City Parks/Greenways

[rolly]

A snap from a recently posted youtube.

[markhollin]

Nashville Metro looking to acquire 10 acres for a new city park in southeast Nashville off Tusculum Rd.

More at Fox17 News here:

https://fox17.com/news/local/mayor-metro-working-to-acquire-10-acres-for-new-city-park-in-south-nashville-john-cooper-development-tusculum-road?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.01.14 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

[markhollin]

Bicentennial Mall (courtesy of MyNashvillePhotos):

 

[markhollin]

Parthenon at Centennial Park (courtesy of Chantel Overbey Photography):

[markhollin]

Bicentennial Mall during the New Year's Eve Celebration a few weeks back:

[markhollin]

More problems with Church Street Pocket Park:

Church Street Park’s revitalization project has encountered the latest of a string of obstacles as it now no longer has its outside consultant.

The Historic Capitol Corridor Foundation was unable to reach an agreement to renew its contract with New York-based Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corp., which was responsible for the park revitalization project throughout 2021 and whose contract ran out in December. The HCCF told the Post this was because the organization prefers to contract with a local firm to continue the work going forward. But BRV President Dan Biederman emailed various stakeholders this week informing them that he was no longer working on the project in part due to a dispute over pay.

Biederman Redevelopment Ventures spokesperson John Goodman confirmed the nature of the complaint:

"It’s true that The Historic Capitol Corridor Foundation has decided to end our partnership at Church Street Park. And it’s true they owe us considerable money. Around $200,000. We have been asking for payment for the past due for five months. Their response has been to not pay us our past due."

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/politics/metro/church-street-park-revitalization-contract-not-renewed-for-2022/article_d4330ab2-7965-11ec-9563-f3f78a00b876.html

[nightranger36]

I thought the homeless had to have this park.How are they surviving with it closed this long? I am not happy about this at all. Not surprised however.To blame it on covid is laughable,also. Back to square one I guess,and no money too. UGH! Losing faith

 

[donNdonelson2]

3 minutes ago, nightranger36 said:

I thought the homeless had to have this park.How are they surviving with it closed this long? I am not happy about this at all. Not surprised however.To blame it on covid is laughable,also. Back to square one I guess,and no money too. UGH! Losing faith

 

Church Street Park isn’t closed.

[smeagolsfree]

More than an obstacle I would say. It's a downright embarrassment for Metro! You can't blame it on Covid as you are either funded or you are not funded as those programs were free to the public. Again, it looks bad for Cooper who rushed the renovation through council to get this done and a black eye for those involved with this foundation. 

Pouring money into a losing bottomless pit for 20 plus year's has got to tell you somethings wrong with the park at that location. Either turn the park over to a private foundation or sell it off. I think we have a buyer waiting in the wings!

[Rick Dalton]

Just sell it, it’s not really an attractive park anyway. It’s so small and full of homeless.

[MLBrumby]

That article from NP is very embarrassing to Mayor Cooper!  If he can't do the "little" things with apparent strong support and a half-million dollar budget, then who expects he can do anything big? Cooper should hope this park doesn't become a metaphor for his time as mayor, or his first term will be his last. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by MLBrumby

[BnaBreaker]

I will never understand why Metro is so fixated on this damn park.  I mean I'm all for creative additions of green space in urban areas, but this ain't it!

[Auntie Yock]

They need to cut the crap and build the Paramount.

[markhollin]

Bicentennial Mall (courtesy of MyNashvillePhotos):

[markhollin]

Nat Caldwell Memorial Park (15 acres and 1.8 miles of shoreline along Old Hickory Lake) near Gallatin may be getting some upgrades. 

The plan is subject to change as funding and feasibility are further determined. But initial goals of the plan include:

- To provide a gateway entrance to Gallatin

- Clean up water and address shoreline erosion in that area of Old  Hickory Lake.

- Increase walkability and connectivity with surrounding neighborhoods.

- Create diverse recreation activities.

New amenities that could be considered based on the plans include a water ski course, white sand beach, soccer fields, greenway trails, kayak and canoe trails, nature education stations and restroom and changing area at the park.

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/sumner/gallatin/2022/01/26/ski-course-beach-soccer-gallatin-explores-plan-revitalize-nat-caldwell-park/6590767001/
 

[markhollin]

Sunnyside Mansion (circa 1850) restoration and Sevier Park improvements have gone out for bidding. Improvements will include public restrooms and an outdoor cafe/seating area.
 

[CaptainJilliams]

Not sure if this is the appropriate place for the article, could go under the 'Accolades' thread, but Stacker released their Top 50 List for 'Cities with the Most Green Space per Capita' and Nashville was ranked #5, ahead of many prominent cities.

https://stacker.com/stories/3343/cities-most-green-space-capita

[smeagolsfree]

I am confused. Are they listing the green space in Davidson County and then doing the Metro population or are they taking the green space in the metro area? The way they do their metrics on some of these studies are screwy for sure. They do not define what their metrics are for the article.

It's a good list to be on regardless of the methods used, I think.

[AsianintheNations]

Agreed, I took a look at the source spreadsheet and there's no explanation of how they arrived at these numbers (or why the data are largely invariant from 2000 to the present). I can't think of a way to calculate green space per capita this that won't be pretty arbitrary. Certainly using the MSA instead of the city limits is already suspect.

One clue as to methodology is simply how much green space are they implying we have? For Nashville, that list gives a whopping 57,699 sq ft of green space per capita, for 1.8 million people (close to the MSA population). That comes out to 3725 square miles, or half of the 7484 square miles in the entire Nashville MSA, and way larger than Davidson County itself. So there's a really loose definition of what constitutes green space being used here ... one that most closely resembles just counting up the area on Google Maps colored green haha! If I were calculating this, I would include like Centennial Park, Radnor Lake, Percy Warner, Shelby Bottoms, etc. but exclude straight up forest and fields that aren't accessible by public trails. My total would definitely be far lower.

I have a similar skepticism for lists of cities by tree canopy cover, which I guess can be somewhat objectively measured on satellite images but certainly favor urban sprawl since older single-family home neighborhoods certainly have more tree cover than dense multifamily developments.

[markhollin]

Bicentennial Mall, Greek Amphitheater (courtesy of rtgcontractors):

 

[markhollin]

Franklin is building Ellie G's Dream World, and Inclusive Playground will be the first of its kind in the community. This safari themed park will have miles of walking trails, concessions, ADA accessible restrooms, a pavilion, and Ellie G’s Dream World playground. The second initiative for this community project will include sports fields and other court sports, like pickleball.

[markhollin]

From NASHtoday:

Design concepts will be unveiled this weekend for the future park at Madison Station Boulevard — located adjacent to the Madison library branch. Learn about the design and public input process and hear from District 8 Council Member Nancy VanReece on Saturday, Feb. 26th  from 10-11:30 a.m. at Fifty Forward Madison Station.

Concepts survey here:

https://www.civicdesigncenter.org/all-projects-blog/future-park-at-madison-station-boulevard?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.02.24 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

 

[markhollin]

[markhollin]

Third Ave. North Park update.

Looking SE from intersection of 3rd Ave. North and Coffee St:

[markhollin]

Madison Station park update: trees ready to be planted; grass taking root.

Looking SE from Madison Station Blvd., 1/2 block south of Madison St:

Looking NE from Madison Station Blvd., 1/2 block south of Madison St: