Tag: Citizens to Preserve Overton Park

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At Large Opinion

Greensward Redux

Cars parked on the Greensward (Photo: savethegreensward.org)

Let us hearken now to those halcyon days of 2016, back to the difficult final months of the Great Battle of the Greensward. For those of you new to the history of the Kingdom of Memphis, let me share the tale: The Memphis Zoo — led at that time by a rather intransigent fellow named Chuck “You and the Horse You Rode In On” Brady — had begun to allow increasing numbers of cars to park on the Overton Park Greensward, a large, flat, grassy field used by park patrons for Frisbee football, soccer, picnics, and the occasional drum circle.

Over several years, the zoo kept expanding its parking footprint, finally going so far as to set up temporary fencing across the middle of the Greensward — usually on nice weekend days. On one side of the fence were people doing the aforementioned park things. On the other side were cars, SUVs, trucks, and the occasional bus, which left dead grass, mud, and deep, rutted tire tracks in the Greensward, rendering it useless for recreation even when it wasn’t being parked on.

Things started getting really heated in 2014. Park lovers formed groups: Get Off Our Lawn (GOOL) and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP). Activists stood on nearby street corners urging zoo patrons to park on nearby streets, rather than despoiling the Greensward. Aerial photographs were taken that showed just how much of the people’s parkland was being taken over by a private entity. The pictures got national attention. Protestors were arrested. Houses all over Midtown bore signs urging Memphis to save the Greensward. Then the zoo cut down some trees. Some activists threatened to begin spray-painting cars. A zoo sign at the park entrance was defaced. Things were tense.

And then, in the winter of 2016, newly elected Mayor Jim Strickland managed to get both sides into mediation. After months of costly negotiation, a compromise was struck. The zoo would be allowed to enlarge its lot to 415 spaces, taking some of the Greensward, but with the great majority of the land being preserved. The zoo subsequently announced that it would build a parking garage on nearby Prentiss Place and wouldn’t need to expand its lot. Huzzah! Parking on the Greensward was a thing of the past. Peace reigned in the Kingdom.

At least it did until last Friday night at 5:06 p.m., when the zoo and city issued a joint press release stating that the Prentiss garage project was being scrapped because it was too expensive and that the zoo would go back to the lot-expansion plan, and, oh, while it was being expanded, the zoo would once again be letting its customers park on the Greensward. Enjoy your weekend. Nothing to see here.

This is some seriously tone-deaf policy and very stupid politics. The zoo has amply demonstrated over the past five years that it can operate without parking on the Greensward. The zoo has also amply demonstrated that it has the resources to raise millions of dollars from its patrons and funders. Now it can’t afford a parking garage? There’s an aroma of fish here. You don’t do a Friday night news dump unless you know you’re doing something that doesn’t bear scrutiny in the light of day.

Activists are already meeting and planning. This move is not going to play well with those who went through all this drama five years ago. And I need not remind those who’ve lived here a while that Overton Park has been under assault before, and that its supporters (then derided as “little old ladies in tennis shoes”) once managed to defeat the mighty U.S. government when it announced plans to split the park with Interstate 40 more than 50 years ago. Overton Park is the only place in the country where I-40 was stopped and forced to take a detour.

The force is strong in this place, this Old Forest, this people’s park. There is a history here, and the Memphis Zoo and the city of Memphis would be wise to take a cue from it.

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News News Blog

City’s Zoo Parking Plan Gets A ‘Nope, Nope, Nope’

The city’s concept for the Memphis Zoo’s expanded parking plan got a big thumbs down from park advocacy groups Thursday, reviews that can be summed up in three words: “Nope, nope, nope.”

Get Off Our Lawn filed an open records request for the proposal (so did the Memphis Flyer to no avail) and the group published it on Facebook Thursday.

Here’s the PDF of the plan:

[pdf-1]
“Approximately two acres of public parkland would be paved and converted to private use,” said the group’s Facebook post. “Nope, nope, nope.”

An equally stinging review of the plan was published by GOOL’s parent group, Citizens to Protect Overton Park (CPOP).

