March 20, 2013
Bushmaster Park Neighborhood Meeting
Meeting
started with Ken Durbin providing a report on the crime statistics in the park. Overall the numbers are down from this time
last year. The one concern was the
sexual misconduct, but it seems that urinating in public was part of the
problem and then one report didn’t actually happen in Bushmaster, but was at a
residence next to Bushmaster. Some
discussion was made of the fact that park traffic will be increasing as the
weather warms, so folks should continue to call in when they see something.
The
question was asked about when the bathrooms would be open and Steve Zimmerman
replied that he would look into that.
Next
Steve Zimmerman, Parks Manager of the City of Flagstaff, gave us an update on the
city’s outreach for Bushmaster Park. It
is designed to provide an opportunity for the community to be involved with
deciding how to use the 1996 bond money to develop or improve the park. The meetings will be next Wednesday 27 2013
and April 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Aquaplex.
The hope is that by developing the park and increasing usage, some of
the crime issues will be mitigated. He
stated that several studies had been done to see where the crime was
occurring. They want to come up with a
plan to get input from the neighbors.
Not everything will be possible.
Key things will be access, safety, and positive activities. The April 10 meeting will be a follow up that
will take ideas from the March 27 meeting and provide visual aids. He said it was time for action—lots of
information has been collected, now we need to do something.
One of
the community members brought up efforts 16 years ago and whether the meetings
would be a similar format. Steve
responded that yes it would be similar.
He also stated that no baseball fields would be put in (based on those
previous efforts and the resistance from the public). The city has no plans to pass out flyers, but
Hermosa Vida will likely have a small effort to do so (as will
Marguerite). The flyer is on the city
website and on our Bushmasterparkflagstaff.blogspot.com blog. You can also comment through the city’s
website if you can’t come to the meeting.
Or send an email directly to Steve. (His email is on the flyer).
Next
Mike O’Connor spoke about the Flagstaff Leadership Program’s efforts with
regard to Bushmaster. Mike works for the
city in the public works dept., but was speaking on behalf of the leadership
program (4 other members were also present).
They have adopted Bushmaster as their project (it was between Picture
Canyon and Bushmaster). So they came up
with a list of maintenance items (like horseshoe pit, volleyball courts). Mike took pictures of some of their ideas:
bounce boards in tennis courts, railroad ties around bushes, murals, etc. They will pick some projects that can be done
in one day and hold a community work day.
Invite the public to participate and hope that this will create some
ownership in the park. They are trying
to round up food and materials, but they need the community to come out. They came to the meeting with the hopes of
generating some support among our group.
A mini discussion evolved about murals (community generated) and how
murals have often reduced the graffiti and “tagging” that occurs on public
spaces. The date for the community day is April 27. A mini discussion broke out about the bark
park and improvements to the “equipment”. The question was posed whether these “work
days” could be continued after the FLP program was done (if there was enough
community support). Steve Zimmerman
responded that it would be possible and would be supported by the parks
department. The other question was where
the funds come from and the response was the parks department paid for
equipment and they provided the labor. A
question was posed about outreach to Siler Homes. Other than Marguerite and Isaac passing out
flyers, it did not seem that a focused effort was made. The suggestion was that a concerted effort be
made to outreach to that community in particular. It was also noted that this is a totally
separate thing than the city’s planning effort.
“Mural Joe” was also mentioned as a resident of the neighborhood that
might help out if a mural was the project that was decided on. Another comment was made that parking is
always an issue. Maybe if word got out
that parking is available at Thomas school or a bus from the mall. It should be noted that there is a Mountain
Line bus that goes from the mall right to the park. There will be a flyer distributed that is in
the works. Maybe out by Friday. The plan is to go door to door.
A mini
discussion broke out about what makes something a special event vs a gathering
of individuals. Apparently the rules
surround serving food, bringing in a vendor, requesting exclusive use, or
gathering of more than 50 people.
Glorice is the parks events person.
There will be a lot more concerts in the park in Bushmaster this
year. There will also be a band at the
Easter event.
Another
mini discussion was made about the $1.1 million bond and how the first idea
with support will likely get funded—so there is a press to get something going
at Bushmaster. It will be about
$5-600,000 to build a good sized parking lot.
The thought is that they will try to get something off of Thomas—going over
the drainage.
There
was also a mini discussion about recent maintenance that has been done to the
playground—this was intended to make the playground level and to get rid of
railroad ties. Arroyo park was brought
up as a good example of a new park that was well done.
The last
major topic was by Marguerite. She was
attempting to gauge any interest in forming a neighborhood association for the
area around Bushmaster. An association
could be formed that might write grants to get specific projects done and have
some pull or power with the city and would also build community. Examples are the Sunnyside Association and
the Southside Community Association. There
didn’t seem to be any interest (the term, “crickets” comes to mind). Concerns were that groups are generally
formed around specific goals and if there wasn’t a specific goal, there is no
need for a group and that there needs to be “action groups” more than talking
groups. It seemed folks were more
interested in letting other groups do their thing and supporting those efforts
rather than doing anything for ourselves.
Comments were made that the newspaper is the problem—that their
reporting gives Bushmaster the reputation of being dangerous. The frustration was expressed that we are
just letting the police department run these meetings when we should be running
them as a community. A FLP member
present who lived in Doney Park brought up that they formed a group around a
neighborhood watch—and that people decided not to make it negative—so they
started bringing in speakers (which was an idea that I had mentioned). The lack of feedback from folks on the email
list was a frustration that was expressed.
Nextdoor.com—our web presence was brought up. A mini discussion was started about that online
community. Another FLP member who lives
in Timberline brought up that they had a “neighborhood watch” from the national
program. Another suggestion was made to
have a table set up at the park work day—so folks can sign up to be a part of
different groups.
Steve
brought up another issue about the reclaimed water issue in the city and how
the park will have to reduce the watering by 35%. So Bushmaster will likely be a little less
green this year. Some comments were also
made about the “natural” area and how they don’t cut it regularly for a reason—to
allow the grasses and flowers to seed.
Gangs
were discussed briefly. Yes, there are
gangs in Flagstaff. They aren’t as
organized. Apparently the shooting was
gang related—although all participants were from the same “gang”. Most of the Flagstaff gangs are high school
kids. One participant mentioned that
where he was from, the gangs started as the high school thing and quickly
escalated to something more serious.
Lots of comments were made that the park is much better than it used to
be from those who have lived here a long time.
The idea
of having a staff member at the skate park in the summer—and having hours designated
for different age groups was brought up.
Steve mentioned lack of sufficient staff and liability issues. Also a security camera was brought up. The security camera issue is really
expensive. Steve also suggested that
some of these issues be brought up in the planning meetings. Is the skate park just a perception problem
or is it really a problem? Ken wasn’t
entirely sure the answer. Steve
mentioned that he approached some of the youth in the skate park and felt that
there was just a perception issue. He
told them about the focus group meeting and some of the kids said they would
show up.
Much of
the rest of the meeting consisted of individual discussions (parking lots and
community gardens).
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