On 4/18/2010 1:47 PM, mcget...@aol.com wrote:
Do any of you know what is planned for 43rd and Baltimore? Does
anyone have a suggestion for a good use for this large and
nicely-situated property?
Mary,
I'm really glad that you reminded us about the recent history on that
property. The portion of Clark Park across the street is going to be
turned into a sitting garden and grand plaza, much like the entrances to
grand old estates of Europe. The grand plaza of gravel will have a high
maintenance fountain and moveable tables so that it can be like an
outdoor coffee shop. The part of the park by the HMS school will be
turned into a high maintenance garden.
In the DP, we recently learned that Clark Park trees will also be
coming down because they are too close and too old. (The tree killing
was only leaked in the DP and not the other papers) With the trees gone
too, the park will be completely transformed because everything else
(turf, sidewalks, etc) will be ripped out, changed and replaced.
I suspect that highly profitable upscale luxury condominiums with tax
abatements will be built on that parcel.
The real estate marketing to suburban buyers is probably believed to go
much better if Clark Park looks like a suburban office park. It seems
like the aesthetic "vision" Penn Real Estate has for the park is like
those large suburban housing developments where they take down all the
trees and put in rows of trees with white and pink flowers.
The new push for a redesign of this part of the park started about 3
years ago. They got tax payer money and cloaked it as "grants" and
Nutter and Blackwell awarded them to this Clark Park Partnership as our
Rec centers crumbled. We can't know exactly what goes on in dark back
rooms. But we can be certain that it is no good, and we can be certain
that common people lose out and pay in many ways. I think the fate of
the two sides of 43rd St are connected by visions of dollar signs
dancing in a few people's heads.
I think it is critical to contemplate: If the public is not allowed to
know anything about this unaccountable, closed, secret, Clark Park
Partnership, what is the chance that people will have any right to know
about anything else? If we had a right to be involved in any
transformations in the community, it would be a right to participate in
the decisions over public spaces.
Glenn