“We oppose this land grab,” read a Facebook post from CPOP. “There’s no good reason to sacrifice two acres of irreplaceable public parkland for a handful of private parking spaces.”

But the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) and the city of Memphis urged patience in the process and explained that the plan published Thursday was a concept, and is by no means final.

Here’s OPC’s statement in full:

“We wanted to briefly talk about the parking project document that’s making the rounds on social media this afternoon.

This draft represents the City engineer’s first revision to the plan that was proposed at the July 19 City Council meeting. No action is meant to be taken based on this concept, and it will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before construction documents are created.

In both the original July 19 draft and this July 27 draft, the ridgeline of the proposed berm separating the Greensward from the Zoo parking lot remains in the same place.

In the July 27 version, some of the additional Zoo parking spaces have been distributed closer to that ridgeline. This was done to visualize one option for accommodating the Council amendment that called for all spaces to be 10’ x 20′.

After reviewing this draft with the city engineer last month, Overton Park Conservancy asked for some changes to the document. Out of concern for the health of mature magnolias on the Greensward, we asked that the spaces added around those trees be redistributed. We also discussed the appearance that the section of Overton Park Avenue adjacent to the park will be opened to vehicular traffic, and it’s our understanding that it will not be.

The city is preparing to issue a request for proposals for a design firm to create the plan that will actually be implemented. We expect to see the next round of revisions during that process, which will also solicit input from the public. We’re eager to begin that phase and work together to resolve this long-standing issue.”

Here’s the city of Memphis statement:

“A draft map of parking plans at Overton Park is circulating social media, but we want to make sure you have the context for it.

It’s important to note that this map, which was obtained in a public records request, is just a concept that will be subject to more revision before construction. We are preparing to start the process to hire a design firm that will create the final plan.

We’ll work to keep you informed in the coming months as we seek public input and as this plan is implemented. In fact, we were already planning a meeting internally next week to get the ball rolling on communications and outreach plans.

We owe you a timeline on implementation, and we’ll check back in when we have it.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Two Great Beers, Two Great Causes

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

John Klyce Minervini

Church Health Center’s Marvin Stockwell and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park’s Jessica Buttermore enjoy craft brews for a tasty cause.

I’ve heard it said that Memphis is the biggest small town in America. To judge from the beer, I think it might be true. This weekend, Memphis Made Brewing debuted two craft beers, each tied to a local event and an important cause.

The first is Rocket #9, an IPA that will be served over the weekend at Church Health Center’s 9th annual Rock For Love concert series. (click here to see the complete schedule)

Where flavor is concerned, Rocket #9 is understated and oaky. Made with Pacific Gem Hops from New Zealand, it’s a contemplative pale ale with notes from the forest floor. Perfect for a late-night conversation, or unwinding after a punk rock concert. Pezz, anyone?

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s Rocket #9 IPA will be served this weekend at Rock For Love.

The cause is even tastier. For 28 years, Church Health Center been providing low-cost health and wellness care for the working uninsured. Today, more than 60,000 people in Shelby County are counting on them.

“We’re helping this city get healthy and stay healthy,” says CHC communications director Marvin Stockwell. “And one of the ways we do that is by taking care of Memphis’s hardworking musicians.

“What an amazingly generous group of people,” he continues. “Not to mention, they make the best music in the world. I mean, come on. You can’t go wrong with that.”

This year, in addition to a badass music lineup, Rock For Love will feature a dunk tank, a comedy showcase, and a pop-up fitness park. So drink a beer already! It’s for charity.

The second craft brew is Memphis Made’s Greenswarden. It will be served this Saturday at Get Off Our Lawn’s Party for the Greensward, which features a great lineup of local bands.

Here’s the issue. The City of Memphis allows the zoo to put their overflow parking on the Greensward (the big field in Overton Park, the one by Rainbow Lake). They’ve been doing it for about 20 years. But Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP)—the group behind Get Off Our Lawn—say they’ve had about enough. 

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John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s ‘Greenswarden’ hefeweizen will be served at Saturday’s Party for the Greensward.

