1993 master plan
	Take a walk through the park with a notebook
	Talk with and invite your neighbors to attend

Finally, just ask yourself - is not the future renovation of “Your Park” one of the most important neighborhood issues that will affect the quality of your life in Benton Park.

Focus Group Meeting Notes:

Benton Park “My Park” Focus Group
Thoughts and Observations from Initial Meetings

Two initial enthusiastic focus group neighborhood meetings have been held on October 10th and November 14th. The purpose was to increase dialogue within our community about “my park.” The participants included three members of the Park Committee, long time residents of Benton Park and neighbors who have lived around the park for less than four years.

The dialogue identified a number of common themes on enriching “my park” and revitalizing it through increased utilization. Although the groups were small the participants believed that many more residents would become involved with improved communication and publicity about activities. The success of resident involvement with the community garden was sited as evidence.

Theme 1: Information on Park Planning;

The Master Plan of 1993 should be on the Benton Park Website. The Lafayette and Carondolet Park Master Plans online are good models. Few residents even are aware of their being a Benton Park master plan. The list of accomplishments by the Benton Park Neighborhood Association – Park Committee needs to be visible and understood by residents. No participants outside of committee members had any knowledge of the completed projects and magnitude of work put in by the Park Committee.

Theme 2: Communication and Participation:

Expand efforts to inform and involve Benton Park residents. The Park Committee members have continued to go forth with little or no community participation and expressed some frustration on having received criticism – but no help in the past. Some of the other focus group members spoke of never having heard of any BPNA interest in having extra willing hands. A permanent park bulletin board to announce coming events was one idea. One member expressed a willingness to create an e-mail listing of anyone interested to be informed about planned project activities. The familiar theme of spending more time at monthly Benton Park meetings on relevant issues – such as the Park, and having fewer “outside speakers” was brought up in both meetings.

Theme 3: Perception of Safety;

The focus group participants were individuals who regularly used the park. They iterated that no park would be considered safe at night. More planned activities for the park including hands-on participation was suggested as an effective way to change the perception of those who were fearful. Involving youth and adults who use Cherokee Recreational Center in park improvement was suggested.

Theme 4: Possible Park Improvements:

The focus groups will be used to react specifically to the concept plan which will be developed by an architect hired by the Park Committee in support of a future proposal. The following list is provided to provide the readers with some of the ideas.

	Removing the building in the middle of the park.
	Creating an appropriate park theme/purpose for that central area
	Constructing a pavilion or covered structure for picnics, gatherings and getting out of the sun
	Creating a “central walkway” as the gathering place for central events: ie chalk art, displays
	Updating the playground
	Requesting a police sub-station similar to the one in Lafayette Park
	Planting additional trees consistent to park’s theme
	Improving lighting /tennis court lights on all night
	Enhanced sitting or gathering opportunities around the fountain
	Acquiring Doggie bag dispensers
	Planting additional landscaped gardens at park entrances
	Sponsoring annual well-publicized activities utilizing the park
	Establishing a not-for-profit organization to support park
	Creating unique signage and flags for the park
	Planning Benton Park improvement within a total plan that includes the other three parks, the neighborhood garden and the Cherokee Recreational Center located our neighborhood
	Involving Benton Park West residents in planning and implementation ideas

Now that you have read the article you have more knowledge of what is possible. If you would like to be invited to participate please contact John Doggette: telephone: 802-8938.

Last updated: Friday, November 14, 2008