HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-01-24 Correspondence Page 1 of 1
Marian Kart
From: Ruth Baker [ruth-baker@uiowa.edu]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 11:26 AM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Cc: terry-trueblood@iowa-city.org; Terry-Robinson@iowa-city.org; Marcia Klingaman (E-mail); Barby Buss (E-mail);
Mary Knudson (E-mail); Richard Caplan; Bill Buss (E-mail)
Subject: Benton Street Park
It is my understanding you will be meeting this afternoon (1 to 5 p.m.) to discuss budget issues in an attempt to
trim spending. I am not able to be present, but I would appreciate this e-mail being distributed prior to that
meeting.
My purpose in writing is to make certain you are aware of our neighborhood's continued desire for developing
our park. I'm assuming Terry Trueblood has reported the outcome of a neighborhood meeting we had with him,
Terry Robinson, and Marcia Klingaman on September 20 at Roosevelt School. We discussed the wishes of the
neighborhood to clear out damaged and unsavory brush and trees, and to retain as much of the natural setting as
possible, adding benches, picnic tables, and play equipment for young children. At that meeting, Terry
Robinson informed us the poison ivy was very thick on the property, and he proposed methods to eradicate the
pesky plant. Once that was accomplished, neighbors who are adept at identifying wildflowers requested the
opportunity to walk through the parkland with Terry R. and point out the locations of these flowers in order to
preserve them when removing unwanted brush/trees.
We understand that the City Council is under constant pressure to allocate its budget in a way that meets
important City needs. But we assume that the work previously planned for the Benton Street Park will not be
postponed. The neighborhood is very thankful to have the parkland. I am writing simply to express the
neighborhood's request that the planned work not be deferred. Thank you.
Ruth E. Baker
Miller-Orchard Neighborhood Representative
515 West Benton Street
lawa Ci.ty, IA 52246
Phone (319) 354-0443
e-mail address ruth-baker(~uiowa, edu
1/24/02
Page 1 of 1
Marian Karr
From: Mary Knudson [mary_knudson@msn.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 1:09 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Note; if possible, please distribute this e-mail to the council members before they meet today. Thank you.
Hi. ! don't know if you will get this e-mail in time. ! was just informed you were meeting today and that
you will discuss the Hiller Orchard pad. ! live in the Hiller Orchard neighborhood and have been active
with the city regarding the planning the new neighborhood park. For quite some time now, we have been
involved with getting the planning of the park off the ground. A group of us have met together and with
Terry Trueblood before the entire neighborhood got together with Terry last September to discuss what
we want in a park.& nbsp; In our meeting last September with Terry we came to some important
discussions; a couple being that Terry would get the serious poison ivy problem taken care of and that the
plant life in the park would be accounted for before any new steps would be taken. After this was done,
we would meet again. There was more that came out of the meeting with regards to planning than this,
but for the purposes of this note, ! don't need to go into them.. The bottom line is that the neighborhood
has been and continues to be very interested and active in planning this park. The park helps provide a
green spot in a densely populated neighborhood where there is little green areas to play or walk and that
suffers from fast traffic moving through it, I understand that you are discussing reallocating the
$200,000 from it to another project. I ask you to not to, but if you have to, to at least provide sufficient
funds so we can proceed with our preliminary plans with the park. This park is terribly vital to the quality
of life in this neighborhood, Thank you, Regards, Mary Knudson
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1/24/02