Evan Wise, an OV neighbor presents our readers with a 7 year plan for the Naranja Park site. We would appreciate your thoughts on his plan, which seems to be clear & concise.
Art
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Our city government rushed to give away millions of dollars in tax revenue to
attract a Wal-Mart to The OV Marketplace. Now they are on a mad dash to
make Naranja Park an equal anchor around the necks of Oro Valley Citizens.
Oro Valley had the chance to provide a beautiful venue for artists, craftsmen,
vendors and boutiques. Galleries, fudge shops, kiosks selling Gelato around
gardens and walkways that would make Oro Valley a winter destination and
attraction. We blew it.
Naranja Park
My viewing of the Naranja Park plan struck me as a great but expensive dream. The architects will likely be paid well for putting their fantasies on paper and the government officials will likely do well by it. What is the realistic solution for Oro Valley?
I offer a proposal and a plan to make the park into an asset for Oro Valley
for years to come. I know there are others in the town that have ideas too and
I would encourage a forum to discuss the potential openly.
I have visited many beautiful city parks. Central Park in New York, Stanley
Park in Vancouver and Hagley Park in Christchurch new Zealand to name a few.
The things these parks have in common are many. They are used often by many
in the community and they are an attraction for travelers as well. They are
multi use parks with museums, gardens, ball fields, running tracks and other
attractions. Naranja Park has the potential to include all these assets on a
smaller scale. The one big difference between all these lovely facilities and
the Oro Valley plan is timing.
The best parks were built by setting aside the land to make them happen. They
grew over many years. That way they serve generations forever. They are
constantly being built and changed. They also become testaments to past
generations that built various aspects of the park.
We may feel that we need a swimming facility or a baseball park or an outdoor
theater but future generations may want different facilities. We need to set
the land aside and start the 150 year process of building a beautiful
facility. Let‚s not rush to judgment all over again!
That is the strategic part my input. Now for the tactical.
Right now there are some things that can be done at a low cost.
Year One
1. Grade a walking-jogging path through the park to set up trails. This is
graded but landscaping, a gravel surface, rainwater runoff management and
adding trees etc. should be done to do the job right.
2. Install a Frisbee golf course through the park. This would require little
investment and would give residents an attraction to the park.
Year Two
1. Install a super playground for kids
2. Develop a program to donate money for a statue in the park in someone‚s
name. Set up publicity to raise money from estates and donations
Year Three
Build a band shell or outdoor stage and provide landscaping for natural
seating
Provide a parking area that is graded and entrances to the park
Year Four
Work to convince the Tucson botanical society or succulent society to develop
a garden around the walking path and locate their facilities in the park
Year Five
Install 2 Soccer fields (no lights- Wrigley field had no lights for years
until a future generation found the money and had the desire to install them)
Year Six
Install one Baseball field and one softball field (no lights)
Year Seven
Observatory to view stars (get a local observatory to donate a scope that is
no longer used)
That should get the thinking process started. By year 150 we should have a
great facility!
Let's get started and use the Asian model of patience and continuous
improvement. Just because we thought of it today does not mean it needs to be
finished today! Hopefully this will get the dialogue started to decide what is
most important and desirable WITHIN the current budget. Let's not sell out to
another low end big box store, give away taxes to do it in the name of
providing revenue to the city.
Evan Wise
2 comments:
Evan is on to something; however, with the excuse of needing fields "for the children", the council will be on a mission.
Evan certainly has an appropriate last name.....Too bad he isn't our mayor.....OV would be in great financial shape.
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