“It’s public land, and they’re making a profit off it. We think that’s wrong,” says CPOP president Jessica Buttermore. “They’re not planning for their parking needs. Instead, they’re dumping it on the city and the surrounding neighborhood.”

“Our mission is to protect the park,” she continues. “As public land, it should be free for us to use.”

As a hefeweizen, Greenswarden is slightly cloudy with a balanced, fruity flavor. Don’t laugh: at my tasting, we even thought we detected notes of bubblegum. Only we couldn’t decide which one. Bubblicious? Fruit stripe?

“I don’t know if I would go brand-specific,” cautions Memphis Made co-founder Andy Ashby. “I guess I don’t really chew enough gum to pin it down.”

As for Memphis Made, Ashby says brewing beers for important local causes is right in the brewery’s wheelhouse.

“We’re not like these big breweries,” Ashby says. “We can’t make it rain t-shirts and coozies. But one thing we can do is make a beer for a cause we believe in.”

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made Brewing co-founder Andy Ashby

Categories
News The Fly-By

Get Off Our Lawn

Memphis Zoo overflow parking on the Greensward

Cars parked on Overton Park’s Greensward are not an uncommon sight when the Memphis Zoo parking lots fill up, but Citizens to Preserve Overton Park’s (CPOP) new campaign called “Get Off Our Lawn” wants them to do just that.

The city and the zoo have long had a handshake agreement that allows parking on the Greensward, the large, wide-open field that surrounds Rainbow Lake and the park’s new playground. The fight to reverse that agreement has been simmering for about as long as the agreement has been in place.

But some members of the CPOP hope to bring that fight to a boil with its new campaign. They say the damage done to the park is “unacceptable” and want the Greensward restored to “a calm public space, not a chaotic private parking lot.” 

CPOP member Stacey Greenberg (an occasional Flyer contributor) walked to the northern end of the grassy Greensward Thursday morning until she reached the edge of a dirt driveway — packed as hard as concrete — that leads from the zoo’s parking lot to the field.   

“It’s sad, and you can tell it’s been going on for a really long time,” Greenberg said, looking at the dirt driveway. “We’ve all come to sort of accept this as part of the park, but it doesn’t have to be. We want them to get off our lawn before it becomes a dust bowl.”

When the zoo’s parking lots fill up, incoming vehicles are directed to the dirt driveway and then on to the park’s field, near where people picnic on blankets, walk their dogs, and let children run around. Parking on the field creates a loud, dusty environment that runs against the original, peaceful intent of the green space, Greenberg said. On a busy day, the fleet of vehicles can easily take up a third of the entire Greensward.

A zoo official said the Greensward was used for parking on 64 days in 2012 and 63 days in 2013. The field is used when the zoo has exhausted all other options.

“The Memphis Zoo certainly understands that parking is a problem, and we respect this group’s desire to find a solution,” said zoo spokesman Abbey Dane.

Overton Park Conservancy spokeswoman Melissa McMasters said her group and the zoo are working together for a long-term solution to the problem. The zoo has long considered building a parking garage on its property but those plans have been stymied by cost concerns; the last garage plans were priced at $5 million. 

“That process won’t happen overnight because it will likely require a good deal of fund-raising, but it is a high priority for us,” McMasters said. 

Dane said the zoo and the conservancy have an agreement that if a garage was built, the zoo would no longer use the Greensward for parking.

In the meantime, Get Off Our Lawn has suggested running shuttles from Crosstown or the new parking garage at Overton Square. The conservancy is exploring this idea for peak visiting days, McMasters said, as well as improving bike and pedestrian access to the park. A series of public hearings in May will focus on enhancements to park entrances.

Until any of that can happen, though, cars will continue to park on the Greensward.

Categories
News

How Cool Is It in the “Old Forest” Right Now?

From the blog: “I measured a 13 degree difference as I traveled from parking lots and clearcuts to urban shade and sunlit greeenswards and finally to the rich shade of the Old Forest. All within a 1 mile radius of each other.

