The Naperville Park District board meets tonight and has a short but significant agenda to tackle. Fresh from hiring Ray McGury to be executive director, the board will conduct a special meeting behind closed doors to consider an invitation to buy the Ponds of Hobson West property. Then the board is set to discuss the Ponds offer in -- gasp -- open session. Then maybe it will act on this latest offer to buy 6 acres for $2.5 million and we can all finally see the matter put to rest for good, or until there's another scheme to unload the land.
Then the park board is expected to hear from people who use the community garden plots on West Street, part of the 300-acre Martin-Mitchell bequest in the heart of Naperville that includes Central high school, Naper Settlement, Edward Hospital, Knoch Park, Naperville Cemetery and Sportsman's Park. Some powerbrokers feel strongly that those garden plots are an underutilization of prime property. They can't stand to see that land used so passively, and every day that the land sits unimproved without some sort of ballfield or recreation center on it just brings them more pain.
Some gardeners and their dirty hoes have caught wind of this, and like freshly spread manure they don't like what they smell in the air. So, in typical Naperville deliberative fashion, the board is expected to hear from gardeners about initiating a process to gather public input about the fate of the garden plots.
Let's cut to the chase. Forget all the other components of the Martin-Mitchell property. Let's just talk about the garden plots. Should they stay there on West Street? There are some who are drooling over that land, and want to set up the green thumbs elsewhere. What say you? Do you agree the property is underutilized? Is it right to relocate the garden plots for the benefit of more active recreational pursuits?
Those who would argue the garden plots are "underutilized" had better be careful with their rhetoric. The same argument of underutilization could be used for each and every baseball diamond. Both are seasonal activities and gardening actually has a longer season. Same concept holds true for football fields though football has a much shorter season.
Another thing to keep in mind is that one we establish the precedent of getting our way by pushing and shoving other users out we leave ourselves open to be fair game to have that happen to ourselves some day. None of us can predict the future and when or how recreational pursuits may start to swing in favor of other or even possibly new sports. What if, for example, tennis took off and skyrocketed in popularity? Can you imagine the outcry from all of the baseball dads if the tennis moms wanted to tear down baseball diamonds and turn them into tennis courts?
The good news is that we don't have to change one single use in any of the open spaces adjacent to West Street. All of the existing uses and users can and should stay put. In the last two decades Naperville has doubled in population. We now have more people wanting to participate in traditional recreational activities and an even larger number of people interested in even non-traditional activities. We also have hundreds of parks spread throughout Naperville and dozens of school. All of these parks and schools are loaded with open space and the vast majority of it is truly underutilized. There are dozens of parks that lie fallow with no defined purpose, no organized activities, and totally devoid of any recreational amenities.
It would cost taxpayers less money to improve unimproved ground and distribute baseball diamonds, soccer fields, football fields, etc though out the city in the parks and school that currently are not being used for recreation and/or which are underutilized. Parking would be less of an issue for those attending a game in a neighborhood park or at a neighborhood school. Storm water retention would be less of an issue in a neighborhood park. Convenient access and not dealing with downtown traffic would be added benefits among others.
By concentrating usage along West Street there will be additional traffic, additional traffic accidents, additional pedestrian accidents, parking issues, storm water retention issues, plus the added cost of tearing down and relocating existing activities.
There actually are dozens of school locations where the park board and the school boards can and should be working together in a spirit of cooperation to create new recreational facilities that can be mutually shared for the benefit of the entire community. Both the school board and the park board are supported by the same taxpayers. Both the school board and the park board serve the same age group that make up the largest single block of recreation users. These are "no brainers" that should be leveraged to their maximum potential before there is any discussion of either tearing down and changing existing uses or either the park or schools create any new facilities that are not of such dual purpose. If we truly want to increase the utilization of recreational facilities then leveraging the possibilities of the park and schools working together will give us far greater utilization than anything either group working individually can accomplish. And increased utilization will translate into better and more efficient use of tax dollars by both taxing bodies. This is a WIN-WIN-WIN situation for taxpayers, the schools, and the parks.
Q.
Several years ago, I asked the head of strategic planning for a Fortune 50 corporation what criteria he used to determine his recommendations?
A.
Money!
I suspect the efforts here at have more to do with social engineering and PC politics than little kids kicking the ball.
Q
"Let's just talk about the garden plots. Should they stay there on West Street?"
A.
What will the various options cost and who will pay for it? If we need more ball fields, why not build them at the expanded Nike Park while making the improvements necessary to move Ribfest to Nike? Ribfest needs a home unless someone can figure out how to make people stop dieing.
**What are the Real Objectives?
What have the gardeners and the little plants done to deserve such rough treatment?
If ball fields replace the garden plots, does that mean the real objective of getting rid of the people shooting clay pigeons can finally be achieved? The evil boy scouts are also squatting on the public lands and have to be dealt with.
Are plants, shotguns and Boy Scouts intrinsically evil or just the ideolog zealots that want to move them off the property?
In some ways this sounds like the makings of a good western with the cattle barons running the little farmers off the land using hired thugs. In this case, the greedy Naperville Baronets want to run the little farmers off the land using the Park Board to do the dirty work. A Mid-Western in the making.
The Park Board is far cheaper than hiring thugs for the job and it maintains legality; too bad the Cattle Barons didn’t think of this one, but then we wouldn’t have had all those good range war movies I watched as a kid.
Perhaps we can attract Mel Brooks to film a Blazing Saddles remake at the Martin Mitchell property should this get more traction. The Baronets can play themselves as no one is better suited for their parts. Mounted on horsed, wearing black hats, black outfits and black riding boots with bull whips should make a great picture.
The prime movers and shakers on this one are the League of Women Voters and their allies; I strongly suggest that everyone read their web site, action and advocacy section. http://naperville.il.lwv.org/
In the old days they (LWV) scored political candidates on things like schools and wasteful spending, they have come a long way baby.
Some powerbrokers feel strongly that those garden plots are an underutilization of prime property.
Was it "Some powerbrokers" who decided that the Riverwalk would make a nice park? Now we call them "visionaries" for creating a gem of a park.
Anyone who is unbiased will agree that the land is underutilized and it is in everyone's best interest to use it better. Garden plots are great and should be expanded and decentralized. Multiple locations around the city could host the plots - meaning less driving for the gardeners. It is truly a win-win.
Won't someone think about honoring the 9/11 memory?