Parks and Rec

Seems to me that Durham's Parks and Rec Department has only themselves to blame for this clusterfuck. Years after presenting a master plan for OND park, with no intention of ever finding the finding for it, they encouraged a private/public partnership to take the initiative. Who could have foreseen that there might be competing interests when it comes to a neighborhood park?

Can't say our city council is covering itself in glory over this either. If citizens could work out every difference between competing interest groups, we wouldn't exactly need an elected leadership, would we?

Durham's a big enough city to have a parks master plan and the funding to implement it. flying by the seat of our pants may be the Durham tradition, but it doesn't bode well for a long marriage.

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My new hero

Rosetta Radtke, of Durham Parks and Rec.

A year and a half ago, i wrote about the sucky job the city had done after taking over the trail left by NCDOT on the former Brookline St., just south of the widened I-85.

From an email received today:

An onsite meeting was held with a TRTC representative about their having a workday or workdays on the trail and installing a two rail split rail fence (to coordinate with the one in the Park) between the trail and ditch on the Acadia end and also along the turn around at the end of Glendale where vehicles are reportedly getting through to the trail. TRTC will do this and will also install recently-received signage I had ordered on both ends of the trail which will be signed as minor entrances. They will also install 6 x 6 wooden bollards with reflectors and appropriate signage to replace the jersey barriers. DPR will provide materials and supplies.


The jersey barrier that had been moved aside should have been moved back into position. The barriers will stay in place until our workday when they will be replaced with the more attractive bollards. We will auger holes in the asphalt for the bollards to be installed.



Another onsite meeting with City Traffic Engineering staff and the Project Manager for the NCDOT project, resulted in , City staff will stripe a bike lane from the trail along Washington between Trinity and Club; will stripe a pedestrian crossing from the trail across Washington; and create a handicap accessible wheelchair ramp on the other side of Washington. Also, City staff will have the culverts left from I85 construction removed and have the nonfunctional street light that was left along the trail removed as well.



I hope this addresses neighborhood concerns and questions about the trail and hope these improvements will enhance people’s use and enjoyment of Duke Park Trail! I would like to thank folks for their interest and input and would welcome additional information or input as we move forward with these plans.



We haven’t picked a date for the trail workday yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as we do. It would be great if the neighborhood would like to come out and participate.



People are always welcome to call or e-mail me with trail concerns



Rosetta Radtke, Parks and Recreation 560-4355 ex. 258 Rosetta.Radtke@durhamnc.gov

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Signs

The real kind, not the metaphorical ones.

Durham Parks and Rec decided a while back that the current mishmash of signage at Durham's parks needed to be updated and unified. Laudable.

Durham voters approved a bond in 2005 that included three quarters of a million dollars for the new signage. Also laudable.

Here's how DPR describe the process of developing the new signage system:

In developing the three final designs for our new signage system, the design consultants toured our parks and met with City staff from multiple departments to determine what was needed at our current facilities and parks.

City staff agreed that the signs needed to be highly visible and made of materials that are both affordable and easy to maintain. City staff also agreed that the signs should utilize component pieces, so we could mix-and-match information as needed for different parks and so that repairs would be easier. Finally, City staff wanted signs that were easy to understand and included graphic icons.

You can see the results here. Click on the link that says "finalists." That will download a 700K pdf file to your computer.

My first reaction was that i couldn't stand any of the proposals, but after spending some time with them, i think that response was just a reaction to the stunning awfulness of the first proposal.


Designs 2 and 3 actually have some viability to them, and with some tweaking, i think #2 could be effective, and retain its usefulness for a couple of decades.


Don't forget, we're going to be living with this design for at least 30 years. Trendiness is a much less desirable attribute than functionality. I'm much more interested in seeing working bathrooms that are reasonably safe and clean, and signs pointing towards them, to be completely honest.

My favorite part of the project, though, is reading the addresses of the firms involved:


I guess that the creative class hasn't yet unpacked from its move to Durham.

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Parks & Rec

Kevin asks the right questions following the publication of this article in today's Herald Sun.

Seems that a dispute is arising among several Council members over adding a few million bucks (OK, close to 12 million) in additional capital expenditures to put a new swimming pool in the Walltown Rec center, and perhaps buy the Duke Diet and Fitness Center on Trinity to turn into another rec center.

It's times like this that you have to scratch your head and ask, why are we writing master plans when we ignore them at the next opportunity? Why do we plan sidewalk and bike plans, or greenway plans, or park plans, only to discard them at the next opportunity? Why do we build facilities that overlap each others' services, even as other neighborhoods in Durham lack local options for services?

Wish i knew the answers.

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