place: future location of archop park
time: april 17th 4:30pm – 6:30pm
who: community members
reason: redesign of existing park
At the corner of San Pablo & Belmont is a clean but stark triangle of concrete and gravel quietly winding under the rush of the 180.
This is a park. However, it’s not a park in the sense of the feelings that word can evoke. There are not children playing, no one socializing, no one getting some sun or sleeping under a tree. There is no one engaged in a playful sport. There is no where to sit but the ground.
This is a left over space. It is the remainder of the 180 slicing through neighborhoods, the Fulton Lowell to the South and Tower District o the North. At the junction of these neighborhoods and amount of traffic, this site has great potential.
Working in partnership with the Hank Delcore PhD and the Institute of Public Anthropology of CSUF we seek to gather community input. Nothing has been designed yet, so this is an opportunity for you to help craft this park to suit your needs.
So come down to the park, do some drawing, talk about the landscape of your dreams and have fun. We will provide refreshments and plenty of paper and markers.
This is also National Architecture Week. Today topic being inclusiveness, it is no accident in the scheduling of this date for the design workshop. We would like to get the community included in the designing of Fresno revitalized. Join us in reinventing and activating this urban park.
A special thanks to the City of Fresno PARCS Department and City Manager’s Office.
two homeless individuals walk Belmont
2 people sit in the sun
Park & Belmont
neighborhood view of park
images come from Google Maps. Explore the neighborhood here
I love the attention my neighborhood is getting recently. This area is just north of my house on San Pablo. I travel by it daily. While it is far from being a “blighted area”, there’s at least a small strip of grass and a lonely, bicycle-shaped bike rack, it needs some architecture and landscaping that welcomes people to it. That park is a perfect spot for a “neighborhood surprise” considering the surrounding elements. Greenery would be a start. I imagine greenery that surrounds the concrete columns on the freeway overpass, ivy or climbing shrubs. Lighting that doesn’t disturb the neighbors who live just north of the park. Handicap-accessible play structures and picnic tables. Artwork throughout.
The Lowell neighborhood just south of the park has over 6,000 residents in just a square mile of space, so the park would need specific attention and not be a “build it and forget it” environment.
I am not in favor of a skate park, mainly because there are other skate parks available in Fresno, but no well-apportioned community parks within a 1/2 mile of this neighborhood. Skate parks are fine, but are generally are not family friendly.
Kiel, if there are examples of parks in similar areas (with overpasses and concrete surroundings), pictures that we could see to develop a more specific vision of what works, this would be helpful.
Thank you!
Steve
Certainly is a worthy project. I too will be looking forward to see what suggestions come in. Cheers!
Steve,
I’m not coming to the table with any preconceived notions of what the park will be. I want to hear what the community wants and needs then design from there.
One excellent case study is Splash Pad Park in Oakland http://www.splashpad.org
Although the Lowell Neighborhood Assoc. asked that Dickey Park receive more immediate attention, I am happy that this concrete corridor is getting some much needed focus. I agree completely with Mr. Skibbie, and would like to see some green, some art, some family-friendly elements–but, I do like the bike rack and the current “bike-ability” of the space–there were several hundred people there, mostly kids, for an egg hunt on April 11–and it sure could have used a platform or some sort for that event- it has great acoustics with all that open concrete-and wouldn’t make a bad concert space (if you can get used to the traffic sounds). The proximity to Ted C. creates great potential for an outdoor artspace/studio for the neighborhood. Like Skibbie, I’d like to see some examples of other underpass parks–what grows well in such shade? what about safety concerns? what about falling debris? how are they protected from vandalism? how does it stay free of tagging? could it become another homeless camp if it has amenities?
Don, Dickey was offered as one of the 5 options. I chose to redevelop the Belmont & San Pablo site. There are several reasons for this. One of the major reasons related to archop’s goal of education the public about architecture, the built environment and benefits of good design. Invigorating the site under the freeway with design was a better fit for archop’s goals.
Dickey playground experiences intensive use. I didn’t want to disrupted that with our project. Also that site is in more need of smaller scale interventions. Understand that we are not drawing on any City funds, so if Dickey was the priority for improvements with PARCS money, then that hasn’t changed due to the archop project. It is our plan to bring together pro-bono design, donated materials and volunteer labor for this effort.
No answers yet for the other questions. But I will try to answer those.