Eric Gottlieb – Memphis Flyer

Decisions will soon be made that will impact the future of Overton Park and the surrounding neighborhoods for years to come. These choices offer insights into our priorities as a city and how those priorities are determined.

In response to growing public outrage over the Memphis Zoo’s continued use of Overton Park’s Greensward for overflow parking, the Memphis City Council passed a resolution specifying parameters for a way forward. The resolution requires building 415 new “front-door” parking spaces that must conform to certain size minimums. It explicitly allows planners latitude to adjust the remaining design elements specified in the resolution.

The Overton Park Conservancy, neighborhood groups, and other supporters of Overton Park raised $1.5 million to support the project. Mayor Jim Strickland then convened a group to hire a designer (they chose Powers-Hill Design, P-HD) and to work out the details of the plan.

City of Memphis

This early draft of the Overton Park parking plan is one document that can be found on the city’s new web page.

P-HD submitted three concepts, each of which transfer almost three acres of parkland to the zoo, significantly more than park supporters understood would be required. Each option includes a “ring road” that places hundreds of moving vehicles per day within arm’s reach of park users. These plans are currently being revised. We ask that city planners consider a number of important questions before settling on a design:

How much parkland will be lost? By using efficient design, a good plan can be developed that costs the people of Memphis far less than three acres of parkland. Some citizen-generated designs even suggest that the resolution’s firm requirements can be met within the zoo lot’s current boundaries. Parks, green lines, and other natural amenities have been shown to attract talented young entrepreneurs and creatives. They are positively associated with health and wellness outcomes in urban populations. Will Memphis recognize the value of free public green space over pavement?

Will there be a ring road? The ring road supposedly addresses congestion, but in fact it just displaces traffic onto what is currently parkland, damaging park users’ experience in the process. Using “free” parkland to solve transportation challenges is reminiscent of the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s discredited and unsuccessful effort to run I-40 through Overton Park decades ago. Will Memphis embrace, protect, and preserve the park experience, or will we sacrifice it by using outdated approaches in an attempt to address traffic flow problems?

What creative measures will be used to address congestion? Developing the zoo entrance on North Parkway into a proper entrance gate would encourage the use of the 350 or so parking spaces there and in the Snowden school lot. This would keep hundreds of cars out of the park entirely. Raising the price of parking and eliminating free parking for zoo members would encourage visitors to walk, bike, bus, Uber, or park for free in Overton Park and nearby neighborhoods. Replacing pay-as-you-enter with pay kiosks or parking apps (as is done downtown and in Overton Square) would avoid backups caused by delays as drivers pay at the gate. Will Memphis reveal its innovative spirit to find creative new solutions?

Will we design with the future in mind? Urban planners tell us that in the next few years, self-driving cars and ride-sharing will become widespread, dramatically reducing the need for parking. Why sacrifice acres of parkland for parking when demand for parking is predicted to fall? Will Memphis be smart enough to plan ahead?

Will public preferences be considered when making major decisions like these? Mayor Strickland made public involvement and transparency a key part of this project. In response, scores of people have filed comments with P-HD, the vast majority of which argued for preservation of parkland, environmentally friendly low-impact development design, elimination of the ring road, and forward-thinking approaches to congestion. A petition advocating similar positions recently gained over 2,000 signatures in just a few days. The public clearly values parkland over pavement. Will Memphis listen and respond to park users’ input?

Memphis has a chance to take its place with forward-thinking cities all around the nation by embracing public green space, innovative traffic solutions, and public involvement. If we can do this project right, it’s a promising sign for our city’s future.

Eric Gottlieb has lived in Memphis since 1998. He administers the Facebook page, Stop Hurting Overton Park.

overtonpark.org

Some describe the clash over the Memphis Zoo’s frequent and unacceptable practice of parking cars on Overton Park’s Greensward as an absurd battle over a grassy lot. In fact, it is about the right of Memphians to actively craft their urban environment.

When I moved to Memphis in 1998, Overton Park’s playgrounds were in disrepair, its infrastructure was crumbling, and crime was common. Today, Overton Park is thriving, thanks to the work of the Overton Park Conservancy and the advocacy and volunteer efforts of park users. Every day, a diverse spectrum of Memphians enjoys renovated playgrounds, large picnic tables for family reunions, a weekly farmers market, fenced dog parks, and more, all without charge.

The Memphis Zoo has also grown during that period, adding four major exhibits, most recently the Zambezi River Hippo Camp, but not one additional parking spot. In response to increased parking pressure, the zoo was temporarily permitted to park cars on Overton Park’s Greensward during times of peak demand.

The Greensward is not an unused field or stretch of vacant land. It is an integral aesthetic design feature of the park, offering pastoral views created with specific scale and proportion. Parking cars there is akin to erecting a cell tower in the middle of the zoo’s beautiful China exhibit. Nevertheless, park users endured this ill-conceived stopgap measure in silence for many years.

Unfortunately, Greensward parking has increased and now occurs on virtually all weekends and holidays when the weather is nice, exactly when people want to use the park. Even when cars aren’t present, tire ruts carved in the soil make the area unsightly and unsuitable for intended uses such as walking, playing Frisbee and soccer, and kite-flying.

In response to rising calls to end Greensward parking, the zoo has sabotaged the efforts of community partners seeking alternative parking solutions. For example, the zoo actively discouraged its members from using shuttles during a trial run in 2014. They refused to partner in or contribute financially to the OPC’s expert-led, public traffic and parking study currently underway.

Recently, the zoo has become more aggressive. They uprooted 27 trees to accommodate more cars, trees that were donated to the OPC by a long-time park supporter and planted in memory of her mother. They are attempting a landgrab by suing for management authority over part of the Greensward. They plan to install a parking surface, a prospect that is unacceptable to park users. The zoo clearly views Greensward parking as a permanent entitlement, not an interim measure.

The Old Forest is another wonderful Overton Park amenity. It is heavily used by runners, cyclists, and walkers; it is an educational resource; and it provides the tonic of wilderness for city dwellers. It is home to an uncommonly wide range of plant and animal species.

Sadly, the zoo has done significant harm to this ecosystem and threatens further injury. In 2008, without warning or soliciting public comment, it clear-cut four acres of rare, old-growth urban forest to make way for its Teton Trek exhibit, which was built in such a way as to expose park users to the kind of industrial views that they go to the park to escape. The zoo plans to develop an additional 17 acres of forest, again with no scheduled opportunity for public comment.

Such development would radically and permanently damage the Old Forest. The zoo should honor its stated values: “The biodiversity of ALL [emphasis theirs] flora and fauna have value and as a zoological and botanical garden we have a responsibility to support their preservation. The destruction, degradation, or loss of functional ecosystems and the species that occupy them is unacceptable.”

Memphians are tired of the zoo management’s elitist and destructive tactics. “Save the Greensward” signs are present in hundreds of yards and businesses around town. Our elected officials have received hundreds of emails criticizing the zoo. Letters to the editor, responses to zoo board members’ editorial columns, and posts on the zoo’s own Facebook feed tilt heavily against the zoo’s heavy-handed tactics. The zoo’s characterization of its critics as a “vocal few” is demonstrably inaccurate.

The zoo is a beloved Memphis institution, but we have accommodated their selfish behavior long enough. We taxpaying Memphians want our park back. It is time for zoo leaders to solve the problem created by their failure to plan for adequate parking within their own boundaries. Whatever form this solution takes, this much is clear: All Greensward parking must end, and no additional park land can be allocated to the zoo.

Eric Gottlieb is a proud Memphian, a daily commuter through Overton Park, and a member of the Memphis Zoological Society.