Anthony West wrote:
What an odd, and dishonest, way of putting it. More thoroughly and more
accurately:
Here we are, five years later. Thanks to the Clark Park Partnership's
Renewal Plan, since 2001 we have been able to get a new tot lot and a
new older kid's playground installed side by side. Next to to them,
Labor Day 2007, we'll see a new basketball court replace the beat-up old
one, which will include state-of-the-art groundwater runoff control for
43rd Street as an innovative part of its design. These projects
represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in core infrastructure
overhaul for a beloved and heavily used, but dilapidated community park,
that hadn't seen any big investments since 1965. Friends of Clark Park
holds frequent public meetings whenever any substantive development in
the Recreation Dept.'s Renewal Plan for Clark Park is afoot; we are now
amidst a wave of meetings to discuss important changes in the North Park.
Rec Commissioner Victor Richard stated one thing that persuaded him to
throw his weight behind funding the full cost of the basketball court
(the Commonwealth grant Rec had wangled came up short) was the existence
of the Renewal Plan. Big grantors like big plans. Devising the Renewal
Plan was the smartest thing this community ever did, to try to get its
fair share of funds from all sources.
Friends of Clark Park Members were disappointed when Fairmount Park
Commission, responding to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell's vital
intercession, took out one tree we didn't want to lose, along with three
dead trees that were a public danger. But FoCP has planted 100 new trees
since 2001, so the overall health of the park's urban forest is vastly
improved.
FoCP members were surprised when UCD reseeded the Bowl. But no sane
person expects to be in total control of a complex partnership with half
a dozen major players. Furthermore, nobody is actually *opposed to*
growing grass in the park, and it wasn't done on the members' dime. So
the members pitched in to help make the project work.
This year, FoCP will actively facilitate four different groups staging
concerts in Clark Park, in addition to our own: Best Fest, Clark Park
Music & Arts, UCD and Woodland Avenue Reunion. We are linked by a web of
crossover membership, so there is no "us vs. them." Then we go and watch
all the shows and enjoy them.
FoCP went for 30 years without UCD. Adding UCD to the mix has
strengthened the hand of park supporters and made it possible for them
to accomplish more of their own agenda.
UC-list just read two FoCP members, Matt and I, testify with great
clarity and mutual agreement about the climactic park events of 2002.
Each of us is better informed than Ray and his now-vanished Lois Lane
from the Daily Penn of that year. We don't recall co-option because
neither Matt nor I were co-opted and we haven't witnessed co-option of
FoCP by anybody since 2002.
Anybody who wants to learn more about any of this will find FoCP
members, directors and officers easy to reach and easy to talk to in
person. A lot of times we like to hang out around a table at the Green
Line. So unless you think meeting with someone in the Green Line is part
of a sinister plot by hidden powers to rule the world, starting at 43rd
& Baltimore, do it! Call any of us up and we'll arrange it.
When I said you were befuddled on this subject, Ray, I meant it. I don't
mean you aren't smart, or don't work hard at your writings. But you
haven't learned the basics of an issue that you still feel a shrill,
repetitive, angry urge to pass judgement on.
the ucd's co-option of focp, like any co-option, doesn't
happen in one fell swoop, it's a process. thanks for
demonstrating that so nicely here!
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
[aka laserbeam®]
[aka ray]
SERIAL LIAR. CALL FOR RATES.
"It is very clear on this listserve who
these people are. Ray has admitted being
connected to this forger." -- Tony West
----
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the
list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see
<http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
