I told him that use of the park seemed so controversial in the discussion afterward that I was afraid that no-one had spent any real time telling him what a great job he and the committee had done pulling all of the different elements that make up Lakewood together.
By controversial I mean that people who live by the basketball courts and don't like them were there, along with people who do, members of the Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committtee were there, it seemed that most of the Rec Department was there, residents representing Lakewood's soccer interests were there asking that the baseball field be torn down and made into a soccer field. People accused the City of not taking care of the park, making sure that the bathrooms were always closed including graphic examples given about baseball players relieving themselves behind the stands.
As a parent who loved taking my little kids there I was thrilled by the new park designs and felt that the LakewoodAlive/KParkFriends plan went a long way towards addressing the whole city, young, old, sports-minded-- both organized like baseball, and Field Days, and less organized like running and walking, or stolling, historically-minded, agriculturally minded, people who like reading stretched out on a comfortable chair, people who love to meet out doors and would like a table and chairs, and on and on.
Questions were asked about the city maintaining the park and though Dru Siley and Mayor Summers were there, the City did not address these questions, though Tom Bullock who said he was there wearing his "resident's hat" was very much in support of the plan.
Anyway, I asked Brian about All Of That after his well-prepared, most compelling presentation and he said he was used to it. Nobody booed. Everybody clapped. He told me that he did a lot of public and 75 percent of them ended with relatively heated discussions from different quarters. This one was civil and demonstrated that there is a lot of interest in the park which he seemed to find quite healthy.
In this coming Observer there will be a more detailed review of the plan and the meeting with more comments from those involved.
I enjoyed the meeting quite a bit. It was lively and interesting, pointing the way towards more discussion, more community involvement, and a final plan that celebrates all that Kauffman Park can be.
These manmade rolling hills are called "earthworks" I think, the idea was to to have several of them as places to run and play, or just take in the green, with a bigger one that would serve as a place to sit for baseball games on one side, and concerts on the other. Very cool.
Different kinds of individual spots for gathering at tables, reading on a reclining chair, finding a spot in some tall grass (but not too tall, more on that later) for convening with nature, hearing the wind blow through the grass in the summer, clearing your head, and diving into a good book, or maybe drawing on a sketchpad. These areas would be favorites for my kids after tearing around the park for awhile.
Lakewood resident and mom, Laura Germaine describes how difficult it is for the average person to know where the actual entrance to Kauffman Park is, while Sarah Klann looks on.
Mayor Michael P. Summers was there, along with Director Dru Siley representing the City of Lakewood. The Lakewood Rec Department was well-represented as was the Lakewood Outdoor Basketball Committee. Seated in front of the mayor are Stephanie Wetzel-Toole, Peter Grossetti and Troy Bratz who ended up refereeing part of the discussion. Standing in the back is Leslie Favre Krogman from the Lakewood Rec Department who contributed a lot to the discussion in terms of the way the parks and school fields are utilized in Lakewood.
Volunteer planner and designer (and Lakewood resident) Brian Evans and LakewoodAlive director Ian Andrews, flank the stage, ready for any topic brought up in the discussion that followed the presentation. They did a great job.
Betsy Voinovich