The Observation Deck

This comes to you from the Kauffman Park friends...

Kauffman Park Friends are beginning the process of making a master plan for the park, teaming up with the City and Lakewood Alive. We are planning a meeting to gather ideas, so please come if you can to help us determine the future of Kauffman Park.

Kauffman Park Master Plan Community Meeting
Monday, July 30th, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Main Auditorium Lakewood Public Library 15425 Detroit Avenue

Kauffman Park Master Plan Development: Community Meeting Monday July 30
by Meg Ostrowski

The City of Lakewood’s Planning & Parks Departments are teaming up with LakewoodAlive’s Design Committee and Kauffman Park Friends to develop a Master Plan for Kauffman Park. With commercial development deals for the park off the table and the old Little Links (miniature golf) area cleaned up, these groups are ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work to see the park’s way into the future.

At seven acres, Kauffman Park is the third largest “greenspace” in the city and the most centrally located, just north of Detroit and Arthur Avenues. It is home to Jimmie Foxx Memorial Field jointly operated by the city and Lakewood Recreation Department, a community garden tended by LEAF (Lakewood Earth And Food) Community members, basketball courts supervised by LOBC (Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee) and one of two parks that welcomes leashed dogs as accomplished by the group Leashed Dogs In Lakewood Parks. Year round, kids expend energy on the playground, courts and fields, while train lovers watch them roll on by. In winter months the gentle hills of the park serve our littlest and most cautious sled riders and veterans alike.

But many have bigger dreams for a park with so much potential. Located just steps from the main branch of award-winning Lakewood Public Library, it is an ideal location for an outdoor reading garden as confirmed by long-serving library Board Member, Mary Nixon. Residents have expressed interest in adding an all-purpose path, water-play fountain and performance stage. Developing a Master Plan for the park is the first step towards turning dreams into reality. Once complete the document will serve as a springboard for public and private funding.

Lakewood resident and urban planner, Bryan Evans will lead the process, beginning with a community input meeting on Monday, July 30 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in the Main Auditorium of Lakewood Public Library at 15701 Detroit Avenue. Please join us and share your thoughts and suggestions as we work together to polish up another of Lakewood’s gems.

http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/read/20 ... ay-july-30

Meg

You outline some beautiful visions for Lakewood's 3rd largest green space park, and the
largest park in Downtown Lakewood. While you are right some great ideas from theater,
to school, from water park to BMX bike park have been shared, I fear the writing is on
the wall for Kauffman Park, if you look at the signs.

1) Council was ready to close it down as early as 4pm for completely false reasons. There
is NO Graffiti Problem over the last 9 months. And even though they were told the Public
Works People could not take care of it, it was relayed to the committee that studied this, and
the head of Public Works that the crews were wasting time out of the city. No one from the
Public Works Committee thought it was worth investigating.

2) Two of the councilman that wanted to close never took the time to talk to people using the
park after 4 pm for thoughts. In fact at least one of the three members never walked into
the park for any thought or study just demanding it be shut down early.

3) Same councilman asked for $7,000 to study if Lakewood needs a "Boutique Hotel" and
mentioned it is one from a LakewoodAlive study years old, and based in dreams not facts.

And then there is the signs, the signs that saw so much provided by LakewoodAlive and
the City.


From the Studio Graphique $70,000 way finding study, to see if we need way finding
which of course we did. I mean who knows where the Lake is? This was a solution
desperately looking for a problem, and that problem could be the "Boutique Hotel."


When implemented it has things to do at the top. Points of interests, parks, etc. and
at the bottom under parking it has parking lots. Hell they didn't even spell Kauffman
correctly! That is how much the city and LakewoodAlive care about it. Pitiful!


Well even with the only basketball courts in town, and the most used baseball diamond
in town. Neither the city nor LakewoodAlive thought it was worth any more notation
than as a parking lot. PERIOD not worth anyone even knowing it is there.

And judging by the sign nailed under it, it was not even good for way finding! Which will
be discussed at length in another thread, "Real Way Finding - Why and How." to be posted
soon for all to discuss.

Those attending the meeting, please keep these facts in your head, as I am sure they will
steer this as badly as they are steering the new "branding meetings" as mentioned by
more attending them than not.

To City Hall - Stop taking and taking from the residents for "DowntowN" when this $13.8
million dollar project was started we were told high end stores, that would relieve some
of the tax burdens from the residents. What we have been delivered in .8th of a mile of
dollar stores and burger joints, and a "Downtown Business District" that would not sustain
without the tax dollars of the residents.

PLEASE HELP KEEP THIS CITY FAMILY FRIENDLY!


.

Betsy,

Thanks for posting a reminder. One correction, just in case anyone is hesitating to attend, the meeting will adjourn at 8:00 p.m.

