Wednesday, July 4, 2007

So.....what happened?

First off we discussed the plans that are currently in place for park rennovations which can be viewed here:

http://www.slcpioneerpark.com/

I will try to upload the pdf of the actual plans.

As far as I know this is the summery of why no improvements have been made thus far:

It goes something like this(simplified since I am just getting you up to speed)

-25 years ago farmer's market started as a few vendors

-During Dee Dee Coridenee set plans in motion to build Franklin Covey field on top of Pioneer Park-efforts were made through the residents and members of artspace to preserve the 10 acres of greenspace for the communities future use.

2004 ish-Salt Lake City, residents and businesses unite to revitalize and restore the park, plans are discussed, forums are held, the city council approves all three phases proposed. Bids are collected. Construction is slated to begin and phase 1 is expected to be completed fall 2006.

Bids come in too high, issue dissapears from public eye.....

Present:

Rebidding process has begun, and as city officials put it in a recent update:

"By way of update, construction bids for Stage 1 improvements closed on June 20th. The bids are being evaluated now. If the bids come in at the budget for the project then construction will start in late October, once the Farmers Market season ends. All improvements will be completed before the start of the 2008 Market in June, 2008.

Stage 1 has a budget of $1.4 million. The project scope was constrained to fit the budget. Three development stages are planned for the park. The City Administration and many in the community support the entire 3 stage scope of work which will dramatically change the character of the park. The change needs to be dramatic in order to change the current user behavior and to change the perception that the park can't be "fixed" and made safe. An incremental approach for change, which the City Council is taking, delay's the park renovation, costs more money and may not allow for the use transformation to occur.

The Council has not committed to funding any future stages of work, so the park may be done after just one round of funding. Instead, the Council has chosen to spend some money revising the 3 Stage plan into one additional stage that would include only those design elements that the Council feels need to be included. This approach will end with something left undone. It will fix the park up a bit, but it will probably fail to create the real change that is needed.

We continue to work with a small group of citizens and property owners who believe in the park, but the group's capacity to raise private funds is limited. Bonding for the improvements was not supported and the CIP is loaded with competing projects. Even with the challenges we are not giving up hope, nor are we allowing the small fire of support to burn out."

SO........what do we do now??