Countdown to Elections of Bash, Coffey, & Ferrie ;)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Fires Started!


Me and the fam went out for a little walk to check out the 'Practice Burn' exercise for the Cornelius Fire Department. This was 1 of the 3 buildings scheduled for demolition from a previous Blog posting.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Cornelius Parks, my perspective

Tomorrow, Monday - The Parks Advisory Board will discuss their Parks Master Plan.
I wanted to do my own little homework and drove around visiting Cornelius's current park offering.

Listed here: http://www.ci.cornelius.or.us/index.asp?Type=GALLERY&SEC={EA25527E-3494-4017-A0E9-76A7ADFBDCDC}

10 so-called "Park"s and 2 Open Space Parcels of land. The 2 open space I did not visit, and I couldn't locate "Free Orchards Park - 1493 S Fawn Street".

Here's my ranking: [Best to Worst]
1. Tarrybrooke - Good use of the Basketball Court, nice open space, what a park should be.
2. Harleman - Nice Large space around the School Area, perfect for Concerts/Entertaining Events...I'll certainly check out again
3. Alpine - Cute, Small, Park Space -> City focused on developing further - GOOD
4. Dogwood - Good mix of activity -> City focused on developing further - GOOD
5. Water - Nice little space and gathering area [Awful view of a Cell Tower and Huge Cement structure]
6. Aboretum - How is this a park? I don't get it.
7. City Hall - Green Rectangular Space of Lawn = Park?
8. Ryland - Super Steep location, easy to miss, Very outdated equipment.
9. Steamboat - Long forgotten it seems to me. A lot of overgrowth, and littered. What a shame.
10. Free Orchards??? Where is it?

Other comments: I think the true parks Cornelius has and maintains are the Top 5 above...the rest are I.M.O. either 1) not really "parks" or 2) starved of attention. The City should get the word out, ask for volunteer support, ask for resources. We're in Oregon, people! We're crazy about preserving green spaces, even more so if they're in our own backyard.

I think Cornelius really needs to focus on maintaining and bringing their current "parks" up to speed BEFORE they go thinking BIG about future developments. Everyone likes NEW stuff. I'd survey the residents surrounding the parks in place, and ask them their satisfaction level, and go from there.