“Since the Old Forest is Memphis’ natural state — what we approach when we let up on the chainsaw and lawnmower — the 87 isn’t special, it’s normal. We complain about the heat in Memphis, but a good chunk comes from the artificial climate we’ve created with bulldozers, which we then have to over-correct with the artificial climate of air-conditioning …”

Read it all at CPOP’s website.

Categories
News The Fly-By

New Growth

CREDIT: Mary Cashiola

The first time Citizens to Preserve Overton Park dug its heels into the Midtown park, it beat back an expressway, changing the face of Memphis.

This time around, the group is fighting to preserve the same area of old-growth forest, but the threat is much closer to home.

Originally founded in 1957, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park was revived several months ago when several park-users noticed that four acres of forest near the Memphis Zoo had been felled.

“We were shocked by the clear-cut the zoo did for its Teton Trek exhibit,” says Naomi Van Tol, one of the organization’s new leaders. “We didn’t want to see it happen again.”

Van Tol lives half a mile from the park and takes her 2-year-old daughter there two or three times a week to play on the playground or go to the zoo.

“I went to the zoo with my toddler and saw bulldozers and backhoes cutting down trees,” Van Tol says. “For about three weeks prior to seeing that, the Northwest Passage had been closed off, so I hadn’t been to that corner of the zoo. … By the time it reopened, most of the trees were on the ground.”

The zoo says it did not clear-cut the area but protected trees that could be included in construction plans. But the construction came as a surprise to Park Friends, an advocacy group that considers Overton Park its primary focus and includes a representative of the zoo on its board.

In a statement on its website, Park Friends says it became aware of “an extreme level of tree clearing” only after the damage was done: “Because of the impact of the tree cutting on the contiguous forest and the Zoo’s disregard for the environment outside their boundaries, Park Friends is compelled to voice our concern and disappointment that an organization with such a connection to the environment would disregard the very tenets we assume it espouses.”

More concerning to Citizens, the zoo controls an additional 17 acres of undeveloped old-growth forest. The area has been behind a chain-link fence for about a decade and is land the zoo plans to one day use for its expansion.

“This was something that obviously was beneath a lot of people’s radar,” Van Tol says. “Somebody needed to bird-dog the zoo and keep an eye on this.”

Van Tol and a few others decided the best idea would be to revive Citizens to Preserve Overton Park. So far, about 60 people have signed up to be members.

On a recent Saturday, about 15 people met for one of the group’s monthly hikes on Overton Park’s old-forest trail. It was a beautiful morning and once on the lush trail — a onetime bridle path — the forest was cool and inviting.

Van Tol, the hike leader, pointed out different varieties of plants, including poison ivy, grape vines, stinging nettle (don’t let it touch your bare legs), and baby oaks “waiting for their chance” to grow into trees should a spot in the forest canopy open up.

At one point, the hikers climbed over a tree fallen across the dirt trail; at another, they ducked underneath one.

Near East Parkway, a siren wailed in the distance, but for the most part it was calm and quiet.

“You feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, but you’re in a really small forest,” Van Tol says. “When humans first came here, this is what they saw. … This is a link to the natural system.”

After the hike, Van Tol led participants past the fenced 17 acres and to where the Teton Trek exhibit is being constructed.

Roy Barnes began making maps of Overton Park for the group and recently joined the board. He’s now waiting for updated Google Earth images of the park so he can contrast before and after shots of the Teton Trek area.

“People won’t be able to hide — it will be obvious what’s happened,” he says. “If the fence means we own it, we control it, now they’ve shown the danger of what that power is.”

The group hopes to convince the zoo to take down the fence, let park users go there, and not develop it.

“The four acres is gone; we can’t bring that back,” Van Tol says. “We think the zoo has plenty of space to improve and expand within its current boundaries. They don’t need to keep moving outward. It’s a very suburban model.”

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park will host a public meeting Thursday, June 5th, at Rhodes’ Blount Auditorium from 7 to 8 p.m. for interested parties.

“We’re paying tribute to the people who worked so hard to protect what we have today,” Van Tol says. “We’re finishing their work.”