The Greensboro City Council has a tough decision to make on Tuesday about whether to proceed with construction of Gateway Gardens at the crook of Lee and Florida streets.
Materials prepared by the city's parks and recreation department indicate that the city council approved a $2 million contract to Fuller Construction in December, including $500,000 contributed by Greensboro Beautiful and $500,000 contributed by the NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
Under "budget impact," the agenda item warns, "If construction does not move forward in the coming weeks the current contract for construction may not be honored. The original design work took 3 years to complete, costing over $400,000 in city bond funding. Additional funding is not available for further redesign. Final permits are being received, and construction is targeted to begin in March 2009. In addition, [Greensboro Beautiful] has received $2.2 million to date in private gifts and pledges from the community."
As outlined in the agenda item, the city hired Cline Design Associates to design the gardens. The parks and recreation department and Greensboro Beautiful held two community meetings to solicit input on the design of the gardens in 2000 and 2001, and a conceptual master plan was presented at the Windsor Center in 2003.
Materials prepared by city staff indicate that "the main entrance was evaluated in great detail." Among other reasons, staff and its parners on Greensboro Beautiful determine that placing the main entrance on Lee Street instead of Florida Street would be the best option because that was the most visible point of the property for travelers entering Greensboro from Interstate 40 and because "an entrance on Lee would minimize disturbance of existing wetlands running through the garden and leaving the property on Florida Street. The Wetland & Rain Garden is located north of Florida Street, and will allow for future development of a pond associated with a Japanese Garden."
The only problem is that residents of the area near the proposed Gateway Gardens have some major concerns about traffic safety in relation to the placement of the main entrance. In short, residents, who say they weren't adequately consulted about the design of the park, are concerned that the Lee Street entrance would imperil children trying to cross Lee Street from the north side and increase the risk of auto accidents.
Resident Sharon Hightower told council members at that meeting: "We were not engaged in the process; we were not asked to be part of the committees or when you had your community meetings. We were not engaged in the process; we were told what was going to be done, how it was going to be done and when it was going to happen. That is not something that makes us feel very comfortable."
So, unfortunately, the council is faced with a decision of whether to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars and turn its back on financial assistance from a deep-pocketed civic booster during a major budget crisis or run roughshod over the wishes of the residents of southeast Greensboro.
The notion that the city does not adequately consult with African-American residents on the east side of Greensboro is often voiced, and District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small frequently reminds her colleagues on council to heed their concerns, but the question of whether they get slighted is rarely engaged. I would be curious to know how many members of Greensboro Beautiful's executive committee and advisory board live near the proposed Gateway Gardens.
UPDATE: 11:25 p.m.:
A survey of the Zip codes of members of Greensboro Beautiful's executive committee, board of directors and advisory board indicates that the organizations' membership is somewhat weighted towards northwest Greensboro.
It's not an exact science, as the planned Gateway Gardens actually straddles 27401 (the downtown) and 27405 (which roughly corresponds with northeast Greensboro). 27406 (roughly corresponding with southeast Greensboro) is in close proximity.
Using Switchboard.com and The Talking Phone Book, I counted three members of these boards in 27401, four in 27405, and four in 27406. In comparison, I counted 15 in 27410 (northwest), 11 in 27408 (roughly corresponding with exclusive Irving Park), 10 in 27403 (west) and eight in 27455 (far north). I couldn't locate physical addresses for 26 members.
Looking only at Greensboro Beautiful's executive committee, I found four members in 27410, and the rest evenly spread throughout 27403, 27405, 27406, 27408 and 27455.
Looking at the board of directors, I found one member from 27401, Bonnie Kuester (although I'm not sure she's still a member considering that she is no longer the director of parks and recreation), one member from 27405 (who happens to be Mayor Yvonne Johnson), and one member from 27406. 27408 was represented with three members, and 27403, 27410 and 27455 were each represented with two.
The community representation on the advisory board — which includes corporations, civic clubs and business groups — includes only two people with 27401 addresses, one with a 27406 address and none with 27405 addresses. Four of the members are located in 27403, three in 27410 and two in 27408.
The at-large representation on the advisory board is even more heavily skewed to the northwest, including eight members with 27410 addresses and four with 27408 addresses, but only one with a 27405 address and none with 27401 and 27406 addresses.