Jim,

While I suspect there are some in this city that have other ideas for Kauffman Park, the individuals that I have talked and worked with (residents, Public Works, Kauffman Park Friends and LakewoodAlive's Design Committee) are genuinely interested in bringing out the best the park has to offer...as a park.

I know that you too would like to see that happen and I encourage you to join us tonight to participate in the discussion.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Hell they didn't even spell Kauffman correctly! That is how much the city and LakewoodAlive care about it. Pitiful

I recall having a similar reaction when I first saw the park name misspelled on the signage plan and the city website years ago. At that time, there WERE plans being proposed to the city for development of the park. I brought it to the appropriate people's attention and it was corrected. It is an easy one to misspell. Two F's, one N...or is it one F, two N's...or two of each???? I was always double checking myself when writing about the park but now I have one of those "cute" sayings to help me remember. I won't share it here but you might have fun trying to figure it out or coming up with your own. Anyway, I would hate to be the poor sign maker that thought he had it down in his head, managed to get it right on most of the signs, then overconfidently ignored the plans as he finished the job. Surely he will be replacing the incorrect sign at no cost.

Meg Ostrowski wrote:I recall having a similar reaction when I first saw the park name misspelled on the signage plan and the city website years ago. At that time, there WERE plans being proposed to the city for development of the park. I brought it to the appropriate people's attention and it was corrected. It is an easy one to misspell. Two F's, one N...or is it one F, two N's...or two of each???? I was always double checking myself when writing about the park but now I have one of those "cute" sayings to help me remember. I won't share it here but you might have fun trying to figure it out or coming up with your own. Anyway, I would hate to be the poor sign maker that thought he had it down in his head, managed to get it right on most of the signs, then overconfidently ignored the plans as he finished the job. Surely he will be replacing the incorrect sign at no cost.

Meg

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES, EVERYONE

The joke around my office is if I can catch a typo it has to be really misspelled.

You yourself, and Betsy have corrected me on the spelling of Kauffman Park.

The Observer, all of my notes, and even signs I have made have had typos in them.
Actually Steve Davis called when he saw it and said, "I thought you didn't do work for the city."

However, in the scheme of things, and all of the clamor around the issue, and the history of the city.
I thought a slight remembrance of where others stand and show by their actions should be highlighted.

We still have no answers on why Kauffman was closed early, and why it was not highlighted as a
place to go in way finding, when it would seem to be an attraction to many.

.

Well, when you put the signs in a row like that, you can see that Kauffman Park is not being featured
as a place to go at all, but as a place to park. "Go to Kauffman Park to park." It's listed under the "Parking"
area of the wayfinding sign, at the bottom, as if that's all it's for.

At the same time, I suppose the parking signs could just say, "Parking off of Arthur Extension" or "Parking behind
Drug Mart" and never mention Kauffman Park. Signs could just say "Quaker Steak and Lube parking lot" as if there was
no publicly-owned green space there at all. The School Board and Rec Department buildings aren't mentioned on any
wayfinding signs, even as places to park! But I guess visitors don't need to know how to get there.

Like Meg, I think it's exciting to look at cool new ways that Kauffman Park can be more high-functioning as a public park.
It was unsettling to find out that there was "a deal on the table to sell it to Cleveland Clinic" several years ago,
even if that deal subsequently fell through. As I have said before, I have fond memories of Little Links with my first
toddler, memories of sledding on the baby hill, playing with my 3 little kids on the park equipment, and watching students
go nuts in different games all over the baseball field, during Track and Field days at the end of the school year.

It will be great to have more people know about this as a public park and that's the point of the meeting, right?

Betsy Voinovich

It sounds like the meeting went well last night and that a lot of good ideas were passed around.

My favorite so far is the one that I first heard about reading Meg's article in the paper:

Located just steps from the main branch of award-winning Lakewood Public Library, it is an ideal location for an outdoor reading garden as confirmed by long-serving library Board Member, Mary Nixon. Residents have expressed interest in adding an all-purpose path, water-play fountain

One of my favorite memories of Cleveland's Downtown library is sitting out in the reading garden, in a peaceful green place, getting a chance to start on one of the books I just checked out. I have always thought that our library was missing the boat, to have absolutely nowhere to sit outside (not a bench!) either in the front or in the back and this seems like the perfect solution. Many don't know that this beautiful park is just steps away from this beautiful library. We could highlight the reading garden with a some programs in the library, like the gardening/reading program that is offered at Madison Park. This idea seems like it could grow and grow. And it goes well with the idea of a path, and a fountain. A place to go to read an relax. Not that some of us and our children don't sit in the stands, or sit under the trees and read anyway, but an official connection with the library is genius! Meg and Mary Nixon! Can't wait to hear more about it.

Betsy Voinovich